granola

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pandamama12
pandamama12 Posts: 8
in Food and Nutrition
I always ate granola thinking it was healthy. Now I'm actually looking at all the calories in it. Oh my goodness!! Is granola even healthy?? Is it worth it??

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  • lichensandseeds
    lichensandseeds Posts: 41 Member
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    Most store-bought granola cereals have a lot of sugar and fat in them, and a serving size is usually only a quarter of a cup!

    If you really like granola, I'd say use it in small amounts as a topping for something healthier and lower calorie such as oatmeal or plain, non-fat greek yogurt.

    You can also try making your own-- it's not very difficult and you can control how much sugar and oil are added. Find a recipe online or in a cookbook (I like Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day), and put it into the MFP recipe database. Play around with the sweetener and oil amounts until you find something that makes good cereal and has a calorie amount that is within your limit.
  • lpeace2u
    lpeace2u Posts: 94 Member
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    I buy Cascadian Farms Organic granola. I'm not saying it's great but it is better than most other brands. I only use a 1/4 to a 1/3 of a cup mixed with my yogurt. Unfortunately, the days of sitting down with a bowl of granola are gone.
  • MelanieLeanne
    MelanieLeanne Posts: 32
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    The only granola I'll eat is by Bear Naked Fit. I like the Vanilla Almond Crunch the best. Still has 120 calories per 1/4 of a cup, but only 4 g of sugar. Tastes great when added to yogurt.
  • leopard_barbie
    leopard_barbie Posts: 279 Member
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    Granola is AMAZING but really high cal, ive been adding other cereal (sultana bran recently) to my greek yoghurt instead :)
  • cmayfield3
    cmayfield3 Posts: 176 Member
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    It's very calorie dense as it's mostly raw oats, which by themselves are 300 calories a cup. Honey, oil, dried fruit and nuts are likewise calorie dense.

    If you just want the crunch you could go for a cereal like Kashi GoLean Crunch or another cereal that has popped/crisped grains as its base.
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
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    I've been making my own granola for a while now because if I'm going to have the calorie load, I want control of the nutrition.

    I add a lot of seeds, nuts & dried fruit. And I try to stick to a quarter cup at a time.
  • graelwyn
    graelwyn Posts: 1,340 Member
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    I have to avoid cereals altogether as I have no control once I am around a box of cereal and a pint of milk. I used to eat two really large bowls before bed, and it is usually very high sugar, and high calorie. It is fine if you can exert self control around it, but alas...
  • BriaMc
    BriaMc Posts: 177 Member
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    Ya i used to LOVE granola and yogurt, now i hardly eat it because of all the sugar and such :(

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