Is Gamjatang Healthy? (3 Tips For Weight Loss)

When people talk about Korean food, Gamjatang is one of those dishes that they always consider.

It’s a hardy dish with a ton of flavor which makes for an awesome and comforting Korean soul food dish.

The secret to the flavor comes from the mixture of korean chili powder and fermented bean paste with a ton of pork bones to create the broth.

Although Gamjatang is delicious, is it healthy? 

Gamjatang is a very balanced dish as it has 23 grams of fat, 44 grams of carbs, and 67 grams of protein per serving. This macronutrient ratio makes for a great meal when trying to stay healthy as there is a lot of protein with not too many calories coming from fats and carbs. 

Although Gamjatang is healthy, there are many ways it can be eaten to cause weight gain.

Here are some steps you can take in order to eat your favorite Korean stew while staying within a healthy range of calories. 

1. Understand What Goes Inside Gamjatang 

2. Understand How Many Calorie Are In Gamjatang 

3. Make Sure To Workout & Stay Active While Eating Gamjatang 

Now that we know the three steps to staying healthy while eating Gamjatang, let’s take a deeper look into what we can do specifically. 

Tip 1: Understand What Goes Inside Gamjatang 

The first step to understanding whether or not a food is healthy is by looking at the ingredients.

There are really two parts to Gamjatang which is the soup base and the toppings that go into the soup.

Let’s take a look at each of these components and see what goes into this delicious Korean comfort food. 

The Soup Base 

Pork bones are what really create the awesome flavors in Gamjatang and is the start to the richness of this dish.

The bones are simmered in a pot full of 3 cups of water and then is removed leaving an awesome stock full of pork flavor. 

What goes inside that seasons the dish, however, is a mixture of lots of aromatics such as garlic, Korean chili powder, Korean fish sauce, fermented bean paste, Korean rice wine, Korean chili paste, and salt.

Overall, these ingredients hardly add any calories and keeps it a great option to eat while dieting. 

The Toppings 

The two main toppings you can obviously find are the potatoes and the pork bones that were pre-cooked at the start of the dish.

This is where you can expect most of the calories to come from as you won’t really find much from the ingredients listed above. 

There are usually 2-3 potatoes that go into the soup and 6-8 pork bones that are usually loaded with lots of satisfying meat. Potatoes are a great source of carbs as they offer a lot of fiber per serving.

Whenever I am cutting weight, I always make sure to add a form of potato as they are so satiating while keeping your calorie low. 

What’s so great about this dish is the simple ingredients all coming together to make something greater than its parts.

It’s a spicy, savory and hardy dish and there isn’t much oil that goes into the broth.

It’s clean yet it carries a ton of flavor with such a great balance of macronutrients and micronutrients. 

Now that we know what goes inside Gamjatang, let’s take a deeper look into the nutrition facts and see whether or not it’s good to eat when dieting. 

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Tip 2: Understand How Many Calories Goes Inside Gamjatang 

Along with some really awesome flavors, Gamjatang offers a very good balance of macronutrients which makes for an awesome dish to eat when sticking to a healthy diet.

Let’s take a look inside the nutrition label and see what we can find. 

For a single serving (2 cups) of Gamjatang, there are 23 grams of fat, 44 grams of carbs, and 67 grams of protein.

This is a great macronutrient ratio as it offers high protein for moderate carbs and low fat.

This is a trait that is very hard to find in many Asian foods so finding a nutrition label like this is truly a hidden gem. 

When you want to stay healthy, the goal is find a good macronutrient ratio that does not stuff you with excess carbs and fats.

Adding foods like Gamjatang in the mix really makes for a good meal to eat as there is a whopping 67 grams of protein in a single serving of two cups. 

The reason why this is such a good choice when dieting is because it allows you to save your carbs and fats for something the foods that you love.

It creates room for other foods which makes your diet more flexible and manageable when the calories drop week by week. 

A tip when eating your favorite foods is to make sure each meal is packed with some sort of protein.

Carbs and fats are the two easiest macronutrients to eat so be mindful of these and make sure that they are thoroughly controlled by the end of each day. 

Korean food is filled with foods like this so you need to know which ones are great to eat when dieting.

Here is an article you can check out if you want to know more about healthy Korean foods that allow you to have a more flexible diet when shedding fat. 

https://www.aspirefitnesswalnut.com/25-healthy-korean-foods-for-weight-loss

Now that we know about the nutrition label of a typical Gamjatang dish, let’s take a look at the importance of staying consistent with your workouts and adding lots of activity when eating your favorite foods. 

Tip 3: Make Sure To Workout & Stay Active While Eating Gamjatang 

The goal of dieting is to make sure we add as much as food possible whenever we cut down on calories.

It can be difficult to maintain a low calorie diet when dropping fat so avoiding a massive drop in calories will be beneficial for anyone looking to shred down within the year. 

So, there are really two options you can take when you diet.

You can continue to drop your calories even further until you’ve reached your goals or you can add some much needed activity into your day to day life so calories can be maintained and your favorite foods can still be in the picture. 

Option 2 sounds much more desirable to me and, if you love to eat your favorite foods like Gamjatang when dieting, I’m sure it will be for you as well.

Your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is how many calories your body burns in a day.

Out of your entire TDEE, 15-30% is accounted for by a section called TEPA which stands for the Thermic Effect of Physical Activity. 

Simply put, you are in control of up to 30% of the calories your body burns in a day!

This means that we have the choice to fill our days with activity which allows us to add in more food throughout the weight loss process.

More calories means more room for some of your favorite foods which translates to a successful weight loss journey over time. 

The second factor that will allow us to eat more calories throughout our fitness journey is the addition of muscle onto the body.

Muscle burns calories at rest which means that we are burning more calories when we carry more muscle on our frame. 

I like to think of working out as leveling up in a video game.

The stronger you get, the higher level you become and the more food you can add into your diet while staying lean.

It’s a fun way of thinking of working out and really adds some perspective of bettering yourself throughout the process. 

Resistance training is necessary in order to build muscle; however, it can be intimidating to start if you’re completely new to it.

It sure was for me but, as I kept going at it for years, I really fell in love with resistance training.

Our solution is to offer a simple workout plan that is both effective in building muscle and teaching you all of the functions of each muscle group.

Here is a workout plan you can start which will eventually lead to a higher calorie diet over time. 

WOMEN

Monday (Full Upper): 

• Seated Shoulder Press: 4x20 

• Lateral Raises: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Dumbbell Row: 3x10

• Dumbbell Fly: 3x10 

• Knee Push Ups: 4x20

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

Wednesday (Back/Hamstrings/Biceps) 

• Assisted Pull Ups: 3x10

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12 

• Cable Row: 4x15

• Stiff Leg Deadlift: 4x15

• Hamstring Curl: 4x15

• Bicep Curls: 3x10

• Hammer Curls: 3x10

Friday: (Legs/Butt/Abs): 

• Squats: 5x5 

• Goblet Squats: 4x20

• Glute Bridge: 4x20

• Glute Kickbacks: 4x20 each leg

• Jump Squats: 4x20

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Leg Lifts: 3x35

MEN 

Mon: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs (Push Day) 

• Bench Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Dumbbell Press: 4 sets 12 reps

• Shoulder Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Lateral Raises: 3 sets 15 reps

• Triceps Rope Push Down: 3 sets 15 reps

• Cable Crunches: 4 sets 15 reps 

Wed: Legs & Abs

• Goblet Squats: 4 sets 20 reps

• Weighted Walking Lunges: 2 sets 20 steps

• Stiff Leg DeadLift (Romanian Deadlift): 4 sets 15 reps

• Glute Bridges With Weight: 4 sets 20 reps

• Jumping Squats With Resistance Bands: 5 sets 20 reps

• Weighted Sit Ups: 4 sets 25 reps

• Weighted Toe Touches: 4 sets 25 reps

Fri: Back & Biceps (Pull Day)

• Assisted Pull Ups: 3 sets 10 reps

• Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets 12 reps

• Dumbbell Rows: 4 sets 10 reps (Each Side)

• Seated Cable Rows: 4 sets 15 reps

• Bicep Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Hammer Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

Resistance training was really the last piece of the puzzle that I failed to implement into my life and is something that I wish I got into much sooner.

Muscle will really go a long way and it looks great too!

Make sure you look up these workouts online or find yourself a trainer who can show you how to build some quality muscle over the months of training. 

Now that we know the importance of muscle we need to make sure we stay on track with our workouts.

Consistency and longevity are the two key factors when building muscle so there will be some commitment involved.

You can either go to the gym or build one for yourself.

It really just comes down to 3 pieces of equipment that you need to do most workouts.

These three are the workout bench, dumbbells, and gym flooring.

Check out our recommended gear page to see our best picks for these pieces of equipment here. 

https://www.aspirefitnesswalnut.com/home-workout-equipment

If a home gym is not for you then getting a membership somewhere works too.

As long as you are starting your muscle building journey, we’re happy! (1)

Stick with it for the long run and you’ll see how amazing the results can be. 

There It Is! 

In this article, we went over what goes inside your favorite Korean stew and what you can expect to find in its nutrition label.

Gamjatang is one of those rare dishes that seems loaded with fats and carbs but is actually a great source of protein and has a great balance of macronutrients. 

If you want to learn more about your favorite foods, then make sure to check out our other blogs where we go over everything you need to know to stay fit and healthy. 

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