A local granola cereal exporter sells his entire product range by labeling it as a healthy breakfast diet. Health experts are not denying that granola is a healthy food option, but having it on a regular basis in your breakfast is going to affect your health in a bad way. Granola is commonly considered as best healthy breakfast food but this approach could make you more ill.
You can rather have it as a dessert since it usually has enough sugar that you can eat in place of chocolate pudding. Granola is a sugary product that can cause diabetes if not consumed in the right proportion. It hardly matters if you eat packaged granola or homemade granola, the use of sugar is still there. However, with homemade granola, you have a choice to not to add sugar or prepare sugar-free granola.
Factors Affecting Sugar Content in Granola-
- Dried fruit
- Chocolate
- Apple
- Cranberry
- Red Berries
- Maple Syrup
If the product has dried fruits as ingredients, it is understood that it contains natural sugar which is present in the fruit. The thing consumer needs to limit are added sugars. If the product has “no added sugar”, it is a healthy option, but still not meant for breakfast meal. A good product will always have less than 8 gm of total sugars per serving.
Now, check the fat facts!
Granolas are made with oil. A few manufacturers are using coconut oil. You might think that granola made with coconut oil is healthy for you and your family, but in reality check, it is likely to increase cholesterol. However, not every granola with high fat is unhealthy. If the mix includes nuts and seeds, the fat content will be higher- but most of it comes from healthy polyunsaturated and monosaturated fats. Granola is still the best source of fiber and protein. Cereal exporters are providing high fiber granola range which is packed with whole grains, nuts and seeds. Such combinations can help you keep you fuller for long hours.
The base of granola is oats and you must call them as a superfood- as they deserve! Oats are packed with gut-friendly fiber. A cup of oats contains almost 6gm of fiber. It has beta-glucan fiber that works to lower your cholesterol. Moreover, oats are loaded with micronutrients that make your body function at its best. Your health is decided by the quality of carbohydrates and other nutrients you intake. Nuts and seeds are also an essential part of granola. Nuts are packed with healthy fats. These are a plant-based source of protein that maintains your muscle health and lower the risk of heart disease and diabetes. This means nuts are the best caretaker of your body weight.
Eating too much of sugar can result in severe health conditions like-
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Obesity
- Cavities
- Metabolic diseases
- Some types of cancers
If you want to give five gold stars to Granola as a healthy food option, we would like to stop you. You can count it as a healthy dessert option and not a meal replacement. Even when you make a wise choice, granola might not be the best healthiest cereal to fill your tummy in the morning. It is dense in calories and sugars and your body doesn’t need that much amount. It is better to have them as a side dish. You can have plain yogurt and use granola as a topping. This way you can have granola, as a dessert – not the main course meal.
You can skip adding chocolate chips, honey, and dried fruit together in granola mix and choose just one option to make your oats sweeter. This way you can maintain the health benefits of granola without compromising with its good taste. Or just in case you are vegan, you can eat them like a snack- just for a taste change- not for fixing your hunger. Even the granola cereal bars consumed by athletes are the snack things. These bars are designed to satisfy their short hunger pangs on the move. Yet, these bars contain chocolate as an ingredient – means more sugar. So, if an athlete wants to have the healthiest food option on the go, he should not over-consume the granola cereal bars.
More cereal bar manufacturing companies are fooling people by labeling their products as “ideal for breakfast, lunch, or a snack for your evening walk”. They should only use the term snack here. It doesn’t matter how much you like the taste of granola, you should have them in limit. As per the leading granola cereal exporter “Granola is more like a craving-fixer. You crave for sweet, you can munch on granola.”
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