A muesli bar may be a quick and easy grab as you run out the door in the morning, but is your bar as healthy as it could be? Many muesli bars, although calorie controlled, may contain an enormous amount of sugar, a significant number of calories, and maybe even trans fats. Although it may be a quick option, you don’t want to start your day with a sugar rush, right?
Here are some quick tips for choosing a muesli bar and an awesome low-sugar recipe you can make at home:
1. Sugar
Look for bars with 10g of sugar or less. Some bars can contain over 20g of sugar, that’s 4 teaspoons of added sugar! Generally, if there is a ton of sugar, the bar is highly processed and may contain other additives or very little fibre.
2. Fibre
Aim for a bar with at least 3-5g of fibre. Breakfast is a great place to get in some extra fibre in your day. Your total fibre intake should equal 25-30g per day. Plus, fibre helps slow digestion, so the high fibre bar should hold you over until lunch.
3. Protein
Protein increases satiety or the feeling of fullness. It also helps prevent carbohydrates (sugar) from rushing into the blood stream too quickly. A bar that contains at least 5-10g of protein will help you stay full until lunch. If the bar doesn’t have enough protein, try adding a handful of nuts, a boiled egg, or some low fat cheese for that added protein.
4. Other ingredients
Make sure you read the ingredients list on the muesli bars. Don’t be fooled by the words “whole grains” or “organic” or other seemingly healthy words on the package. Look for bars with a short list of ingredients, all of which you should be able to pronounce. Stay clear of bars with the words “partially hydrogenated” on the label, this means the bar contains trans fats.
The best way to know what ingredients are going into your granola or muesli bar is to make it yourself. Here is an excellent low-carb, gluten-free recipe for homemade muesli bars.
This recipe is GLUTEN-FREE, DAIRY FREE, GRAIN FREE, VEGAN, VEGETARIAN, LOW CARB, PALEO, SOY FREE, LOW ADDED SUGAR, HIGH FIBRE
HEALTHY MUESLI BAR
Adapted from Healthy Indulgences Blog
Makes 6 bars
Ingredients:
Wet Mix:
1 tbsp rice malt syrup or pure maple syrup
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 Tablespoon stevia
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry Mix:
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup pecans or walnuts
3 Tablespoons sunflower seeds
1 Tablespoon pepitas
1 Tablespoon finely shredded unsweetened coconut
1 Tablespoon cacao nibs (for that chocolate flavour- can do more nuts instead)
1 teaspoon flax seed meal
2 Tablespoons coconut milk powder (in Asian section of supermarket)
1/16 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/16 teaspoon sea salt
1/16 teaspoon pure stevia extract
4-6 tablespoons vanilla protein powder – I like Sunwarrior Rice protein (if dairy free) or Optimum Nutrition Gold 100% Standard Whey (not dairy free)
In a small food processor, add almonds and pecans to processor bowl, and pulse 8-10 times. Add sunflower seeds, pepitas, coconut, cacao nibs, flax seed meal, coconut milk powder, xanthan gum, sea salt, protein powder and stevia extract. Replace lid, and pulse 3-5x, until all the nuts are chopped up.
Preheat oven to 180*C. Line the bottom of a 20 by 10cm slice pan with parchment paper. Heat maple syrup or rice malt syrup and stevia in a small saucepan over medium heat until you see tiny bubbles forming in the mixture and the stevia is dissolved. Wait one minute after stevia has dissolved, then take the mixture off heat and stir in vanilla. Quickly, scrape hot liquid from pan into dry mixture, and stir around with a spatula until mixture is evenly coated. Press evenly into the bottom of loaf pan with spatula.
Bake for 10 minutes (7 minutes, 30 seconds in convection ovens). Remove bars from oven, let cool a couple minutes, and invert on to cutting board. Cut into bars with a sharp knife. Remould the corners as necessary. Slide bars, bottom side up, on to metal pan. Bake for 9 more minutes (7 minutes for convection oven). Remove from oven, and place muesli bars on cooling rack. Store each bar separately in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator, ready to grab and go!