Granola is, for many people, the perfect lunch: it is a rich, crunchy food and combines other healthy and beneficial ingredients for health. But this delicacy also raises many questions, since it contains products high in calories and sugars that are not normally recommended for overweight people. Are you wondering if granola makes you fat or lose weight?
We tell you everything you need to know about this delicious trendy food. We discover its benefits and drawbacks and give you advice so that you consume it without putting your health at risk and so that you achieve your ideal weight. Take note!
What is granola?
If you have ever eaten or cooked granola, you know that it is an attractive and colorful food, similar to cereals, that is consumed mainly for lunch and that you can eat in different ways: with milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, etc. It is a crunchy and sweet food that mixes oat flakes, nuts or other dried fruits, honey and other similar natural ingredients such as dried fruit.
This mixture is very personal, that is to say that each person can add the ingredients they prefer depending on the diet they want to follow. Once all the chosen ingredients are well mixed, the pasta is baked for a while and removed when it is done and crispy. Many people shake it in a glass container so that the pieces break and it remains like cereal.
Although today they sell granola in practically all supermarkets, there are many people who prefer to make it by hand, thus avoiding the excess of added sugars and refined oils that are not necessary for its preparation. Do you want to know all the properties of this food? Keep reading!
Benefits of granola
Discover, below, some of the best benefits of granola for your health.
Perfect for constipation
Granola is an ideal food to regulate your intestinal transit, since the ingredients with which it is made are high in fiber. If you feel that it is difficult for you to digest, we advise you to add a little granola to your daily diet. In this way, you will achieve quick and easy digestion while enjoying the tastiest foods.
Increase your energy
Do you feel tired in the morning and think you lack energy? If so, pay attention, because the foods with which the granola is made contain very healthy fats for your body. These fats, once transformed into energy, get you to start the day with more strength and vitality.
High level of antioxidants
Granola contains antioxidants that help protect your body from damaging free radicals. In addition, this food can provide you with a high amount of vitamins, proteins and minerals and, thanks to its high content of nuts and oils, it can also offer you fatty acids that are very beneficial for lowering cholesterol and controlling blood pressure.
Satiety
Finally, we tell you that granola is one of the foods that provides the most satiety, since it has a high fiber content. If you are trying to lose weight, granola in the morning will be your best ally, since it will make you feel full for longer and will prevent you from snacking between meals.
Does granola make you fat or lose weight?
It is a very common question, since on the one hand there are people who defend that granola only contains natural and beneficial products, so it has to be good for our body and for losing weight, while others assure that the mixture of all its ingredients can be dangerous for people trying to lose weight.
Both parties are somewhat right: on the one hand, as we have said, granola speeds up the digestion process and contains rich and healthy foods that help us eliminate toxins that our body does not need. But on the other hand, it is important to note that it contains high levels of fiber and calories. If one of the most common recommendations is that it be consumed in the morning, it is precisely so that during the day we can burn the extra calories that granola provides us.
Even so, it is not a recommended food for overweight people, since it contains ingredients with many sugars and many calories. What should we do to continue enjoying granola without gaining weight? We offer you some tips:
- Control the amount you eat: this can be done with practically any food, since almost everything is good in its proper measure. It is essential not to abuse the granola and keep in mind that with three handfuls a day you have more than enough.
- Make it yourself: it is highly recommended that you cook it yourself at home to avoid buying it in the supermarket. Supermarket granola, like many other products, contains a large amount of sugars and oils that further sweeten the product but are completely unnecessary.
- Add healthy ingredients: one of the advantages of making granola yourself is that you can experiment and add what you like best or what best suits your needs. If you want to control your weight, avoid the most sugary ingredients and add, for example, dehydrated apple without added sugars. Another tip is to replace the honey with another ingredient such as date paste.
Homemade granola: healthy granola recipe to avoid gaining weight
We propose a recipe so you can make your own healthy and homemade granola without spending too much money. Take note:
Ingredients you will need
- 200gr of oat flakes (better if they are organic)
- 50g organic hazelnuts or any other dried fruit you like
- 20gr of black sesame (if you prefer any other seed, you can substitute it)
- 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened vanilla extract
- 40g organic honey
- 20g organic raisins
Elaboration
- Preheat the oven to 120º.
- Take a container and mix the nuts you have chosen, the oat flakes and the seeds.
- Heat the honey for a while so that the texture becomes more liquid.
- Pour the ingredients from the container into the hot honey and mix.
- Cover a tray with baking paper, pour the mixture and make sure the dough is even.
- Bake for half an hour and stir if necessary so that it is done everywhere.
- Take the mixture out of the oven and let it cool.
If you are not passionate about the ingredients that we have chosen, you can make your own selection. The key is to bet on ingredients that are good for your health and that do not make you excessively fat. If you want to do without honey, you can replace it with dates crushed with water. You’ll get the same effect, it’ll still be delicious, and you won’t gain weight!
