Instagram-worthy acai bowls look amazing and colorful. It is generally a healthy breakfast meal for everyone. But, not many people know much about acai bowls.
I am here to change that because knowing what you eat is important for your health.
Acai berry puree is the base of this delicious average acai bowl, and not many people have much knowledge about acai berries.
Are acai bowls healthy for breakfast? How many calories in an acai bowl? Is eating acai bowl every day bad? I will answer all these questions in this article.
So, read the rest of this article to find out about the benefits of acai bowls as well as their side effects, if they have any.
What Are Acai Berries?
Acai berries are very small fruits that are reaped from the acai palm trees. These acai palm trees are mostly inherent in the northern part of South America.
These berries look quite like grapes and are very low in sugar. A 100 grams or one cup of acai berries contain 2 grams of sugar.
The Mayo Clinic claims that acai berries are richer in antioxidants than most other popular berries like strawberries, blueberries, and cranberries.
These berries are also very high in calcium, vitamin A, and, most importantly, fiber. There are marketed as superfoods because of their high antioxidant content as well as phytochemicals.
But., the National Institutes of Health says that there has not been enough research with people on acai berries and their health effects.
Nutritional Benefits of Acai Berries
These berries are very nutritious. Let us take a look at the nutrients of 100 grams of frozen acai berries.
- 80 calories
- 2 grams of sugar
- 6 grams of fat
- 5 grams of carbohydrate
- 3 grams of fiber
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin A
- 1.5 grams of saturated fats
Acai Berry Health Benefits
Because of the phytochemicals and powerful antioxidants in acai berries, they are very healthy and nutritious.
Heart Disease
Acai berries are good for the heart as they lower the bad cholesterol in your blood and help improve the condition of your heart by doing so.
So, it is good for anyone with any kind of cardiovascular disease.
Brain Health
Acai berries improve your cognitive function as it helps fight oxidation and inflammation in your brain cells.
Immune System
Acai berries have antioxidants that help combat the free radicals in your body as well as protect the body from different infections.
Weight Management
Acai berries are low in sugar and have a lot of fiber content, which helps you feel fuller and increases your metabolic rates, making it easier to lose weight.
Improved Gut
Acai berries help with digestion as they can remove the toxins in your stomach and body. They even help with constipation and blood sugar.
However, while all this data is very encouraging, we need to do more research on acai berries.
What Are Acai Bowls?
A low-calorie acai bowl is a tasty dish that you can Instagram all day long.
The base of the bowl is what makes an acai bowl, which is a substance that is creamy and purplish with a consistency that is not unlike the frozen yogurt you get at stores.
As acai berries are cultivated from far away, fresh acai berries are rarely found in America. That is why unsweetened acai puree or freeze-dried powders are used to make the base of an acai bowl.
They mix these with a combination of different ingredients like fruit juice, almond milk, frozen fruit, nut butter, and soy milk to get that amazingly delicious taste and consistency.
When they make an acai bowl, they add the frozen puree base to the bottom of the bowl and top it with your preferred toppings like honey, peanut butter, fresh fruit, granola, chopped nuts, dark chocolate, or cacao nibs.
All these ingredients are very nutritious on their own. However, mixed all together, they raise the sugar content of the acai bowl.
Are Acai Bowls Healthy?
When you eat acai berries, they taste similar to unsweetened chocolate and blackberries. To mask that taste, commercially made acai bowls use sugar and artificial syrups in their recipe.
The acai bowl recipe of these commercial brands also has sweetened almond mild, sweetened soy milk, as well as fresh juice, which has more sugar content.
Are acai bowls healthy for diabetics? They can be healthy if you make them yourself or find an alternative brand that does not use sugar and artificial syrup as well as any other sweetened substances.
Calories
The acai bowl calories calculator suggests that there are 211 calories in an acai bowl on average.
How much sugar is in an acai bowl? These acai bowls can have about 21 grams to 62 grams of sugar on average per serving.
The World Health Organisation or WHO suggests that children and adults keep their sugar intake under 10 percent of their entire energy intake.
This means that roughly 45 grams of sugar for an 1800 kcal diet so that you can decrease the chances of being overweight, tooth decay, and obesity.
If you were searching on Google, ‘are acai bowls healthy Reddit?’. Then you would find mixed answers.
The topping used on acai bowls adds more sugar content. These sugar are usually natural sugar from different fruits like sweetened coconut flakes, mangoes, sliced bananas, cranberry, strawberry, and other fruits, but fresh fruit.
You could be consuming dangerous amounts of sugar if you add sweet toppings like chocolate sprinkles and honey, which could amount to 1000 calories per bowl.
Instead of giving you the weight loss benefits of acai berries, you are sabotaging your acai bowl with lots of sugar that are detrimental to your weight goals.
Most men and women need about 2200 kcal and 1800 kcal of calories per day to maintain a bodyweight that is healthy. But having acai bowls that are so high in sugar defeats that purpose.
Additionally, having too much sugar, whether it is from artificial or natural sources, can make you overweight or even obese, which can lead to the risk of diabetes like type 2 diabetes.
However, if you were to consume a healthier acai bowl, you could avoid these unnecessary circumstances altogether.
Last Words
Are acai bowls healthy? Yes and no. the store-bought acai bowls can be really high in sugar and calories. If you are looking to watch your weight, just make yourself one that is healthier.
Otherwise, if you are looking to enjoy a store-bought acai bowl once to try it out unless you are diabetic, I see no harm in it.
