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Today's post deals with the acai berry, over the last months we have seen a huge influx of acai berry shakes, powders, pills diets etc. The berry apparently does everything from burning fat (fat is oxidized not burned, by the way), better your mental state, fix the federal deficit, and build a high speed train from NYC to DC.

So the question is, what's the deal really? First of, a technicality: It's not a berry but a fruit which comes from the acai palm. The tree grows from Belize to Brazil, mainly in swamps and flood lands, the indios use it as a high calories snack (hint, hint) on hunting expeditions. High calories snack?!!! But its a super fat burner and my friend lost 85 lbs on it!!

Well, here are the numbers: 100 grams of dried acai powder delivers 533.9 calories (same a chocolate bar), 52 grams of carbs, 8 grams of protein, and 32 grams of fat, mostly monounsaturated. So it's certainly NOT a low calorie item and there are no proven fat-burning properties of the fruit. It simply can not work that eating a fruit would allow for massive losses in body fat. Most of the acai diets are really cleanses, so the weight loss is mostly water.

What about anti-oxidants? Not looking much better; while the acai fruit does contain anti-oxidants, the numbers are lower than blueberry juice , concord grapes or red wine. Not a bad product, but not worth the hype.

This brings me to my final point: people have been conditioned to believe that by magically adding or taking away a nutrient or macro nutrient group from their diet, they will achieve drastic results. This will NOT work; the laws of physics will always prevail. Calories matter...If you could fill your macros at McDonalds, you would get the physique you wanted (granted, it's hard).

Don't fall for these gimmicks, save your money for chicken, steak, rice, and the gym.
Maik