Is Naengmyeon Healthy? (3 Tips For Weight Loss) 

If you’ve ever had cold noodles, then you’re in for a treat with Naengmyun.

Naengmyun has all the components of flavor that make any dish great.

It’s sour, sweet, savory and refreshing when eaten in warm weather.

It goes great with many different meat dishes such as Galbi and Bulgogi which are great choices to eat if you’re interested in Korean food. 

Although Naengmyun is delicious, is it healthy?

Nengmyun consists mainly of carbs and fat with a very low protein content.

This means that it is hard to fit into a healthy diet as there is no balance within the three macronutrients.

Although it might not be the best option when staying fit, it’s totally possible to eat Naengmyun as long as portions are controlled and eaten in moderation. 

In order to stay healthy while eating Naengmyun we need to know a few things about a typical Naengmyun dish and what you can do to regulate the macronutrients.

Here are three steps you can take to eat Naengmyun and stay healthy. 

1. What Goes Inside Naengmyun? 

2. How Many Calories Are In a Bowl of Naengmyun?

3. How Many Calories Should I Eat & What Workouts Should I Do? 

Let’s look into these three steps and see what we can do in order to stay healthy while eating our favorite Korean noodles. 

1. What Goes Inside Naengmyun? 

Naengmyun is typically a buckwheat noodle dish with a soup base that comes from beef broth and white vinegar.

There are really three components to this dish so let’s go into the details and see what kind of ingredients we can expect. 

Soup Base 

As mentioned above, the foundation of Naengmyun’s flavor comes from beef broth and white vinegar.

You can expect most of the calories, however, to come from sugar and thin slices of Korean pear.

These two ingredients definitely add a ton of flavor but with the cost of adding even more carbs to the mix. 

What’s great about Naengmyun is that it has a ton of fiber due to all the vegetables that go into it.

You can expect to find pickled radishes, onions, cucumbers, sesame seeds and green onions.

These act as both aromatics that flavor the dish and nutritious ingredients that provide a large amount of micronutrients. 

Compared to many other Asian noodle dishes, however, Naengmyun is on the top of the list when it comes to calories and overall nutrition.

Let’s take a look at the toppings and see what we can find.

Toppings

Toppings usually consist of a whole egg that is boiled and served as garnish.

You can also expect diced cucumbers which add a much needed freshness to the dish.

As for the meats you can find small pieces of skirt or chuck that are pretty tough as many Naengmyun is a dish that does not rely on fats for its flavor. 

Overall, the toppings aren’t really the problem in the dish and actually add a much needed crunch and some proteins.

Let’s take a look at the noodles which you can expect to be the highest caloric ingredient in this list. 

Noodles 

The majority of the calories you receive from Naengmyun is going to come from the noodles.

There are generally two types of noodles used in Naengmyun which are either soba noodles or buckwheat noodles.

Both are very thin and chewy which really pairs well with the subtle flavors you get from the light broth.

If they were thicker, they would add more calories and be unseasoned as they would not catch the soup well. 

What’s great about this dish is that it does not use egg noodles like many other Asian noodle dishes do.

Egg noodles contain both fat and carbs whereas soba or buckwheat noodles only have carbs generally.

This means we can save on calories and still have an amazing meal.

Let’s take a look at the calories of a typical bowl of Naengmyun and see how we can fit it into our daily diets. 

2. How Many Calories Are In a Bowl of Naengmyun? 

Now that we know what goes inside a bowl of Naengmyun, let’s take a look at the nutrition facts and see what kind of balance it has in terms of macronutrients.

For every 5.1 grams of fat, there are 87.8 grams of carbs and 14.1 grams of protein.

As you can see the calories mainly come from carbs as there is a whopping 88 grams per serving. 

When you look at the nutrition label of foods, you want to be aware of what foods give you what macronutrient.

For example, when you see noodles, you can generally expect a lot of carbs coming from that meal.

You’ve probably heard that carbs are out to get you and are the main cause of fat gain.

This is false as carbs are really there to provide energy to fuel our everyday function. 

It is simply the act of overeating carbs that encourage weight gain which means we have to be mindful of how much we consume in a day.

Rather than specifically pointing the fingers to carbs, we really shouldn’t be overeating any of the three macronutrients as they all have potential to cause weight gain when overeaten. 

There’s a concept called energy balance which dictates how we look and feel.

If you are eating at a surplus of calories (you burn less calories than you consume) then you will be gaining weight. 

If you are eating at a deficit of calories (you burn more calories than you consume) then you will be losing weight.

If you are eating at a maintenance of calories (you burn as many calories as you consume) then you will be maintaining weight. 

This is really the principle we should be focusing on the next time we wonder whether or not a food is healthy or good to eat when dieting.

We should be looking at the calories of certain foods we eat and figure out if it will exceed our daily allotted intake. 

Let’s take a deeper look into the importance of calories, working out, and activity level which all have a huge impact on determining which foods we need to eat in order to stay healthy. 

3. How Many Calories Should I Eat & What Workouts Should I Do? 

Understanding how many calories you need to eat in a day means understanding how to control your body composition.

If you want to lose fat, then you must be eating at a deficit of calories.

If you want to gain fat (or muscle), then you must be eating at a surplus of calories.

Calories are the foundation of a healthy diet and come before choosing foods that seem healthy. 

So, how many calories should we be eating in a day?

Well, it comes down to many factors but determining your calories really comes from trial and error.

It’s really a numbers game that you should be playing everyday which will really make the biggest difference in your fitness goals. 

There are two methods you can use to get a rough estimate of calories.

The first is to use an online TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) calculator and choose whichever goal you’d like (gaining, losing, maintaining). 

If your goal is weight loss, then the second method is to simply multiply your bodyweight by 12 and see what that number gives you.

For example, a 130 pound female that wants to lose weight should be eating around 1,560 kcals in order to lose weight.

For some of you, this might be the perfect number. For others it might be too high or too low. 

If weight loss does not occur, then it is too high which means you need to be dropping calories by 100 weekly until you see some weight loss.

If weight loss occurs too quickly, then it is too low which can lead to a quicker plateau along with a dead end as you’ll need to continue to starve yourself until you progress further. 

The trick here is to be eating as much as you can while losing 1-2 pounds per week.

The way we accomplish this is by adding muscle to our frame and by staying active throughout our lives. 

When we eat foods like Naengmyun, we should expect a lot of carbs coming from the meal.

The way we utilize the calories is to allow our body to utilize them through our workouts and whatever movement we plan to do in a day. 

We should really be focusing on controlling our calories, having a consistent workout schedule where we build some quality muscle, and staying active to allow our bodies to utilize the food we’ve eaten.

If you want a more in-depth article on how to get a six pack or flat stomach, then make sure to check this post out where we go over the step by step process of getting to your goals. 

https://www.aspirefitnesswalnut.com/how-to-actually-get-a-six-pack-after-30

Now go out there and stay active! 

There It Is! 

In this article we looked into what goes into Naengmyun and how many calories we can expect a typical bowl to have.

We also discussed the importance of counting calories, building muscle, and staying active on a day to day basis. 

If you enjoyed the article and want to know more about healthy Asian foods, then make sure to check out our other articles where we dive into what foods we should be eating and what foods we should avoid. 

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