Muesli is a popular breakfast that suits almost every taste. Thanks to the wide range of ingredients, it offers great variety and is guaranteed not to get boring. In addition to various cereal flakes, nuts, and seeds, dried fruits of all kinds also provide variety – preferably in organic quality. Nevertheless, there are some ingredients that you should pay attention to in your cereal to enjoy a healthy and filling breakfast. You can find out what these ingredients are and why they are so important in this post.
Whole grains as a healthy basis for organic muesli
Contrary to popular belief, whole grains are not a special type of grain. One speaks of whole grains when only the greens and husks have been removed after the harvest, and the three components of germ, flour body, and peel are preserved. This applies to wheat, rye, oats, and all other cereals.
Whole grains are considered particularly healthy. But why? Whole grains retain those components of the grain that provide particularly valuable nutrients. For example, the germ contains healthy oils, and the shell contains vitamins, minerals, and fiber . The latter is particularly important for cereals, as they keep you full for a long time and provide energy for the day. In addition, they only slowly raise blood sugar levels, which prevents cravings and reduces the desire for sweets.
Normal grain consists only of the flour body, which lacks all these healthy properties. When buying cereals, it is therefore worth paying attention to whole grain quality in order to get a good start to the morning.
Healthy sweetening alternatives
Many conventional cereals found in the supermarket contain a large amount of sugar. This may taste good, but it has little to do with a healthy breakfast. Although sugar provides energy quickly, it also leads to unstable blood sugar levels and can promote various diseases. The most well-known health consequences of consuming too much sugar include tooth decay, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) therefore recommends consuming a maximum of 25 grams of sugar per day, which is equivalent to about five teaspoons.
Now for the good news: omitting sugar in cereals does not mean you have to give up taste. Thanks to sugar substitutes such as honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, or birch sugar, you can give your cereal the necessary sweetness while avoiding white sugar. While these alternative sweeteners aren't necessarily healthier than traditional sugars, because of their properties, you'll need less of them to achieve the same sweetness. This saves sugar and calories.
If you want to buy organic cereals that do without any kind of added sweetness, ingredients such as fresh fruit or dried fruit are the best advice. Our Urkorn Bircher Muesli – an absolute muesli classic – comes without any added sugar and only gets its sweetness from fruits.
Healthy fats and proteins
To make the list of important ingredients of cereal complete, you should also make sure that your breakfast contains enough healthy fats and proteins.
Fats for health
A common misconception is that fat is unhealthy and also causes unwanted extra kilos. In truth, however, fat is just as important a nutrient as carbohydrates and protein. You shouldn't do without any of these.
However, it is important to distinguish between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. While the former cause cholesterol levels to rise and can lead to various diseases, the latter have exactly the opposite effect. They ensure that cholesterol is broken down in our body and are an essential part of a healthy diet.
Excellent suppliers of healthy fats are, for example, nuts , which also provide the popular crispy effect in cereals. Which type you choose is entirely up to you. Whether cashews, hazelnuts, or almonds, they all provide healthy fats. It is very similar with seeds, such as flaxseed or chia seeds. They are also full of unsaturated fatty acids.
Proteins: The fuel of our cells
In addition to healthy fats, your cereal should also contain protein. Proteins are often referred to as the building blocks of the body and are responsible for cell construction, for example.
Oatmeal is a popular source of protein in cereals. The popular cereal base consists of almost 14 percent protein. For this reason, the local grain provides a lot of energy and fills you up for a long time. A feature that, by the way, makes muesli an excellent meal before or after exercise. Thanks to the proteins, your muscles can perform optimally and recover faster after exercise.
Our protein granola bars almond fig are also a delicious snack before or after exercise.
Protein Cereal Bar Almond Fig
Ingredients
- 180 g Verival Grain Free Sport Protein Muesli Almond Fig
- 120 g low-fat quark
- 3 tbsp flaxseed crushed, as an egg substitute
- 50 ml hot water
- 15 g almonds
- 30 g dried apricots
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Preparation
-
Preheat the oven to 170°C circulating air.
-
Line a rectangular baking pan (approx. 32cm x 24cm) with baking paper.
-
Prepare the egg substitute: Mix the flax seeds with 50 ml of hot water and leave to swell for 5 minutes.
-
Coarsely chop the almonds and apricots.
-
Mix the protein muesli and the low-fat quark.
-
Then add all the remaining ingredients and mix everything together well.
-
Pour the dough into the prepared baking pan and smooth.
-
Then bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
-
Cut the dough into 15 pieces while still hot and allow to cool.
What to avoid with organic cereals
In order for your morning to start with a healthy breakfast that provides plenty of energy for the day, your choice should be sugar-free cereals. It's best to check the ingredients list before a cereal package ends up in your shopping cart. Special care must be taken with crispy muesli. They often contain large amounts of sugar.
Cereal cereals should also always contain the whole grain variant. If this is not the case, you cannot benefit from the benefits of whole grains mentioned at the beginning. Instead, your blood sugar level fluctuates, you quickly get hungry again, and soon after breakfast, you run out of energy.
You should also make sure that your cereal does not contain too many saturated fatty acids. The proportion of unsaturated fatty acids should clearly predominate.
Buying organic muesli – that's how it's done!
So that you don't have to worry about whether your cereal also contains all the important ingredients, we at Verival pay particular attention to covering all breakfast preferences and needs with our cereals.
In addition to oatmeal and other ancient cereals as a base, we refine our organic cereals with nuts, seeds, and dried fruits. This allows you to put a check mark under all three important ingredients and not have to worry about buying organic cereals.
