Oh-no-no Granola

I recently posted 10 Allegedly Healthy Foods. The day after posting,  I was in a session with a new-ish client. On her food journal I saw she was eating granola. When I inquired about her granola usage she asked “isn’t granola healthy” and I realized I had left a good one off my list. Instead of going into Blogger and editing the post I decided to ask Market Melissa, our grocery store obsessed Foodtrainer, to dish about granola.

When I hear granola, I think Birkenstocks and patchouli. Why the hippie reputation? What's the history here?

The genesis of granola dates back to the late nineteenth century. A posh health spa in New York served what was called “granula,” which was really just graham flour. A fellow by the name of John Harvey Kellogg (ahem, Mr. Fruit Loop) came along, and to avoid legal action, renamed his own version “granola.” In 60s, hippies revived granola and (after a “plant-based” first course) added in dried fruit and nuts. In the 70s Quaker and General Mills hopped on the granola bandwagon, creating their own varieties. The popularity of granola increased becoming all the rage with hikers and backpackers due to its light weight, caloric density and lack of perishability.

“Calorically dense” those are terrifying words to any dieter, what ingredients make it so caloric?

It is the double whammy of sugar and fat that bump up the calorie count in granola. When reading ingredient lists you may find sugar listed in various forms 4 or 5 times (honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, brown rice syrup, evaporated cane juice, molasses are all code for sugar) Additionally, there’s dried fruit, also loaded with sugar, and you see how granola can have 24 grams of sugar in 1 cup. In terms of fat, most of the fat in granola comes from healthy, unsaturated sources such as nuts, seeds, and canola oil. “Good” fat is still fat and adds up. Certain varieties of granola contain up to 28 grams of fat per cup. This is a food for which portion control is key. Granola should be a condiment and not a main course.

Other than sugar and fat what else is in granola? Any exciting flavors out there?

Most granola brands contain whole grain oats, oat bran and brown rice. Others, such as Kashi and Feed, contain more of a whole grain blend containing oats, barley, rye, triticale and brown rice. For you gluten free readers, Trader Joe’s offers a gluten free fruit and nut option.

You will also find more processed varieties (containing ingredients such as soy lecithin, glycerin and natural flavor) as well as more natural ones. Feed granola wins my least processed award, containing all “real food” ingredients. As for the flavors, the possibilities are indeed endless. Some that peeked my interest were Bear Naked Heavenly Chocolate and Feed Sweet Mango.

So if someone can’t live without granola, which one do you recommend?

Comparing brands can become tricky since they all have different portion sizes listed on their nutrition label (1/4cup, 1/2cup, 2/3cup, 3/4cup).

• Lowest sugar: Nature’s Path Hemp Plus and Flax Plus wins for the lowest sugar content with 3g per ¼ cup. Bear Naked Fit granola comes in second with 4g.
• Lowest Calorie: Trader Joe’s Low Fat Mixed Berry Granola and Cascadian Farms Cinnamon Raisin granola snag lowest calorie (70 and 80 calories for ¼ cup portion, respectively).
• Highest Fiber Kashi and Feed get highest fiber honors each has 4.5g per ¼ cup (you can thank their whole grain blend for that). 

*Whichever you choose remember granola is higher in calories, sugar and fat than most cereals, so keep portion to ¼ cup max.

In case you wish to bypass the mathematical challenge of granola labels, try making your own. This allows you to control ingredients and quantities. Here is recipe from Ellie Krieger that is easy to make and low in sugar. We doctored this a little adding cardamom and unsweetened coconut but it’s a good starting point.

Or try this cool site where you can make your own granola. Pick your base (a gluten free option is available), add in your favorite ingredients and they will even calculate the nutrient content of your creation. 

Are you a granola gal/guy? Do you have a favorite brand or recipe you love? And name that tune “It’s a mixed up muddled up shook up world…”

10 Allegedly Healthy Foods

( A far prettier version of this post appeared on Blisstree)

I’ll bet my nutrition credentials that broccoli will remain in the good--for-you food group for eternity. Similarly, SPAM and Velveeta will always be unhealthy. Still, many foods aren’t solidly at either end of the health spectrum. And lots of foods that people assume are healthy really aren’t. So, in the hopes of helping you to make smarter eating choices, here are ten foods you may think are healthy and nutritious, but the reality? Not so much           

Pretzels

Most pretzels boast no fat and so have a beloved place in many snack drawers. But aside from taste, exactly what do pretzels have to brag about? One ounce of pretzels contains 100 calories and 580 mg of sodium (and little else). Which is almost the same as eating 1 oz. of white hamburger bun: 77 calories and 149 mg sodium. For healthier alternatives, we suggest Happy Herbert’s Gluten Gone Pretzels or our favorite, Food Should Taste Good Chips.

Couscous

Couscous is cute, with its small bead-like shape. And my clients often put it on the “good carb” list with bulgur and other whole grains. I hate to break it to you, but couscous is pasta. The nutritionals are exactly the same. Bulgur and quinoa contain more nutrients.

Veggie Burgers

“Veggie” doesn’t automatically mean healthy. Many veggie burgers are made with TVP (processed soy), grains, and at times, scant amounts of actually vegetables. Scan ingredient labels for TVP and look at the sodium. (Our favorites are Sunshine Burgers.)

 Tuna Salad

And now for many people’s treasured tuna salad. Fish contains omega-3’s and we’re told we should consume more of those. However, these particularly omega-3’s have globs of mayo added to them. Four ounces of tuna salad contains 212 calories and 10 grams of fat – double the calories and five times the fat of sliced turkey. We suggest those delicious jarred tunas with chopped peppers, onion and celery, like the Zoe or Tonnino brands.

Brown Sugar

Brown sugar should be healthier than white sugar, right? Unfortunately, it’s not fiber that gives brown sugar its color; it’s molasses. When it comes to calories, brown and white are equals.

Canned Foods/Canned Fruit

My mother was a great cook, but we admittedly ate fruit cocktail growing up. I have two issues with canned fruit: one is the corn syrup pool the fruit swims in, and the other are the BPAs present in the can itself. Fresh fruits are always best, but dried (no sulfites) is my second choice. A medium peach has 8 grams of sugar; while one serving of canned peaches has more than 24 grams (or three times as much).

Olive Oil

Now it's time to address a food we all know, use, and love: olive oil. We’re actually fine with EVOO (thanks Rachel), but we’re not fine with using it like it’s “free”. It does contain calories, and if you use it to scramble eggs in the morning, in your salad dressing at lunch, and for dunking your bread before dinner (and more to cook your entrée), you’ve racked up almost 1,000 calories – not so healthy. It’s also not recommended to heat olive oil at high temperatures.

Biscotti

We love Italian names, but these are still just cookies. For you cookie monsters, we like healthier options including GlowCookies and Kookie Karma.

 UHT (Ultra-Pasteurized) Organic Milk

As we mentioned in an earlier post, organic is a good choice when it comes to dairy, but you need to look carefully at the labels. UHT (ultra pasteurized) milk is not as healthy as regularly pasteurized because the high heat process kills good bacteria and other nutrients. Companies like Organic Valley offer both options, and many including Natural By Nature, Milk Thistle, and our #1,  NY Milk always pasteurize at a lower temperature.

Sugar-Free Pudding or Sugar Free Anything.

Sugar-free Pudding (or sugar-free anything) with Splenda or NutraSweet can make brown sugar actually look healthy. We’ll take a little bit of real sugar over the faux version any day.

What were the surprises on this list for you? Any allegedly healthy foods we missed?