superfood bowl

Superfood bowls are neither a "universal antidote to health" promoted by merchants, nor are they purely IQ marketing gimmicks - they are essentially a convenient meal that combines high-nutrient-dense ingredients. Whether it is worth it or useful depends on how you choose and mix it.

The first time I came into contact with this thing was in a light food restaurant in Shanghai in 2019. At that time, a bowl cost 58, so I gritted my teeth and bought it. After eating it, my first reaction was "Isn't this just a pile of washed vegetables and fruits in a bowl?" ”Later, when I was cooking at home and working on a few projects, I realized that the advantage of this thing is that it really saves time. You don’t have to think about the combination of meat and vegetables. You just grab a few highly nutritious items and pile them together, and you can cook it in ten minutes. You don’t have to wash a bunch of pots and pans after eating.

I can understand the two factions quarreling fiercely on the Internet right now. I think it's an IQ tax. Most of them have met merchants who replace ordinary spinach and pumpkin with "superfoods" and charge a premium of three times. Ingredients that can be bought for three yuan, put into a log bowl and sprinkle two handfuls of chia seeds, can be sold for thirty or forty. Everyone thinks it's a scam. ； Most of the people who find it useful are actually adjusting their diet structure by relying on this combination. For example, before eating takeout that was high in oil and salt, I replaced it with a superfood bowl that I made myself. The dietary fiber is enough and the burden on the gastrointestinal tract is lightened, so I naturally find it useful.

Here we must first clarify an objective fact: the nutrition community has never officially recognized the concept of "superfood". This term was first used by the food industry to market high-nutrient-dense ingredients, but is classified as a "superfood" category, such as kale, quinoa, chia seeds, Blueberries do have more outstanding nutritional performance among similar ingredients - for example, the vitamin C content per 100g of kale is twice that of oranges of the same weight, and the dietary fiber is three times that of cabbage. This is clearly marked in the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) food database, and it is not a boast.

My friends with different eating habits can all have fun with this bowl. Ketogenic friends make superfood bowls without using grains at all. The base is made with grated cauliflower and stir-fried until half-cooked. Topped with avocado, fried bacon, Brie cheese, and sprinkled with toasted almond slices. The whole bowl contains less than 10g of carbohydrates, which fully meets the requirements of ketosis. ； For those who are working out and building muscle, half of the bowl is quinoa, and the other half is skinless chicken thighs, two boiled egg whites, small tomatoes and a little lettuce. The protein is enough and the blood sugar rises slowly. I can eat a bowl before training and practice for two hours without feeling dizzy. ； For someone with a picky taste, I sometimes make sweet dishes and sometimes savory ones. For sweet dishes, I use sugar-free Greek yogurt as a base, sprinkle with oatmeal brittle, chia seeds, frozen blueberries, and add a few almonds. For savory dishes, I use cold-soaked quinoa as a base, top with blanched spinach, pan-fried pangasius, and sprinkle with some chopped seaweed and low-sodium soy sauce. It tastes much more fragrant than a dry salad.

Don't believe it, I've been through a lot of pitfalls before. Last year, I followed the trend and bought the prepackaged superfood bowl powder. It was said that you can drink it with just boiling water. One bag cost more than 30 yuan. When I bought it, I looked at the ingredient list. The first one was maltodextrin. The so-called superfood powder added up to less than 5%. It was so sweet that I threw it away after drinking it twice. There are also those sold by internet celebrity stores that add a lot of maple syrup, honey, and even sprinkled with chocolate chips in order to cater to the public's taste. A bowl of it has almost 700 calories, which is higher than eating a McDonald's pan-fried burger. If you want to lose weight through this, you are simply overthinking it. A while ago, I had a colleague who bought a superfood bowl from the store every day in order to lose weight. He gained three pounds in half a month. After looking through the store's nutritional information, he found out that the salad dressing alone in the bowl was 20g, which was full of calories.

In fact, there is really no need to dwell on the word "super". If you are willing to do the hard work, you can use leftover roasted sweet potatoes, blanch spinach, add a hard-boiled egg, and sprinkle some sesame seeds at home, and it will be your own super food bowl.； If you find it troublesome, there is no need to pay a premium of dozens of yuan for this concept. Pay more attention to eating enough vegetables and protein when eating, and eat less high-fat and high-sugar foods, which is better than anything else. Oh, by the way, if this is your first time making it, don’t add too many chia seeds. The first time I didn’t count, I added 20g of chia seeds, and I was bloated all afternoon after drinking it. Don’t follow me.