Hello listeners. If you were with us last week, you know that I am trying to get healthy and I have started exercising and eating better. Well, it really took a bit of a wake up call for me to do it, but I have recently gotten married and I realized that I wasn't going to look so great in my bathing suit. I started exercising by joining a boxing gym and I have been making better Korean food choices. Last week, I weighed in at an embarrassing 85 kilograms. This week, I am proud to announce that I have lost 1 kilogram so I now weigh in at 84 kilograms. I know I still have a long way to go, but I didn't think that this was going to be an easy journey. I mean if it was, everyone would be thin and healthy.

So...we learned last week that some of the healthy options that you can have such as having brown rice instead of white rice, trying to skip alcohols, but if you must, makgeolli is a better option. Now the king of all Korean foods, is kimchi which comes in at a tiny, 10 calories. Kimchi has got to be one of the world's best foods. I mean you can do kimchi stew for only 186 calories.
So listeners, you are probably wondering if there are other hidden calories in the food that you eat. So...if you love jajamyeong as much as I do, it really hurts me to tell you that you shouldn't eat it. A big bowl has almost 800 calories. A healthier noodle option would be mul naengmyeon or chilled buckwheat noodle soup which has about 400 calories- just don't drink all the broth. Plus buckwheat is not better for you than wheat.

Another dish that is full of calories is Samgyetang, or chicken and ginseng soup. This dish has a whopping 918 calories. Yikes, but keep in mind that it is a whole chicken stuffed with glutinous rice. If you want to escape some of those calories, you could eat the dish without the rice, or you can have dakhanmari, which is the whole chicken soup without the rice.

For those that are on the Paleo diet and are looking for low carb options, than Korean barbecue is a good bet. Just go for non-marinated meats such as pork belly, beef, or duck. For those who are counting calories, Korean pork belly has about 671 calories per 200 grams. However, if you just have this with kimchi and wrapped in greens, its not a bad option. Just remember to skip the soju. Also, a 254 gram serving of galbi gui will have about 566 calories. I know, Korean barbecue is delicious, but it is not the lowest in calories. Good alternatives are steamed chicken which has only 110 calories. A good way to have this is to make ssam, or veggie wraps. Instead of rice or bread to eat it; you should use lettuce to wrap the chicken. You can season it with some ssamjang or hot sauce and then add kimchi, onions, garlic and more and eat the wrap. It's a good way to get your vitamins, your proteins, and your veggies.

Another great thing you can do is try temple cuisine. The food is vegetarian and quite healthy. You would be amazed about what the monks can do with vegetables and beans.