How many of you have wondered just how many calories are in the sizzling hot okonomiyaki covered in sauce placed before you? With no doubt, the flour batter combined with the sauce and mayonnaise seasoning leave more than a few of you with an image that “okonomiyaki is fattening”.
Did you know, however, that recently okonomiyaki is attracting more and more attention as a diet food? In fact, there have been reports of cases where people have successfully lost over 20 kilograms by eating okonomiyaki. Furthermore, research indicates that not only is okonomiyaki non-fattening, but it also contains numerous healthy factors.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients.
Firstly, cabbage is high in insoluble dietary fiber. This means that not only does it provide a feeling of fullness due to its long digestion time, but it also prevents adsorption of fat. Dietary fiber is also present in the flour and yam used for the batter, and thus with one okonomiyaki you can expect weight loss benefits with easing defecation.

It is true that flour is easily converted into fat because it is a glucide. However, compared to bread and pie dough which uses butter, the okonomiyaki batter is substantially lower in calories. Furthermore, the amount of flour used is not as much as it may appear because many other ingredients are mixed into the okonomiyaki batter.
On the contrary, most of the other ingredients in okonomiyaki, such as cabbage, yam, seafood, sauce, bonito flakes, and aonori (green laver), all work to prevent accumulation of neutral fat in the body which is the primarily cause of obesity.
In addition to the above, the sauce used to flavor the okonomiyaki is made from vegetable extracts and rice vinegar which increase metabolism and blood circulation, making it easier for the body to burn off fat. In particular, citric acid is affective in boosting metabolism. In this sense, sauce can be considered an ideal condiment for dieters.

The weight loss benefits of okonomiyaki come not only from a nutritional aspect.
Did you know that the natural reaction of huffing air out when you take a bite of something hot is also effective for dieting? Try this. Move your tongue in and out, side to side, and then lift something heavy. You will notice that you have more strength than before doing these tongue exercises. By moving your tongue and stimulating the pharynx you are actually doing mouth exercises which is said to be almost equivalent in the amount of workout to moving your entire body muscles. In other words, you are burning off calories and building up your stamina by eating a sizzling hot okonomiyaki.

As you can see, okonomiyaki is an ideal health food item. So enjoy your sizzling hot okonomiyaki!