I’m sure some of you are ready to eat well and feel great as the new year progresses like myself after eating and drinking naughty things during the holiday. Its always a great idea to clean up right after you binge rather than accumulating all the toxins and fat, don’t you agree? If you’re like me, its time for us to detoxify our body to get rid of the toxins we have been carrying from the fatty festive foods!
My go to detox and weight loss Japanese Superfood – Konnyaku
Whenever I eat too much acidic foods (naughty foods are all acidic!), I eat Konnyaku which is highly alkalising, great for detox and weight loss!
My go-to Japanese Superfood after binge eating. Left – Konnyaku Potato Right – Various shapes of Konnyaku
What is Konnyaku?
Konnyaku, also known as Konjac, is a type of Japanese food made from Konnyaku potato. It consists of 97% water and has almost no calories, sugar, fat, or protein. It is made of Konnyaku potato, and has a gelatinous texture. Its colour can either be white or gray with specs. It also comes in a lot of different shapes (e.g. noodles or balls) Konnyaku is extremely effective in preventing a range of lifestyle diseases.
How does Konnyaku help detoxify your body and help with weight loss?
It has a high fluid content and is filled with a type of dietary fiber called Glucomannan – This fiber goes directly to the intestines hence it provides sufficient nutrients for the cultivation of healthy bacteria cultures. This in turn helps provide a good balance of healthy cultures in the intestines, improved bowel motility, as well as expels toxins from the body.
- Contains high dietary fiber – Due to the presence of Glucomannan, which helps clean the digestive system by promoting bowel movement. It also absorbs toxic substances, preventing the absorption of toxins into the blood stream. This means it can help reduce the chances of heart disease, high cholestrol levels, gallstone, obesity, constipation, as well as intestinal cancer
- Helps prevent obesity – As Glucomannan has a low calorie content and expends 30 to 50 times in the digestive system, our body will slowly digest it. This helps reduce an individual’s consumption as it gives you the feeling of being full, all while keeping calories low.
- Helps remove toxins – Glucomannan lowers the production of toxins, absorbs the toxins, as well as prevent the absorption of toxins.
- Helps reduce the blood sugar level – It is believed that consuming Konnyaku helps lower the blood sugar level by increasing insulin production. As decreased glucose levels lead to lower insulin levels, this can result in weight loss and decreased fat mass.
Konnyaku’s Health Benefits
There are more health benefits of Konnyaku include:
- Helps lower your cholestrol levels
- Helps lower the blood sugar level
- Balances your diet
One of my tricks to eating Konnyaku
Konnyaku is amazing but it can be hard to eat it every day especially for my hubby and dad. So what I do quite often (I just started doing it last week in Sydney, but I did it everyday when I was in Japan last Oct and Nov) is to cook rice with chopped white konnyaku. You can check out my latest Instagram post here to find out!
In the video, I added Nigari which is great for adding natural magnesium ,but it is a bit hard to buy in Australia – So you can add chopped white Konnyaku OR buy rice-shaped rice in the supermarket (in Australia, you can find a more slender rice-shaped Konnyaku in Woolworths or Coles – Either in the health section or the gluten-free section). Another option is to simply chop up some white konnyaku noodles called Shirataki or process some white Konnyaku sheets in a food processor.
WANT TO START EATING KONNYAKU?
In my JAPANESE SUPERFOODS COOKBOOK and TOP 3 JAPANESE SUPERFOODS FOR NATURAL WEIGHT LOSS, I put konnyaku information you need to know as well as recipes!
If you want to start having konnyaku these books are very helpful!
DO YOU NEED HEALTHY VEGAN COOKING INSPIRATIONS?
Do you know I run a cooking school in Sydney?
You don’t live in Sydney?
Don’t worry, there are two ways to learn Japanese cooking with me.
Online Japanese Cooking Classes and Courses
NEW Japanese online classes are coming soon! For more information, subscribe HERE so you don’t miss out!
ALSO twice per year I run an online Japanese. 30 Day Challenge Course!! The course focuses on weight loss and improving your health! Drop your email address HERE and we’ll notify you about the next challenge!
Plant Based Cookbooks
If you want to cook more easy and tasty Japanese vegan meals using Japanese superfoods – the real key for Japanese health- you can grab my vegan cookbook “Japanese Superfoods” or “Top 3 Japanese Superfoods for Natural Weightloss” or even better, you can get the “Japanese Superfoods combo deal” to master all Japanese Superfoods.
Happy Japanese superfood cooking xx
