Anyone eat Korean foods?

SarahofTwins

If you like to eat Korean food...either once in awhile or daily basis what do you eat? I start craving it because my mom is Korean and every time she makes something its SO high in sodium....but its not high in calories because its like kimchi or something with veggies in it. However I know the white rice can be high...and also Cha Chang Myun. Oh how I miss that.

Anyhow ideas on what sort of Korean foods to eat without it being too bad?

CakeFit21

Hubby is Korean and when he's watching what he eats he'll eat Korean food as his cheat meal then pound the water to flush the sodium. Doesn't do it often, but I he enjoys it when he can! I say go for it, it's good for your soul! (You know, like once a month or something, LOL)

rodneyderrick

I eat Korean food all the time, and there is a lot of sodium in it. I mainly eat kimchi daily: cabbage and raddish. I notice that I retain a little more water than usual when I eat it, and that's to be expected with all the sodium.

SarahofTwins

Yeah I usually want to eat it once a week...kimchi, raddish, cuttle fish....guess I'll have to make it every two weeks instead lol

CakeFit21

It's totally up to you! If you wanted to do it once a week, why not? I could eat Indian every week or Thai and not feel one bit guilty! I really think these meals are good for our brains, you know? If you are constantly thinking about how bad you want something everything else tastes worse! It's a good motivator too, If I eat this xxx I can have kimchi on Friday. I suspect that if you do it once a week for a while you'll start to feel the effects and see the water weight on the scale, then you might decide it's not worth it every week. There is a lot of power in making the decision that way. Does that make sense? Just make sure your weigh in day and your Korean meal are no where near each other!

UpToAnyCool

I love :smooched: bulgogi. BULGOGI is one of the top 3 reason I am not vegetarian (the other two are fried chicken and bacon).

I don't eat it very often b/c I think it tastes best grilled. (I don't have an indoor grill.)
That said, it is a favorite with my car camping crew - you let it marinate in the cooler, and bring the rice, seaweed and other fixings. As soon as summertime rolls around I am jonesing for bulgogi in the woods. But yeah, I also like that black bean noodle dish, jap chae and those soondubu stews.

I'm not sure how to modify the recipes, but maybe using low-sodium soy sauce and brown rice would be helpful.
It might be a generational thing, but I notice that this meets w/ A LOT OF RESISTANCE from some of the older folks. Both of my parents are of Chinese descent but only the one that was born here is open to eating brown rice. The other parent, born overseas, must eat white rice, even when eating a spaghetti dinner. :laugh: :noway:

Sorry if this wasn't helpful - just some empathy! BTW - you look great! Love your AV photo! :flowerforyou:

ETA: Now I want some CHA CHANG MYUN!

SarahofTwins

It's totally up to you! If you wanted to do it once a week, why not? I could eat Indian every week or Thai and not feel one bit guilty! I really think these meals are good for our brains, you know? If you are constantly thinking about how bad you want something everything else tastes worse! It's a good motivator too, If I eat this xxx I can have kimchi on Friday. I suspect that if you do it once a week for a while you'll start to feel the effects and see the water weight on the scale, then you might decide it's not worth it every week. There is a lot of power in making the decision that way. Does that make sense? Just make sure your weigh in day and your Korean meal are no where near each other!

Yes mam that is true...what kind of Thai food do you like? I LOVE Pad thai lol

SarahofTwins

I love :smooched: bulgogi. BULGOGI is one of the top 3 reason I am not vegetarian (the other two are fried chicken and bacon).

I don't eat it very often b/c I think it tastes best grilled. (I don't have an indoor grill.)
That said, it is a favorite with my car camping crew - you let it marinate in the cooler, and bring the rice, seaweed and other fixings. As soon as summertime rolls around I am jonesing for bulgogi in the woods. But yeah, I also like that black bean noodle dish, jap chae and those soondubu stews.

I'm not sure how to modify the recipes, but maybe using low-sodium soy sauce and brown rice would be helpful.
It might be a generational thing, but I notice that this meets w/ A LOT OF RESISTANCE from some of the older folks. Both of my parents are of Chinese descent but only the one that was born here is open to eating brown rice. The other parent, born overseas, must eat white rice, even when eating a spaghetti dinner. :laugh: :noway:

Sorry if this wasn't helpful - just some empathy! BTW - you look great! Love your AV photo! :flowerforyou:

Thank you! haha it was nice to hear what kind of a background you had....and yes bulgogi is so good...but I guess its just about eating it in moderation :bigsmile:

GreenTeaForDays

I wouldn't worry about the water weight. It isn't fat and will go away so its okay. My experience is that Korean food is actually really healthy compared to a lot of other culture's food-- lots of vegetables and lean protein. I like karincakes' advice about flushing the extra sodium with water... this totally works for me. In the end, I just like to worry about the calories and nutrients since the rest doesn't matter too much in the long run.

What ever you're doing is obviously working. Almost 80 pounds! You look great.

CakeFit21

The real question is what DON'T I like! I loves me some pineapple curry, but I have a weakness for tom ka gai too. I'll eat any curry really, Japanese, Thai, Indian... oh, goodness.... Oh, and bulgogi... forget about it!

My son really loves Thai too, (moodles!) this morning he was dipping pecans in spicy peanut sauce! (Then I saw him licking the plate, he's 3) That's another thing, you def. want your kids seeing you enjoy these foods without worry. That's really important!

corpus_validum

I'm Korean and subscribe to the food philosophy: No Meat, No Eat.

But I don't frequent those AYCE K-BBQ places as much anymore and try to eat healthier.

Here are some of my "healthier" faves:

Hwe Dup Bap - Sashimi Salad with Rice; but go easy on the rice and gochujang sauce (it's loaded with sugar)
Bibimbap - Dol Sot (stone pot) Bibimbap (mixed vegetables with rice) LUV IT but now only put in 1/2 the rice and not too much gochujang
Kalbi and Bulgogi with Ssam (red leaf lettuce) instead of rice
Japchae - not sure if it's really healthy as I'm trying to go low carb, but as long as it's not too oily, I think it's OK since there's usually lots of veggies mixed in
Gyeran Jjim - steamed eggs as panchan
Kongnamul Guk - Bean Sprout Soup; easy on the sodium

Everything else is a guilty pleasure and constitute a good number of my cheat meals when visiting family up in LA ;-)

clayjar

LOL. I know one too many Koreans who has that meat-centric philosophy.

I know some everyday Korean dishes contain much sodium, but your taste buds can change! If you're used to salty Korean dishes, then gradually lower the volume of salt and adjust your taste buds accordingly. I know it's little hard to do with ready-made dweng-jang (soy bean paste) and go-chu-jang (hot pepper paste) products, but it's already a widespread practice in Korean peninsula.

My personal philosophy is simply be grateful to be able to eat whatever is on the table (especially if you don't cook), but eat less and lead a healthy lifestyle with exercise and other good habits. I think Korean dish issue isn't so much about sodium but about amount of food consumed. Koreans, in general, eat too much, especially compared to Japanese, who have a tradition of not eating to a full satiety. I think that's a good rule of thumb when eating---stop eating when you have about 80% satiety!

JPDad

I really like Korean and Vietnamese food. I generally find some of the Vietnamese dishes to be healthier as there is less sauce/salt, but eat there more mainly because it is close to work.

I agree with the other comments that Bibimbap and Japchae are pretty good choices.

clayjar

I really like Korean and Vietnamese food. I generally find some of the Vietnamese dishes to be healthier as there is less sauce/salt, but eat there more mainly because it is close to work.

I agree with the other comments that Bibimbap and Japchae are pretty good choices.

I work closely with health care workers all the time and one of the nurses I work with was surprised to find the local Vietnamese population exceptionally healthy compare to the rest of local demography. Vietnamese haven't changed their traditional dishes whereas most of Koreans have adopted Western dishes and include way too much meat. I remember eating meat only during holidays when I was growing up in Korea in 70s and early 80s. It's ironic that wealth is associated with meat eating.