Is Tempura Vegan? (3 Tips for Weight Loss)

Originating in Japan, Tempura is a dish that consists of using a special batter to coat either seafood, vegetable, or a type of meat, and then deep-frying in a method similar to fritters.

This unique method of cooking makes tempura a delicious snack and tastes even more delicious when popularly dipped in soy sauce. 

You may be wondering is Tempura vegan? 

Tempura can definitely be a vegan dish by simply deep-frying vegetables rather than seafood or meat. However, certain restaurants or recipes call for eggs as part of the batter so it is important to be aware of this possibility. 

However, if your goal is weight loss, is Tempura considered healthy? Because the vegetables in Tempura are deep-fried, this dish is very high in fat and thus making this a rather high-calorie dish. Tempura is definitely not considered healthy, but we will be teaching you how to incorporate Tempura into your diet!

In this article, we will be discussing how to make your tempura vegan as well as methods to incorporate tempura into your diet while still losing weight.

Here are 3 tips you can take away from this article: 

1. Understand the nutrition behind tempura

2. How to make your vegan tempura dish healthier

3. Make sure you are getting enough protein

Let’s take a deeper look into each of these steps!

Tip 1: Understand the Nutrition Behind Tempura

There are many ways to determine whether or not a food is suitable for your diet by simply looking at the nutritional information and facts.

By educating yourself on how to analyze the calories and macronutrients of protein, fat, and carbohydrates, of the foods that you are consuming, is essential to a successful diet.

With that being said, let us take a look at the nutritional information of a typical Vegan Tempura dish and figure out why this is considered a food to avoid when you are trying to lose weight: 

One serving of vegetable tempura has around 270 calories and has a total of 19 grams of fat, 24 grams of carbohydrates, and 5 grams of protein. 

This dish is very high in fat from the oil from the deep-frying, which makes up around 170 calories of the 270.

That means that this dish is over 60% fat content, making it not the ideal dish for weight loss. T

empura is also usually paired with a type of sauce that ends up adding even more calories to your dish!

When aiming to eat foods that are ideal for a diet, you want to try eating foods that have a 1:3 ratio when comparing fats to protein (or carbohydrates).

Since fats have 9 calories per gram compared to carbohydrates and proteins with only 4 calories per gram, eating too much fat can greatly increase your daily caloric intake. 

You can see how for tempura the fat to protein ratio is very off and there is pretty much little to no protein in this dish.

If you are vegan, it is important to find foods that are higher in protein since plant-based products usually do not contain that many in the first place.

Tip 2: How to Make Your Vegan Tempura Dish Healthier

The reason why tempura is such a high caloric dish is that the method of cooking tempura involves using a ton of oil.

By deep frying foods, these once healthy vegetables just packed on a ton of calories in each bite!

A very easy and delicious way to make your vegan tempura without having to deep fry it is to air fry it instead!

This method does not use any oil at all and you can still get that same delicious crispy texture outside of the vegetables of your choice.

Some of the best vegetables you can use to make your tempura include zucchini, broccoli, and asparagus which are all super low calorie and higher in protein vegetables.

Another delicious food you can make into tempura is mushroom which is also very low in calories. 

Here is a recipe that you can use to make your own healthier version of the vegan tempura dish! (1) 

Tip 3: Make Sure You are Getting Enough Protein 

When you are on a vegan diet, it is very important to make sure you are getting enough protein in your diet not just for weight loss purposes but to make sure you do not become protein deficient.

Ideally, you want to be eating around the same amount of protein as your body weight.

Since you do not have the option of consuming animal products, your protein sources have to come from plant-based foods which may be difficult to find at times.

However, eating protein-rich is important to keep you full and satiated for the rest of the day.

Protein is an important macronutrient to help you retain muscle to give you a lean and athletic looking aesthetic.

We will discuss in further detail later on in this article the importance of building muscle. 

Some common vegan foods high in protein include the following:

Broccoli

This is one of my favorite foods to incorporate into my diet because it is high in protein and low in calories.

Since broccoli is very voluminous, you can eat a large amount of broccoli for just a few calories and it will keep you full.

Watercress

Watercress is an extremely low-calorie green that is only 4 calories for an entire cup! The reason why watercress is so low in calories is that it is mainly made of water.

This high fibrous vegetable is also mainly protein so it is also a great way to add a bit of additional protein into your diet. 

Tofu

Tofu is a very popular substitute for meat in the vegan industry and for good reason too.

This is another vegan option that is relatively high in protein but also has a lot of fat as well, so it is important to portion size your tofu. 

Chickpeas

Chickpeas are a dominant carbohydrate food that is higher in protein so it is a great addition to your diet.

Instead of eating rice which is purely just carbohydrates, try using chickpeas instead to increase your total daily protein intake.

Vegan Protein Powder

Plenty of companies now sell vegan versions of protein powder and is a great way to easily incorporate some protein into your diet.

If you do not like the taste of just the protein powder, I love blending in some fruits, like strawberries and blueberries, as well as some almond milk and ice to make it taste like a delicious smoothie. 

Now that you know the nutritional information behind tempura as well as easy methods on how to make it vegan, you can make your own healthier version of tempura and learn how to incorporate this delicious food into your diet!

Remember, weight loss does not need to be a restrictive and painful process.

By not limiting yourself to just a small amount of foods, you can maintain a much more sustainable and successful diet.

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!

Your resting metabolic rate is also part of your TDEE (Total Daily Calorie Expenditure) which is the total amount of calories you burn throughout the day. 

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! 

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

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