Diet culture, like everything else, has its trends. In the 1990's it was low-fat, processed snacks in 100-calorie bags. We all endured the paleo craze of the mid-2000’s and keto trend of today. It is always something.
In the 1970’s, Vogue published one of our personal favorites - a wine, coffee and cigarette diet. Chablis + cigs? Count us IN!! 😂
Currently trending is the Insta-worthy, colorful and very appealing concept of the smoothie bowl. The basic idea is that you whir up a bunch of frozen fruit and top it with more fruit, crunchy things and healthy fats. No debate - they are gorgeous to look at. However, in looking at some of the more popular recipes, it became very evident to us that some of these bowls went way over the top calorically. They also inherently contain a lot of nutrient density.
Given that these smoothie bowls are often perceived as a healthier alternative to more traditional snacks than something like ice cream, we assessed the nutrition for two of the smoothie bowl recipes included in this Tasty article. We ran them through our professional nutrition software and compared the bowls to two very popular commercially available ice creams, looking at several different data points.
Tasty’s Pineapple, Banana and Peach Smoothie Bowl VS Jenny’s Brambleberry Crisp Ice Cream:
Calories: approximately: 570 / per item
Item |
Protein |
Fat |
Total Carbs |
Added Sugars |
Fiber |
Antioxidant Score |
Serving Volume for 570 cals |
Smoothie Bowl |
8 grams |
10 grams |
121 grams |
0 grams |
12.5 grams |
35/100 |
20 ounces |
Jeni’s Brambleberry Crisp Ice Cream |
8 grams |
30 grams |
66 grams |
40 grams |
0 grams |
0/100 |
7 ounces |
Winner |
TIE, but meh for low protein on both |
Smoothie |
Jeni’s |
Smoothie |
Smoothie |
Smoothie |
Smoothie |
Right away you can see that calorie-for-calorie, you do get almost 3 times as much food for the same caloric value on the smoothie bowl. We talked to Heather Refenes, a nutrition coach with My Body Tutor, and she pointed out that, ounce for ounce, smoothie bowls are “lower in calories than ice cream”, but she would consider them “a treat with nutrition in them,” rather than a daily staple. She thought they were a good tool for behavior changes, but probably not an everyday thing.
Tasty’s Chocolaty Peanut Butter Smoothie Bowl VS that OG temptress, Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey:
Calories: About 700 per item
Item |
Protein |
Fat |
Total Carbs |
Added Sugars |
Fiber |
Antioxidant Score |
Serving Volume for 700 cals |
Smoothie |
19 grams |
37 grams |
80 grams |
2 grams |
13.5 grams |
35/100 |
17 ounces |
Chunky Monkey |
13 grams |
47 grams |
56 grams |
56 grams |
2.5 grams |
15/100 |
9.7 ounces |
Winner |
Smoothie |
Smoothie but both are high |
Chunky Monkey |
Smoothie |
Smoothie |
Smoothie |
Smoothie |
Again, you get more food for the same amount of calories on the smoothie bowl here, but the carbs are very high.
The advantage to smoothie bowls, though, is that, because you are making them from scratch, you can customize them however you want. We also reached out to Caylea Borges, a nutrition coach who runs her own company Keep It Simple Nutrition, and she suggested modifying some of these recipes by swapping out some of the fruit for ice and/or lower carb yogurt. She agreed that they were beautiful to look at and likes them as an “ultimate upgrade to the traditional smoothie”, with a “create your own” component that makes the possibilities endless.
We experimented with making our own smoothie bowl and came up with the following for a more macro-friendly option:
Blueberry Nutella Smoothie Bowl
Calories: 360
Item |
Protein |
Fat |
Carbs |
Added Sugars |
Fiber |
Antioxidant Score |
Serving Volume |
Arya Blueberry Chia Smoothie Bowl |
8 grams |
18 grams |
58 grams |
34 grams |
5 grams |
20/100 |
10.5 ounces |
Recipe:
Whir together the yogurt, blueberries and Nutella.
A quick internet search on “how to stay on track during the holidays” reveals a plethora of rather useless tips: drink a lot of water! Bring your own food! Eat a meal before! Only eat fruit! The Mayo Clinic even goes so far as to recommend joining a weight management program. Thanks Mayo Clinic!
All this is great ON PAPER, but you know that by 7:30 PM you are going to be 3 glasses of Sauvy B deep, glancing lovingly at a plate of salted caramel brownies, trying to avoid political discussions and nosy relatives asking about your relationship status, and much, much more.
How do we cope?
In the nutrition world, the time between Halloween and New Year’s Eve is informally known as “national eating season.” Let’s look at a few strategies that could potentially help, during eating season and beyond.
Understand the difference between emotional cravings and physical hunger.
Ask yourself the following questions. If the answer is yes to any of them, keep reading:
Know that emotional hunger comes on quickly and is often centered around one type of food. Anyone ever spend 3 hours thinking about Doritos and trying to talk yourself out of eating them? That is emotional hunger. Physical hunger comes on more gradually and you can satisfy it with a meal that is healthful and well balanced, not a specific food. Social influences and childhood memories often trigger emotional eating around the holidays, so always give yourself some time to check in with yourself here.
Adopt a “maintain not gain” point of view.
Unless you absolutely must lose weight for a weight classed competition or are dealing with extreme obesity that is life-threatening, October through December is a very difficult time to lose weight or to begin a new program. It can be done, it is just difficult. At Shebnation® we often coach our clients to just maintain the progress they made over the year and remain stable during this time.
With a little work, you can have those salted caramel brownies (or Doritos) and still maintain your current bodyweight, all the while enjoying celebrations with relatives and loved ones (and maybe those loved ones you love a little less).
Understand and acknowledge where your personal “minefields” might be and avoid stepping on them.
Say you are going to spend 3 weeks with your family, outside your regular routine and away from your regularly scheduled foods. Note the times and places where nutrition might get out of hand and try to minimize multiple “minefields” in one day.
For example, your parents always order pizza Christmas Eve. But your Aunty Evelyn likes to do an ice cream sundae run that afternoon with the grandkids, and breakfast is always cinnamon rolls and bacon. All these are fine on their own, but multiple scenarios like this over multiple days will probably result in weight gain and general feelings of bloat and indigestion.
Decide which tradition is most important (and fun) for you and say “yes” to that, then courteously decline the other two. You can still participate without eating all the things. This is a time of year when we cannot really afford to eat whatever the heck we want (aka "go full a$$hole") for 3 months - that’s 25% of the entire year. When you think about the holidays in the big picture of your goals, it may be easier to say no to that cookie you really didn’t want in the first place.
Sheb is the Arya® Resident Nutrition Coach and record holding powerlifter. Her company, Shebnation® Nutrition was founded in 2017 and she has helped countless people reach their nutrition and weight loss goals, all the while fostering an environment of science based knowledge and empathetic support for her clients. If you're interested in learning more about Shebnation Nutrition, visit Shebnation.com or find @Shebnation on Instagram.
]]>There are many “detox” diets out there that promise miraculous things. Rapid weight loss, cellulite reduction, a fresh mind brimming with clarity, renewed metabolic function, the cleansing of "stored poop" and a host of other appealing sounding benefits. And while you may temporarily see some weight loss (the rest of the claims are dubious at best), here is a host of reasons why we need to avoid 🛑, avoid 🚫, avoid ✋!
Whenever you alight upon a diet that promises miraculous transformation within a short amount of time, just remember that feeding yourself properly and intelligently, in a mindful and regular manner is the key to long term health. Weight management and wellbeing are achieved over long periods of time with consistency and an eye on proper nutrition. Not spending 6 grim days being hangry, unhappy maniac. No one wants, or needs, that - so make sure you're taking care of yourselves out there.
Sheb is the Arya® Resident Nutrition Coach and record holding powerlifter. Her company, Shebnation® Nutrition was founded in 2017 and she has helped countless people reach their nutrition and weight loss goals, all the while fostering an environment of science based knowledge and empathetic support for her clients. If you're interested in learning more about Shebnation Nutrition, visit Shebnation.com or find @Shebnation on Instagram.
]]>Real talk: no, protein will not make you bulky. Only your type of workout can achieve this result.
In fact, limiting dietary protein for fear that it will cause you to bulk or grow huge muscles is one of the biggest nutrition mistakes you can make. Let’s take a quick look into protein’s role in your diet, and the truth about how muscle growth (also called hypertrophy) actually works.
What is protein and what is its role in a balanced diet?
Protein is one of three macronutrients (along with fat and carbohydrates) that are the main nutrients that fuel our bodies and are required for the structure, function, and regulation of the body’s tissues and organs. Once protein is consumed, it is broken down into building blocks called amino acids. These amino acids perform various functions within the body, including muscle repair.
Muscle hypertrophy, or growth, occurs when the fibers of the muscles sustain damage or injury. The body repairs damaged fibers by fusing them, which increases the mass and size of the muscles. Protein aids in the repair and growth of muscles in this case. However, this type of muscle fiber tearing is usually achieved by purposefully following a bodybuilding, powerlifting or weightlifting program. It rarely happens by accident or by eating 5 ounces of chicken breast at lunch. Muscle growth is ONLY achieved only by purposefully breaking down muscle fibers and
building them back up.
So if I am not a lifter or a body builder, why should I bother with all those protein shakes and chicken breasts?
When you eat food, it will fall into one of 3 macronutrient categories: fat, carbohydrates or protein. Of these 3 macronutrients, protein is the most thermic, meaning it requires the body to utilize the most calories in order to break it down into those amino acids we talked about. For every 100 calories of lean protein you eat, the body expends about 20 to 30 calories just to process it. The same amount of carbohydrates expends 5 to 10 calories, and fat between 0 and 3 calories.
And even though we usually think of protein as “the muscle builder”, it really is the "calorie burner". If you are not lifting heavy weights or on a purposeful strength regimen, you will not “accidentally” create bulky muscles. But by adding more protein into your diet, you could see weight loss or body recomposition benefits, simply by shifting some of your calories away from the less thermic carbohydrates and fats and into the more thermic category of lean protein (check out this article for more info on quality carbs). Cool!
When you try adding more lean protein into your diet, let us know how it goes on social media with #ARYAfitforgood. We're big fans of protein!
Sheb is the Arya® Resident Nutrition Coach and record holding powerlifter. Her company, Shebnation® Nutrition was founded in 2017 and she has helped countless people reach their nutrition and weight loss goals, all the while fostering an environment of science based knowledge and empathetic support for her clients. If you're interested in learning more about Shebnation Nutrition, visit Shebnation.com or find @Shebnation on Instagram.
]]>This may be an unpopular opinion - but if you are new to fitness, you should think about not being on any kind of diet until your workout habits are fully entrenched. Change takes time, and when you change too many variables in your life it is easy to set yourself up for failure. These simple tips can help.
]]>This may be an unpopular opinion - but if you are new to fitness, you should think about not being on any kind of diet until your workout habits are fully entrenched. Change takes time, and when you change too many variables in your life it is easy to set yourself up for failure.
The number one biggest diet mistake we see is putting oneself into too severe of a caloric deficit. This promotes hunger, metabolic stress and sets us up for binge type eating. If you are not used to exercise, your body is already burning more calories than it did when you were more sedentary. So, do not add another level of caloric restriction to the mix as that can backfire. Do this instead:
You can even work the above nutrition tips into a simple 4-week program to compliment your new exercise routine to introduce healthy changes gradually to help them stick.
When you try out these tips yourself, let us know on social media with #ARYAfitforgood. And remember that you can make real changes to your health and fitness with small, incremental changes over time. You got this!
Sheb is the Arya® Resident Nutrition Coach and record holding powerlifter. Her company, Shebnation® Nutrition was founded in 2017 and she has helped countless people reach their nutrition and weight loss goals, all the while fostering an environment of science based knowledge and empathetic support for her clients. If you're interested in learning more about Shebnation Nutrition, visit Shebnation.com or find @Shebnation on Instagram.
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