Is Jambalaya Healthy? (5 Tips For Weight Loss) 

If you love dishes from the Deep South - such as Jambalaya - but aren’t sure if it’s healthy, or good for your waistline, this article is for you. Find out what goes into making Jambalaya, how many calories it contains, and how to stay in shape while indulging in this delicious southern dish.

Jambalaya is a Cajun and Creole rice dish made with meat and seafood, popular in the Deep South, with African, French, and Spanish influence.

Although Jambalaya is delicious, is it actually healthy?

Jambalaya is not necessarily considered “healthy,” as it is high in calories, carbs, fats, and sodium. Therefore, we recommend eating Jambalaya in moderation. 

Here are five steps that explain what Jambalaya is, the calorie amount in one serving of Jambalaya, as well as how to stay fit and healthy while eating this classic Southern dish. 

1. How to Make Jambalaya

2. How Many Calories Are in One Serving of Jambalaya?

3. Understand How Many Calories You Need to Consume in a Day 

4. How to Make a Healthier Version of Jambalaya

5. Make Sure To Consistently Workout & Build Muscle

Now that we know our five steps, let’s get into the details that will help you stay in shape while enjoying some delicious Jambalaya. 

Tip 1: How to Make Jambalaya

Jambalaya is a popular rice dish in the Deep South, especially in Louisiana where it originated. It is considered Creole and Cajun cuisine with French, Spanish, and African influences. Creole Jambalaya is made with tomatoes, while Cajun Jambalaya only uses the “holy trinity” which is celery, green bell peppers, and onion. 

It’s an easy, delicious, and budget-friendly dish.

Let’s take a look at how you make a classic Creole Jambalaya.

Traditionally, Creole Jambalaya is made with Andouille sausage, chicken breast, raw shrimp, tomatoes, long-grain rice, Creole seasoning, butter, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and chicken stock among other ingredients. 

First, you sautee the chicken breast with the Creole seasoning, in a heated pan with butter, add the sausage, and sautee until brown. Add the remaining ingredients, and last but not least the shrimp and let it simmer for 15 minutes. 

Now that we know how to make classic Jambalaya, let’s take a look at the nutrition facts of one serving of Jambalaya.

Tip 2: How Many Calories Are in One Serving of Jambalaya?

The key aspect is to understand how many calories you need to consume in a day, whether you have a sedentary lifestyle or an active lifestyle, and to make sure not to overeat on your total calories for the day. 

Let’s take a look at the nutrition facts. As you can see, one serving of Jambalaya has 590 calories with a macronutrient ratio of 43 grams of carbs, 54 grams of protein, and 26 grams of fat.  

Although one serving of Jambalaya is high in proteins, it is also high in calories, carbs, fats, and sodium with 1600 mg. Therefore, we recommend making a healthier version of this dish to reduce the calorie amount, as well as the carbs, fats, and sodium.  

The key to dieting is a nice balance of macronutrients, as well as having an active lifestyle.  

Calories define how our bodies look and feel which is a concept that we will talk about in the next section.  

What makes up those calories are really what’s important and having those macronutrients skewed to fats and carbs will be detrimental to your diet. 

A good rule of thumb is sticking to 30% carbs, 40% protein, and 30% fats.  

If you consistently work out and only stick to one serving of Jambalaya, you can easily incorporate the calorie amount into your daily caloric intake.

Now that we know a little bit more about the nutrition facts of one serving of Jambalaya, let’s take a look at how many calories you need to consume daily to stay in shape.

Tip 3: Understand How Many Calories You Need to Consume in a Day 

Great health and fitness are all about calorie or energy balance, which means that you can still eat your fats and carbs, and stay in shape. 

Calories come from three different sources of macronutrients called protein, carbs, and fats.

If you burn more calories than you consume, then you will find yourself in a “caloric deficit” which is the only way fat loss can occur. 

You can easily overeat on unhealthy, processed foods that are high in fats and carbs, especially when something is as delicious as Jambalaya. Overeating is usually the quickest way to get out of shape. 

To stay healthy and in shape, we need to first go over your daily caloric needs and figure out how many calories you need in a day, as well as figure out how much of each macronutrient you should be consuming.

There are a few factors that determine your daily calorie intake. Such as weight management, weight loss, or weight gain. Other factors that play a major role are your gender and your height. 

So, how do you know how many calories you should be eating in a day?

The answer is through trial and error and finding a calorie range that allows you to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. 

However, a good place to start is to multiply your body weight by 12 or to use an online TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) calculator.

Your TDEE relies heavily on how active you are and how much movement you see in your day.

Within your TDEE lies a subsection, which is called TEPA (Thermic Effect of Physical Activity) which accounts for 15-30% of your entire day’s worth of calories.

This means, you are in control of 15-30% of how much you can eat, which is a huge portion of calories.

It’s important to find foods that keep you full longer and still deliver a balanced amount of macronutrients. 

If you’re someone who loves to eat a lot while staying fit, then being active is the key to a balanced lifestyle that allows you to eat whatever you like, such as Jambalaya, and stay in shape. 

Once you know your calorie intake based on your weight and height, you can then decide how much you want to decrease it. 

So, if you want to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week, we suggest you start with 100 calories less than what you are currently consuming and see if you notice a difference within a week.

If you don’t see any changes in your weight, decrease your calorie intake by another 100 calories and see how that works. 

However, it is suggested, to not decrease the calorie intake below 1,200 per day for women, or below 1,500 calories per day for men.

So, just calculate whatever calorie range you find, and split up your calories by following those macro guidelines. 

Now that we know how many calories to consume daily, let’s find out how to make a healthier version of Jambalaya.

Tip 4: How to Make a Healthier Version of Jambalaya

Classic Jambalaya is not necessarily considered “healthy” as it is high in calories, carbs, fats, and sodium. 

However, you can try a healthier version of Jambalaya at home.

One serving of Healthy Jambalaya only has 391 calories with a macronutrient ratio of 28 grams of carbs, 23  grams of protein, and 20 grams of fat. 

Keep in mind that the sodium amount is still a bit high in this version with 1042 mg.

The daily amount of sodium intake should be less than 2,300 mg, according to the American Heart Association.

A high-sodium diet is linked to stomach cancer, research shows. It also leads to high blood pressure, bloat, and water retention.

Now that we’ve discussed how to make a healthier version of Jambalaya let’s take a look at how to increase your activity level and build muscle. 

Tip 5: Make Sure To Consistently Workout & Build Muscle

After you’ve figured out how many calories you need to consume daily, you need to make sure that you exercise regularly and increase your activity level.

I’m sure that you’ve heard that carbs are the enemy and they’re the main driving factor in keeping us from getting a flat stomach or abs.

Carbs are your direct source of energy and they allow you to function properly and fuel your workouts and movements.

The same goes for fats. However, the body needs healthy fats to function properly and to absorb nutrients. As well as to produce hormones. 

The real enemy is inactivity and staying sedentary while eating more carbs than you need to. 

As stated in Step #3, you need to be able to burn enough calories throughout your day to put yourself at a caloric deficit. 

Therefore it is important you utilize your calories efficiently throughout your day. 

60-75% of energy expenditure comes from your basal metabolic rate (BMR) which is how much your body burns if it did nothing all day. (NASM)

10% of energy expenditure comes from the thermic effect of feeding (TEF) which is the calories you burn from digesting different foods. (NASM)

15-30% of energy expenditure comes from the Thermic Effect of Activity (TEA) which is movement such as working out and aerobics. Source (NASM) 

To sum it up, up to 30% of our energy expenditure can come from movement and activity so this is a huge portion of our weight loss journey that you can actively control.

The more movement the better and, to utilize and burn those calories, you should be moving all you can.

That’s why it’s important to increase your activity level at least 3 - 4 times a week if your goal is to get lean. 

Building muscle allows you to burn calories at rest, which means you can eat more and still lose fat.

This is really the goal of working out and is what keeps you healthy as your metabolism increases.

Although working out and building muscle takes priority, having a consistent cardio schedule can help with expediting the fat loss process as it raises the energy expended throughout your week.

The fastest and most efficient way to build muscle is learning how to do some resistance training.

You can also do a combination of resistance training and LISS (Low-Intensity Steady State) cardio or HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) cardio, to improve your heart health and maximize fat burn. 

LISS is cardio that comes from walking or a brisk walk, you should be able to have a conversation while still building up a sweat.

HIIT cardio is intervals of a very high-intensity movement, such as sprints, battle ropes, or kickboxing movements aiming to quickly raise the heart rate.

The benefit of HIIT is allowing yourself to burn calories in a shorter amount of time. 

We recommend having 80% of cardio coming from LISS while 20% comes from HIIT for optimal fat loss throughout the week. 

LISS is a much more reliable source of consistent movement and does not require rest as it does not shock the Central Nervous System the way HIIT can.

You need to use weights and build muscle by doing a variety of workouts that target each muscle group specifically. 

Although it can be intimidating to get in shape, as it will be hard to learn and might be discouraging at the beginning, it’s definitely worth it in the long run for both your health and fitness. 

All you need are a set of dumbbells, such as these adjustable dumbbells, and a reliable treadmill such as the Bluefin Fitness Treadmill that tracks your calories and you’re on your way to controlling the number of calories you burn. 

Regarding working out with dumbbells, it’s important not to add too much weight too soon because that could result in injury if you are unfamiliar with the correct body positions. It is better to start small and then increase the weight level. 

Here is a workout plan we’ve created for men and women, where you can get started if you are someone who is new to a resistance training regimen.

MEN:

Day One: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs (Push Day) : 

• Cable Crunches: 4 sets 15 reps 

• Triceps Rope Push Down: 3 sets 15 reps

• Lateral Raises: 3 sets 15 reps

• Shoulder Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Dumbbell Press: 4 sets 12 reps

• Bench Press: 3 sets 10 reps

Day Two (Legs & Abs):

• Weighted Toe Touches: 4 sets 25 reps

• Weighted Sit-Ups: 4 sets 25 reps

• Jumping Squats With Resistance Bands: 5 sets 20 reps

• Glute Bridges With Weight: 4 sets 20 reps

• Stiff Leg Deadlift (Romanian Deadlift): 4 sets 15 reps

• Weighted Walking Lunges: 2 sets 20 steps

• Goblet Squats: 4 sets 20 reps

Day Three: Back & Biceps (Pull Day):

• Hammer Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Bicep Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Seated Cable Rows: 4 sets 15 reps

• Dumbbell Rows: 4 sets 10 reps (Each Side)

• Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets 12 reps

• Assisted Pull-Ups: 3 sets 10 reps

WOMEN

Day One (Full Upper):

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Lateral Raises: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Knee Push-Ups: 4x20

• Seated Shoulder Press: 4x20 

• Dumbbell Row: 3x10

• Dumbbell Fly: 3x10

Day Two (Back/Hamstrings/Biceps):

• Hammer Curls: 3x10

• Bicep Curls: 3x10

• Hamstring Curl: 4x15

• Stiff Leg Deadlift: 4x15

• Cable Row: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Assisted Pull-Ups: 3x10

Day Three (Legs/Butt/Abs): 

• Leg Lifts: 3x35

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Jump Squats: 4x20

• Glute Kickbacks: 4x20 each leg

• Glute Bridge: 4x20

• Goblet Squats: 4x20

• Squats: 5x5

We recommend working out at least three times per week in the beginning, since the resting days in between are important to build muscle. 

Building muscle will happen relatively fast if you are new to working out, so this is great news for anyone looking to get in shape.

If you put calorie tracking, muscle building, and actively moving more altogether, dishes such as Jambalaya won’t get you off track because the formula provides so much leniency for you to shed some fat.

Fats and carbs are the two macronutrients that will be more likely to be stored as energy. 

Therefore, you don’t want all of your calories simply coming from carbs or fats, you want there to be a balance coming from carbs, protein, and fats.

Working out allows you to be more flexible in your diet and lifestyle, which is so important if you want to sustain a lean body and stay healthy. 

This is why we need to control the number of calories we get from carbs and fats in order to utilize the energy we gain through movement and workouts.

The tip here is to live active and go out and seek a workout regimen. 

So, next time you’re wondering how you can lose some weight, remember that you need to build some muscle and track your calories to your specified amount. 

THERE IT IS!

In this article, we discussed what Jambalaya is and if it’s healthy, how to make a classic version and a healthier one, how many calories one serving contains, and how to stay in shape while eating Jambalaya.

The key to healthy eating is balance and moderation. Our five tips will help you stay fit while eating Jambalaya.  

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