How Healthy Are Açaí Bowls?

As a more and more people are realizing the consequences of unhealthy eating, they are constantly trying to find new foods that are tasty, nutritious, and of course, healthy! Many people previously fell in love with superfoods like kale, avocado, and goji berries and now açaí berries are the new phenomenon. Açaí bowls are a new snack that have been very popular because people love its taste, easiness, and nutritional benefits. But are açaí bowls really good for you?

Some people are probably asking, what are açaí bowls? An açaí bowl is a fruit-based snack made from açaí berries. This part is used as the base of the bowl and is the most nutritional part. Açaí berries are one of the healthiest berries because they are energy boosting and have many antioxidants. This berry is grown in the rainforests of the Amazon and is an indigenous fruit in this area. They are considered the Brazilian “super fruit” because they are very low in sugar but also loaded with vitamins and may have links to limiting cancer cells in your body. Although this fruit is pretty expensive, it contains a lot of fiber, monounsaturated fats, iron, calcium, fiber, vitamin A, and anthocyanins, justifying the cost.

It is best to use actual açaí berries in juices and bowls but because that is inconvenient for most people and shops, they use packaged purees instead. Both still are full of vitamins and antioxidants, but the packaged blends and purees have a lot more sugar! This is an issue that most people are not aware of! In addition to the sugar in these packages, everyone loves their bowls with toppings that include strawberries, granola, bananas, honey, and coconut. Though it may seem that none of these products have much sugar in them, all of them added together have way too much sugar for someone to be eating every day! Most of the açaí bowls that people eat have at least 40 grams of sugar and 360 calories! According to the FDA, people should only have 50 grams of sugar in a day! People also like putting chocolate, nutella, and peanut butter in their bowl, which makes the sugar grams even higher.

These treats are very tasty and are a great snack, but not for every day. They are perfect if you want a quick breakfast option and need a lot of energy for that day. Making some simple changes including cutting down the amount of the açaí bowl you eat can really help limit your sugar intake. You can also limit all of the toppings and simply add some fruits and granola. It is not very smart to fill your açaí bowls with sugary toppings like nutella or chocolate syrup. The best option, if you are in love with this food, is to make it at home. That way you can control the amount of sugar you eat. Numerous websites have recipes that you can try at home. Some interesting options to try are berry beet açaí bowls, strawberry nectarine açaí bowls, and blackberry coconut açaí bowls. As Ilana Muhlstein, a registered dietitian in California, explained, “You should really look at açaí bowls as more of an occasional treat, not something you’d have as a meal.” It is better to look at these bowls as an alternative to ice cream or cookies rather than your daily breakfast. So, the next time you get an açaí bowl think about your portion size and toppings and you’ll feel even better about what you are eating! If you haven’t tried one, be sure to have one soon because I’m sure you’ll fall in love with it, just like everyone else has!

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