Dietitian Reveals Her 1 Rule To Make Instant Asian Foods Healthier

When Kylie Sakaida was studying to become a dietitian in Boston, the curriculum mirrored what you’d find in various wellness circles online — brightly colored salads, Mediterranean dishes, heaps of kale. These foods were undoubtedly nutritious, but they didn’t leave much room for Sakaida’s cultural cuisine.

A Hawaii native of Japanese and Okinawan descent, Sakaida says food played a big part in her upbringing. In Hawaii, “there’s a lot of local cuisine … that’s a fusion of native Hawaiian, Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, Korean and Portuguese influences, and that includes, rice, noodles, Spam, soy-based sauces,” she tells TODAY.com.

“I really understood that food was deeply tied to community and family and identity,” she says, adding that this notion was further cemented when she rarely saw her beloved rice, tofu and fish in her coursework.

Although she did her best to assimilate, “I always craved the comfort of Asian and cultural dishes that I was raised on, but I just didn’t really know how or where they fit into the idea of health,” she recalls.

In the years since, Sakaid’s figured it out, leading to millions of followers on social media and a new cookbook, So Easy So Good: Delicious Recipes and Expert Tips for Balanced Eating. Not only does she specialize in making popular cultural dishes more nutritious, but she also wants to challenge which foods get to be considered healthy in the first place.

The turning point

Don’t misunderstand — Sakaida enjoys kale as much as the next person, but in her practice, she quickly learned that the foods she found herself recommending weren’t readily available in or desired by the communities she worked with.

While training to become a dietitian, she worked in a hospital that “primarily served low-income, non-English communities,” she says. “I spent a lot of time learning about their cultural foods and working to meet them where they were.”

Sakaida quickly caught on to a pattern: She’d see a patient who needed to make dietary changes because of pre-diabetes or high cholesterol, but they weren’t familiar with or interested in the foods she recommended. She needed to teach them about healthy eating without asking them to give up the foods that mattered to them.

“This experience was a big turning point. I realized that my cultural background wasn’t something that I had to push aside to be a good dietitian. It was actually a strength, and it helped me create more inclusive guidance and shift the conversation around what healthy eating could look like,” Sakaida says.

“So much of my job was not just handing them this handout and telling them that they have to adhere to it, but it was hearing about what foods they like to eat, how it’s prepared, why it’s important to them, how often they eat it, and then trying to do my best to include those foods and also understand the nutritional benefits of those foods to explain that to them.”

For example, she might highlight to patients with pre-diabetes which of their favorite foods can boost fiber or reduce added sugar in their diets.

“So much of it is taking an individual approach that a lot of people might not have the privilege of doing if they don’t work one-on-one with professionals,” she adds.

Meanwhile, Sakaida noticed her own views begin to shift. No longer was the Mediterranean diet gospel. “I started reintroducing more of my own cultural foods back into my life because I think that the highly clean or wellness diet that a lot of people talk about online just wasn’t super sustainable,” she admits.

“I missed that flavor and connection to my roots, and overall, I learned that a healthy diet isn’t about perfection or restriction. It’s really about that balance of sustainability and building a way of eating that works for you long term. For so many people, that includes the cultural foods that we love.”

Much of Sakaida’s professional experience is also informed by the two years she saw a dietitian as a child for avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, or ARFID. The uncommon eating disorder — which gave Sakaida anxiety about eating certain foods because of sensory issues, fear of choking or getting sick — left her malnourished.

“I wasn’t eating. I had no variety in my diet. A lot of what improved my condition … and relationship with food was the dietitian that they brought on,” she says. “Even though this disorder wasn’t widely understood at the time, she was still able to help me nourish my body, gain weight, and also help me see food in a different light.”

As she recovered, she learned to love the foods she now helps others see differently.

Making it work for you

In one video posted on TikTok, Sakaida makes frozen soup dumplings from Trader Joe’s for lunch. “Just in case you couldn’t tell, I’m Asian,” quips Sakaida in the video. “I’ve always loved how delicious and convenient frozen dumplings are. Like most of my favorite foods, it would be unrealistic for me to stop eating them, so here’s how I bump up the nutrition.”

She proceeds to add ingredients including chicken broth, mushrooms, carrots and spinach to a pot in which she later plops in the dumplings. Then, she suggests adding tofu or edamame for additional protein. “Always remember what you can add to, not what you subtract from, your meals,” she concludes.

She takes a similar approach in her video about instant ramen, and in another, she explains why she regularly eats white rice, a staple in many cultures but often labeled unhealthy.

In her social media accounts and book, Sakaida is less interested in challenging longstanding diet advice and more driven by sharing guidance for a wider range of cultural diets.

In fact, she points out that a lot of Asian cuisine already uses basic healthy components to strive for, such as “vegetables, legumes … tofu and mung bean, seaweed, fermented foods. … A lot of these foods are linked to really positive health outcomes, like chronic disease prevention and improved gut health,” she says.

“When you look at the macronutrient profiles, these meals tend to follow a naturally balanced format. You have maybe rice and noodles for your carbs, some sort of fish, which is likely steamed, eggs or tofu or soy for protein, and lots of vegetables for fiber and antioxidants,” Sakaida adds.

Also, Asian dishes are often prepared in smaller portions, which can encourage moderation.

For anyone who doesn’t know where to begin, she offers this formula: Find a dish you love, then consider what you might add to boost its nutrients. For more fiber, try legumes or bok choy; for protein, some eggs, tofu or shredded chicken.

And if you’re looking for more individual advice, it never hurts to reach out to a professional. Sometimes, someone pointing out a small tweak to a dish can make all the difference.

“I think that the more that we know about each other’s foods and each other’s cultures, the more we can help each other,” says Sakaida. “Being able to meet people where they’re at is so important as dietitian.”