Why Too Many Acai Berry Bowls Could Be A Bad Thing

I don’t know about you, but everywhere I look I’m bombarded by images of açai berry bowls. Don’t get me wrong, they look amazing! They’re super colorful, and just looking at them makes you feel healthier. People are eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I can see the appeal.

But what if I were to tell you that those berry bowls you love so much are actually not that good for you?

You heard me right. The entire hype around these colorful bowls are unjustified, and for one reason: the sugar.

Let’s break it down.

Let’s say your recipe looks something like this:

Now just to preface, there’s nothing in here that’s excessively sweet. There are no artificial sweeteners, the only sweetener is a tablespoon of honey. I would even argue this is one of the more tame bowls when it comes to what’s in it (it gets worse when you eat out).

And all of this comes out to:

50 GRAMS OF SUGAR!!!

For a 500 gram bowl!!! That means 1/10th of the bowl is sugar. That’s insane!

And that right there is why açai bowls are not the ideal breakfast food as people would lead you to believe.

Don’t believe me? Sugar has been a proven factor in gaining weight. It’s not filling, it leads to sugar crashes, and it lacks any nutrition.

These bowls are not balanced either. If you were to have this for an actual meal, the bowls alone don’t have enough sustenance in them to last you the day!

Every meal needs a balance of carbohydrates, protein, and vitamins/minerals. It’s one of the reasons vegan recipes are the best because a lot of these balances are built in. But if you have something that’s pure fruit, you’re immediately throwing the balance off. Going back to the recipe, for the entire bowl you’re only getting 8.3 grams of protein when the recommended amount is 15-20 grams for breakfast.

Make no mistake, I’m not detracting from the importance of fruit or even the benefits of açai berries in your diet. But there’s a difference between a healthy diet and a balanced diet. Açai bowls are healthy every once in a while and make great snacks! But when it comes to a balanced diet, I’m afraid to say that berry bowls just aren’t the way to go.

Instead of eating açai berry bowls for a meal, think of it as a treat or a dessert. This way you get your fix but you’re not relying on it to be part of a balanced diet. Or if you’re dead set on including berry bowls in your diet, check out this blog post on making your bowls 10x healthier!

So what do you think? Are you on board with the berry bowl hype or totally against it? Let me know down in the comments!