You Need to Know What's in that Smoothie Bowl

Smoothie Bowls are on fuego right now! But are they really that healthful or good for us?

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

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

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

Recipe:

• 170 grams Greek Gods Honey Yogurt, Partially Frozen
• 100 grams frozen blueberries
• 9 grams Nutella
• 5 grams chia seeds
• 10 ml maple syrup
• 50 grams chopped fresh apples

Whir together the yogurt, blueberries and Nutella.