Q and A: Granola

I feel bad for neglecting this blog.  Unfortunately, more illness, a remodel of our computer room and about 3 bushels of apples have kept me from doing much above survival mode.
Meanwhile, I had a couple nutrition questions about granola from my sister in law that I thought I would post the answers to.

Q:  I love making granola.  My recipe calls for butter instead of oil though (1/2 c. butter to 6 c. oats).  What are the health trade offs butter for oil? Just saturated verses unsaturated fats?


A:  Yes, the trade-offs are mainly the saturated fat.  There are 56 grms of saturated fat in 1/2 cup of butter and 8 grms of saturated fat in 1/2 cup canola oil (these are according to the labels of the items I have on hand.)  You know the problems with saturated fat- raised bad (LDL) cholesterol equals higher risk of heart disease.  The only fat worse for you is trans fat- found in hydrogenated fats like shortening, margarine and many processed foods.  Butter tastes pretty good though, but in something like granola where you might not taste a difference and if you are eating it every day, I would recommend switching to oil.

Q:  I like to stretch my granola too so I add plain corn flakes and/or bran flakes to my finished granola.  I can get this cereal for under a dollar a box so I think I am saving money but am I compromising health?


A:  I stretch my granola by mixing it with cereal too!  Nothing wrong with that, especially if your cereal has the added vitamins and minerals that most cereals have.  What you are giving up is probably some fiber if you use corn flakes, but bran flakes will help with that- good fiber there.  


I have found some discount cereals I bought did not have as much vitamin and mineral percentages as other name brand cereals, so just watch that and if it's important to you, consider that.  With my young kids eating that cereal and needing those added vitamins, it's important to me- but for those of you who probably makes better health decisions throughout your day, it's probably not an issue.


In my research of this topic, I found an interesting article online.  The guy who answers the question is a little extreme, but has some good points.  Take this with a grain of salt.  Click HERE


ps- I always welcome questions and would love that to be a part of this blog!


~Here's to Healthy Eating