Photo Credit: The Girl on Bloor

Buddha Bowls. What are they? Buddha bowls gained a lot of popularity last year mostly because these bowls were beautifully captured all over the internet by food bloggers. The Huffington Post even published an online article titled “2017 Is The Year Of The Buddha Bowl.” These bowls are bright and colorful with lots of textured foods, comprising of a mixture of fresh and roasted vegetables, grains, and protein. So what’s the catch? The bowls are deep and often overflowing which means the portions are more than standard. In addition, the ingredients are calorically dense. A bowl can have anywhere form 1-2 cups of rice/grains, loaded with starchy vegetables, and topped with several sources of fat from seeds, avocados, nuts, and oils. While the ingredients are certainly healthy, the amount of food in a buddha bowl will make it difficult to lose weight.

Photo Credit: Slow Best Cooker

Tomato soup can seem innocent but people forget that it’s not broth-based. It’s a cream-based soup, meaning it will be higher in calories and fat (particularly saturated fats because of the cream). To give you a perspective, a typical bowl of chicken noodle soup at Cosi’s is 190 calories, whereas a bowl of their tomato basil soup will cost you a whopping 600 calories! Let’s not forget that grilled cheese you like to pair it with!

Photo Credit: The Well Floured Kitchen

First, I have to say good job for trying to choose a whole wheat bagel over a white bagel but here is an unknown fact: they’re the same number of calories!

Dunkin Donuts Plain Bagel=310 calories
Dunkin Donuts Whole Wheat Bagel=320 calories

Bagels are one of those staples in the “Standard American Diet” (SAD) and are just easy breakfast foods. However, they’re totally not worth the calories when you’re trying to lose weight. To compare, 1 slice of bread is 80-100 calories. With that said, if one bagel equals 320 calories, then it’s equivalent to 4 slices of bread! When was the last time you sat down and actually ate 4 slices of bread?! Well, if you ate a bagel recently, then I guess you kinda did…

Photo Credit: Cooking Classy

Granola is abundant in every health food aisle at the grocery store but what you don’t know is that Nancy Clark, a popular dietitian in the fitness community, has granola listed on her “weight gain” foods for athletes who are training to meet a certain weight for a particular sport (for example, wrestling). A single cup of granola has at least 400 calories, which is almost a meal for some people. Don’t forget about the sugar and maple syrup that’s added to bind the oats together.

Photo Credit: Reality and Retrospect

Acai bowls are a popular Hawaiian treat that has spread to the mainland. Acai is a fruit that is native to South America and almost resembles a blueberry. It is packed with antioxidants and is rare to find in the states. Some health food stores sell a pureed frozen option. So what makes it a calorie bomb? For one, it fills a bowl, hence the name Acai “bowl,” so the portion is large. Secondly, these bowls are often drizzled with honey, topped with more fruits, and sprinkled with seeds and shredded coconut (also high in calories). Fuel’s acai bowls serves up a whole 485 calories.

Photo Credit: Goya

When I was a nutrition student, coconut milk, coconut water, and coconut juice always confused me. I didn’t even really know that there was a difference. When my classmate finally told me how many calories was in coconut milk, my jaw dropped! One cup of coconut milk has 400 calories. Yes, 4-0-0.

1 cup coconut milk = 400 calories
1 cup coconut juice = 80 calories
1 cup coconut water = 45 calories

Photo Credit: Post

Grape Nuts is a classic American cereal that’s been around for over 100 years. Not only are the ingredients in Grape Nuts healthy, the cereal has no additives or preservatives. If weight is not a concern for you, I would highly encourage you to eat a cereal like this. However, for every cup of grape nuts, you will be consuming 400 calories.