Is Nem Nuong (Vietnamese Sausage Skewers) Healthy? (3 Tips For Weight Loss)

If you have ever seen the sausage skewers served as an appetizer in Vietnamese restaurants, you have probably seen Nem Nuong before.

Nem Noung is a grilled Vietnamese pork sausage that is aromatic, juicy, and just absolutely irresistible.

The secret ingredient? Fat.

It’s what makes Nem Nuong so tender, and the amount you put in is how much flavor you get out of it.

However, you may be wondering, is Nem Nuong healthy?

Due to the high fat content, Nem Nuong is not the ideal food to eat when you are trying to lose weight or stay healthy. Because it is mainly made up of pork fat and oil, this dish is hard to incorporate into your diet if your goal is weight loss. However, just because Nem Nuong is not the healthiest food, this does not mean you can not eat it!

In this article, we will be covering three tips for helping you lose weight while still enjoying your favorite Vietnamese Nem Noung dishes: 

1. Understand How Many Calories are in Nem Nuong

2. Avoid Eating Fatty Foods when Eating Nem Nuong

3. How to Lose Weight When Eating Nem Nuong

Now that you have a good idea of what we will be covering, let’s get started!

Tip 1: Understand How Many Calories are in Nem Nuong 

The most important skill to learn when you are trying to lose weight, is to understand the nutritional information for each food, especially calories.

It is impossible to lose weight without eating in a caloric deficit.

There are only two ways to reach a calorie deficit: either eat less or exercise more. 

In this section, we will be breaking down the nutritional information behind Nem Nuong to help you understand why Nem Nuong is not ideal for weight loss.

One serving of Nem Nuong, which is around 2 pork skewers, has approximately 350 calories, with 26 grams of total fat, 7 grams of carbohydrates, and 20 grams of protein.

As you can see, Nem Nuong is significantly higher in fat compared to the amount of carbohydrates and protein. 

When eating a meat dish, ideally, you want to aim for a 3:1 fat to protein ratio.

The reason why this is the best ratio to aim for is because fat is much higher in calories compared to carbohydrates and protein.

For every gram of fat, there is a total of 9 calories compared to its counterpart (protein) which only has 4 calories per gram. 

As you can see, there is a lot more fat in Nem Nuong compared to the amount of protein that it has.

The reason why Nem Nuong is so fatty is because the two main ingredients are fatty pork and oil.

Fatty pork is very calorically dense because of the amount of fat that it has, and it doesn’t help that Nem Nuong is fried in olive oil.

For every tablespoon of olive oil, there is around 120 calories. That’s a lot of additional calories! 

We want to eat foods higher in protein throughout the day because protein is the best macronutrient to help you build and maintain muscle and also keeps you the most satiated throughout the day.

The reason why you want to maintain muscle is because the more muscle you have on your body frame, the higher your RMR, or Resting Metabolic Rate, will be.

Your RMR is basically the amount of calories you burn when you’re at rest, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn just by sitting there. 

Now that you understand the nutritional information behind Nem Nuong and the importance of high protein and low fat foods, let’s talk about the different Nem Nuong dishes!

Tip 2: Understand Which Nem Nuong Dishes Make You Gain Weight

Although all of these dishes can be incorporated into your diet, some of these options are extremely calorically dense, which makes it difficult to successfully meet your goals.

In this section, we will be ranking the different Nem Noung dishes from most unhealthy to healthy, so you can decide which Nem Nuong dish to make or order:

Most Unhealthy: Bun Nem Nuong Noodle Dish

Bun Nem Nuong is a noodle dish packed with pork balls, herbs, peanuts, cucumbers, daikon radish, and pickled carrots with fish sauce on the side.

The ultimate bomb of flavors. If you’re curious to how it tastes, is it possible to get only a spoonful of it?

Because trust me if you get a bowl, it’ll be finished in no time. When you are on your weight loss journey, it is best to avoid the Bun Nem Nuong Noodle Dish.

For every bowl of Bun Nem Noung, there is approximately 800 calories, with 31 grams of fat, 97 grams of carbohydrates, and 12 grams of protein.

This dish is very high in calories, fat, and carbohydrates, making this a very difficult food to incorporate into your daily intake.

The additional calories come from the rice noodles and sauce that add a bunch of extra carbohydrates to your meal intake.

With almost 100 grams of carbohydrates in just one meal,

Bun Nem Noung is probably not the best food to eat when you are trying to lose weight.

If you are really craving this noodle dish, I highly recommend cutting the portion size in half and pairing it with some steamed vegetables and a lean source of protein. 

In the Middle: Nem Nuong with Rice Paper

It’s always nice to be able to customize what you put into rice paper, and you're saying I can eat Nem Nuong like that too?!

Tempting. I agree.

However, it’s important to see what you can fit into your diet before eating, because you can easily overeat without realizing.

For every serving of Nem Nuong with rice paper, (around 3 rolls), there is 460 calories with 30 grams of fat, 30 grams of carbohydrates, and 20 grams of protein.

WIth a lot less carbohydrates compared to Bun Nem Nuong, Nem Nuong with rice paper is a much better option but still a lot higher in fat than we would like.

Although each rice paper sheet only has around 35 calories, which is very little, be careful when using rice paper sheets because one or two rolls can easily become seven to eight.

This can add a lot of carbohydrates into your meal and easily put you in a caloric surplus.

I also highly recommend using less of the dip because this can also add a lot of extra fat and calories to your meal. 

Least Unhealthy: Nem Nuong Meatball Skewers (w/ Pork Shoulder)

If it means I can eat more Nem Nuong, then I’ll take it.

I completely understand how difficult it is to maintain a healthy diet, but still incorporate your favorite foods.

After understanding how much food you should eat everyday, incorporating Nem Nuong into your diet isn’t so hard after all. 

For every serving of Nem Nuong Meatball Skewers, there is 260 calories with 15 grams of fat, 6 grams of carbohydrates, and 21 grams of protein.

This is actually a pretty good meal that has way less fat and a good amount of protein making it easily incorporable into your diet. 

Compared to the other two options, Nem Nuong Skewers have half the amount of fat and are also lower in carbohydrates.

This higher protein and lower fat option is due to the recipe calling for pork shoulder rather than fatty pork.

Although pork shoulder may not be as juicy as fatty pork, you still get that delicious Nem Nuong flavor and can still enjoy a tender skewer.

Tip 3: Avoid Eating Fatty Foods When Eating Nem Nuong 

Remember to maintain a balanced diet.

Because Nem Nuong is already high in fats, it already takes up a good portion of your recommended daily fat intake. 

If you want to incorporate it into your diet, it is better to eat less fatty foods throughout the day.

This means avoiding foods that will add a lot of additional fat such as avocado, steak, or any oily/fried food. 

Pairing Nem Nuong with vegetables is a great way to guarantee not overeating your carbohydrates, and getting some fiber in. 

Fiber is important for digestion and helps you feel more satiated. It’s also an amazing compliment with Nem Nuong

(honestly, I’m always scared there won’t be enough vegetables).

Vegetables add a lot of volume to your plate making you feel like you’re eating a full meal. 

If you want to eat Nem Nuong, that’s totally fine, but always remember to portion size.

One skewer is usually only around 130 calories, but if you’re not mindful of how much you consume, it can easily become 500-700.

It’s scary how quickly numbers add up, so just always maintain an awareness of your daily intake. 

Since Nem Nuong is not very high in protein, you want to be sure to eat higher protein meals throughout the day.

Foods high in protein include chicken, fish, broccoli, and other lean sources of meat.

If you are trying to lose weight and stay energized throughout the day, I highly recommend adding at least one source of lean protein to all of your meals. 

Now that you know how to understand nutrition labels, what Nem Nuong dishes are best for dieting, and how to adjust your meals accordingly, you can enjoy your favorite Vietnamese foods while still meeting your weight loss goals!

CONCLUSION 

Remember, although nutrition is a huge factor that influences weight loss, it is important to pair this journey with exercise as well. Especially strength training.

Several years of research on the benefits of weight training have shown that individuals that do some sort of consistent resistance training at least 3-5 times a week have shown not only a great amount of weight loss but are also able to keep the weight off! 

The secret to this phenomena is that strength training leads to a build-up of muscle.

Not only does your body recomposition into a more fitting and athletic-looking aesthetic, but having more muscle also increases your resting metabolic rate which essentially means you burn more calories at rest! 

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.

We understand that not everyone has access to a gym membership or feels comfortable starting off in such an intimidating environment.

Although I would strongly recommend that everyone should get a gym membership, don’t worry we got your back!

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! 

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