When your 'healthy' lunch has too many calories. :-(

WandaVaughn

So I began this weight loss journey with January 1st. Looked into the healthy eating recipes. Buddha bowls. Healthy, right? I just plugged in the recipe and it sent me beyond my calorie limit (and all other limits, too).
Totally discouraged.
I thought homemade roasted veggies and 1/3 cup of chickpeas with a little tahini sauce drizzled on top would be a sensible lunch, but the calorie counter says not. It says my bowl was almost 2K of calories???

Anybody have any wisdom?

recipe: http://minimalistbaker.com/sweet-potato-chickpea-buddha-bowl/

GemmaM_x

Did you enter the recipe values exactly as they are? It serves 2 or 3, so values should be halved at least. 2000 calories for the entire recipe doesn't sound outwith the realm of possibility, but that's split over 2 or 3 lunches.

KiwiAlexP

The recipe says each portion (it make 3) is:
Serving size: 1/3 of recipe with sauce Calories: 474 Fat: 21g Saturated fat: 2.8g Carbohydrates: 62g Sugar: 7.2g Sodium: 563mg Fiber: 11.4g Protein: 13.2g

CafeRacer808

Yeah, that recipe is for 2-3 servings.

Would also like to point out that "1/3 cup of chickpeas" not the correct approach when you're trying to count calories. Using volumetric measurements like cups is highly inaccurate for solids. You should be weighing all of the solid foods you eat with a food scale, preferably in grams because grams are more accurate than ounces.

Unknown

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janejellyroll

It says at the bottom that 1/3 of the recipe is 474 calories. I didn't use the recipe builder, but based on a couple years logging recipes that looks pretty close to me. Did you make the entire recipe and eat it all? That's going to make a big difference. Or did you swap out some ingredients?

That bowl looks delicious, but tahini sauce can be higher calorie. I was always careful with my portions of it when I was in a deficit. The healthfulness of a meal isn't a great guide to how many calories it's going to have.

cwolfman13

KiwiAlexP wrote: »

The recipe says each portion (it make 3) is:
Serving size: 1/3 of recipe with sauce Calories: 474 Fat: 21g Saturated fat: 2.8g Carbohydrates: 62g Sugar: 7.2g Sodium: 563mg Fiber: 11.4g Protein: 13.2g

Yeah, this...you need to take into account how many servings there are in a full recipe.

amusedmonkey

If you ate the whole recipe I wouldn't be surprised. Tahini alone has 90 calories per tbsp and chickpeas are one of the higher calorie legumes, plus it has 2 tbsp of olive oil which is, well, an oil. You said 1/3 cup of chickpeas so that's nearly 1/6 of the recipe. If you had 1/6 of the recipe I would suspect the bowl to have no more than 300 something calories.

Spliner1969

As with any of these recipes, many of the calories are in the sauce and/or the oil used to fry/sautee the ingredients. Try modifying the recipe to suit your needs.. use less oil, or lower calorie ingredients. Each tbsp of olive oil is 120 cals, and one of the first ingredients listed is 2 tbsp olive oil. That's 240 calories of the total overall calories. You might also be able to make the sauce with a lower calorie maple 'flavored' sugar-free syrup and a lower fat version of the tahini. So try steaming the veggies instead of using the oil, then make a lower calorie sauce and I'll bet you'll end up with about 30% less calories in the finished serving.

WandaVaughn

I didn't eat the whole recipe. Just a third. Somehow I missed the calorie count for the recipe. Good grief! But this makes me feel better about the whole thing. I'm new to all this.

Thank y'all for giving me feedback!

rosebarnalice

Says right on the bottom of the recipe that it's 474 calories per serving. Did you eat more than one serving?

cwolfman13

WandaVaughn wrote: »

I didn't eat the whole recipe. Just a third. Somehow I missed the calorie count for the recipe. Good grief! But this makes me feel better about the whole thing. I'm new to all this.

Thank y'all for giving me feedback!

Also, just as an FYI, caloric density and nutritional value are two very separate things. There are numerous foods that are nutritional powerhouses that are also calorie bombs. There are many foods with little to no nutritional value with few calories. One doesn't really have anything to do with the other.

srk369

WandaVaughn wrote: »

I didn't eat the whole recipe. Just a third.

LOL. I was trying to figure out how you you weren't just stuffed with "2 large sweet potatoes" and all of the veg.

Minimalist Baker is my nieces favorite food blogger! I might have to try this bowl out soon.

janejellyroll

srk369 wrote: »

WandaVaughn wrote: »

I didn't eat the whole recipe. Just a third.

LOL. I was trying to figure out how you you weren't just stuffed with "2 large sweet potatoes" and all of the veg.

Minimalist Baker is my nieces favorite food blogger! I might have to try this bowl out soon.

Thanks to this thread, I already pinned so I can try it soon. She's one of my favorite recipe writers!

WandaVaughn

I enjoy this recipe. Of the three buddha bowl recipes I've tried so far, it's my fave. Probably of the sweet/savory play in the flavors. Which is best to go after, nutrition powerhouses or low, low calories? I'm hoping to find a happy medium.

janejellyroll

WandaVaughn wrote: »

I enjoy this recipe. Of the three buddha bowl recipes I've tried so far, it's my fave. Probably of the sweet/savory play in the flavors. Which is best to go after, nutrition powerhouses or low, low calories? I'm hoping to find a happy medium.

You'll need to find a balance -- nutritional foods (they don't necessarily have to be "powerhouses") to meet your body's needs and being in a deficit (which is what is going to produce weight loss).

I found that over time I got a much better sense of what foods were "worth" the calories and provided nutrients and it became a lot easier to plan my meals.

leanjogreen18

I can make a mixing bowl size salad salad that is 600-700 calories depending on what I put in it:) The dressing is usually only 45-60 calories so you know its loaded with goodies:).

Thats 1/2 my daily calories, but sometimes so worth it and usually filling as I add a couple of proteins.

So yeah even though you made a mistake on servings some "healthy" foods can add up!

BiomedDent

This looks so tasty. So gonna make it!

beccahun1

Some healthy foods are healthy, but not designed for weight loss. There are certain things I reserve for days I know I'm going to exercise a lot, and some that I just don't really go there until I reach maintain weight status (yet to achieve that).

Basically anything containing dates, coconut oil or avocado are reserved for these high energy days. Or special occasions.
I'm sure there are more items on that list, but that's what I can think of right now.
By all counts these are healthy foods but they don't fit into my day to day calorie diet. I tend to stick to whole foods as much as I can. Veggies & meats as unprocessed as possible.

WhitneyDurham777

Oh, the problem with tasty food. You can never eat enough. Healthy, delicious and high calorie.

NewGemini130

That looks really good--was it good? I'm totally making that this weekend - all three servings

nicruns

that recipe DOES look great....! I may have to give it a go this weekend too! (thanks for sharing)

annacole94

I just pinned that! Looks great. If you did want lower calories, you could try a different sauce (honestly, I'd probably just grab something jarred from my fridge), cut back on the chickpeas a little (split them into 4 servings rather than 3) and up the onion (what were you planning to do with the extra half onion, anyway?)

courtneyfabulous

Lots of "healthy" foods are high in calories. Watch out for anything high fat like nuts, seeds, oils, salad dressings, etc. Also "healthy" sweeteners like honey and maple syrup etc have almost as much calories as regular sugar. Sometimes the healthier option even has more calories such as brown rice vs. white rice!

Always be aware of calorie intake if your goal is weight loss. You can over eat healthy foods too- I know because I ate "clean" and healthy for months in an attempt to lose weight and lost no weight because I was still naturally eating at maintenance. One time I even went on an all salad diet in a desperate attempt to see weight loss and I actually gained 4 pounds in a month doing that! I had to start counting calories with myfitnesspal to actually lose weight.

Katimira

WandaVaughn wrote: »

I enjoy this recipe. Of the three buddha bowl recipes I've tried so far, it's my fave. Probably of the sweet/savory play in the flavors. Which is best to go after, nutrition powerhouses or low, low calories? I'm hoping to find a happy medium.

Some high calorie foods, such as chickpeas, make me feel full, others don't as much, such as coconut. I've learned to bank on those that make me feel full. It sounds like the bowls do it for you, so keep them in your diet.

RobD520

CafeRacer808 wrote: »

Yeah, that recipe is for 2-3 servings.

Would also like to point out that "1/3 cup of chickpeas" not the correct approach when you're trying to count calories. Using volumetric measurements like cups is highly inaccurate for solids. You should be weighing all of the solid foods you eat with a food scale, preferably in grams because grams are more accurate than ounces.

My digital scale goes to the hundredth of an ounce, but only the individual gram. Therefore, in my case, ounces is more precise since one gram is .035274 ounces.

Not that I think it matters much. Either way of measuring is likely to be effective if done accurately.

jkwolly

Mmmmmmmmmmm now I want to make a buddha bowl!!!

annacole94

WandaVaughn wrote: »

I enjoy this recipe. Of the three buddha bowl recipes I've tried so far, it's my fave. Probably of the sweet/savory play in the flavors. Which is best to go after, nutrition powerhouses or low, low calories? I'm hoping to find a happy medium.

this recipe is actually a great example of mixing those things - by using greens as "filler", it turns a reasonable portion of chickpeas and sweet potatoes into a great meal. You learn how to use the high calorie - high nutrition foods as accents and components, and the low calories fillers to help make a meal filling and visually appealing (it looks like "enough food").

hookandy

I have just popped the recipe into the recipe builder, and after a few tweeks for mis-matches this gives a per serving of 600ish for 1/3 of the dish. Looking at the method I am sure you could roast the veg with fry light and cut the oil down to 1 tbsp.

I start with a recipe and then see where I can adjust and amend to keep the basic idea and flavours but save on calories. My version of this is now about 450 per portion, well within my goals