Granola is known as a deliciously crunchy breakfast that is also healthy due to its nutrient-rich ingredients. However, appearances are often deceptive and a glance at the list of ingredients reveals that conventional crunchy mueslis from the supermarket are real sugar traps.
Fortunately, we know a thing or two about healthy alternatives to these calorie bombs that we definitely don't want to withhold from you.
Discover VERIVAL crunchies and granolas now!
Find out how healthy granola really is and how you can enjoy it without a guilty conscience.
What exactly is granola?
To make granola, oat flakes are mixed with honey or a sweet syrup (e.g. maple syrup or agave syrup) and oil and gently toasted in the oven. Baking the sticky mixture produces delicious crunchy muesli in no time at all.
To give it a special touch, other ingredients are often added to the oatmeal base. This is done either before or after baking. So you can find crunchy muesli with nuts, chocolate chunks or freeze-dried berries on the supermarket shelf.
At first glance, this seems to make granola a tasty and healthy breakfast. However, crunchy muesli from the supermarket is often a veritable calorie bomb with plenty of sugar and fat. Furthermore, palm oil is often used for baking, which is not only harmful to our health but also to the environment.
To offer you a healthy alternative, we do not use any palm oil at all in our VERIVAL Crunchys and Granolas and rely on natural ingredients in organic quality.
Is granola healthy?
Since granola is baked with fat and sugar, it's hard to believe that it can actually be healthy. However, if you take a closer look at the ingredients, you'll quickly realise that crunchy muesli is an excellent source of nutrients.
Oat flakes as a high-fibre base
Oats are full of fibre, which makes them a healthy base for granola. They not only keep you full for a long time, but also boost digestion. In addition, the complex carbohydrates cause your blood sugar level to rise slowly, preventing hunger pangs. This property also makes oats a suitable breakfast for people with type 2 diabetes.
In addition, the local superfood contains healthy nutrients such as vitamins B1, B6 and E and the minerals iron, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus.
Nuts, seeds and co. for additional nutrients
As already mentioned, crunchy snacks usually contain a few extra ingredients that not only make breakfast irresistibly delicious, but also provide other important nutrients.
Nuts like almonds and cashews are particularly popular. They also provide your body with additional fibre and impress with their high protein content.
Nevertheless, nutrition-conscious people often avoid these healthy seeds because they are high in fat. However, the fear of fat is completely unfounded. In fact, nuts are even considered to be slimming. This is partly because the unsaturated fatty acids in the kernels curb your appetite and the body can only really absorb about two-thirds of the calories they contain. The rest is simply excreted again. And these are just two of the many reasons why almonds and co. are healthy.
Those who tend to avoid nuts because their BMI calculator shows a high value would do well to rethink their strategy.
In addition to nuts, seeds such as chia seeds or flaxseed are also packed with healthy ingredients. They contain a wide variety of vitamins and minerals and are particularly rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which strengthen our immune system and have an anti-inflammatory effect.
Fat and sugar in crunchy muesli
The fact that crunchy mueslis are made from healthy ingredients such as oats, nuts and seeds unfortunately does not change the fact that they also contain a lot of fat and sugar. However, it doesn't work without them, because that's what makes granola so wonderfully crunchy.
The fact is that many conventional crunchy mueslis often contain more sugar and fat than we would like, and this is often in the form of white industrial sugar and cheap palm oil. However, some manufacturers deliberately avoid palm oil and opt for healthier sugar alternatives.
Try VERIVAL Granola now - 100% organic and palm oil free!
Healthy granola made easy!
Another way to escape the calorie trap is to simply make your own crunchy. This way you alone decide which ingredients you want in your healthy crunchy breakfast and which you don't.
It's quick and easy to prepare: mix all the ingredients with a little oil and, if you like, a little honey or something similar. Then bake the mixture in the oven for a few minutes until it is crispy. Let the finished granola cool a little after baking before you enjoy it or store it in airtight containers.
Our recipe for nut granola proves just how healthy crunchy muesli can be, as we completely omit sugar in this recipe. This turns the calorie bomb into a nutritious breakfast in no time.
Basic Granola Recipe – Sugar-free Nut Granola
Preparation time 15 mins
Cook time 40 mins
Total time 55 mins
Servings: 5
Ingredients
- 30 g Brazil nuts
- 20 g hazelnuts
- 20 g cashews
- 20 g walnuts
- 20 g pecan nuts
- 50 g spelt flakes
- 1 tbsp coarsely ground flaxseed
- 2 tbsp amaranth pops
- 2 tsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp agave syrup (if required)
- 1 tbsp almond butter
Preparation
- First preheat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius.
- Then put all the nuts on a board and chop them up a little with a knife.
- Then put the nuts in a bowl and add the flaxseeds, amaranth pops and spelt flakes.
- Next, mix all the ingredients together and add the agave syrup and liquid coconut oil.
- Mix all the ingredients together well and then spread the nut granola on a baking tray.
- Put the granola in the oven for about 40 minutes, stirring a little every 10 minutes or so.
- Take the granola out of the oven after the baking time and let it cool briefly. You can then enjoy it straight away or put it in an airtight storage tin.
