Proper nutrition is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. A muesli bar is a great alternative to chocolate and sweets.
Material Content:
Composition and calorie content of muesli bar
The main component of the bar is oats, although sometimes it is replaced with barley, wheat or rye. The role of a binder mass is most often performed by honey, chocolate, molasses. As additional components can be used nuts, seeds, dried fruits.
The calorie content of the muesli bar is quite high.
The exact numbers depend on the composition and volume of a particular ingredient. But the approximate level remains at around 410-500 kcal.
Product Properties for a Healthy Snack
The benefits and harms of this product have been discussed for a long time. True, much more positive qualities, because the bar:
- It energizes for a long time due to the presence of long carbohydrates in the composition. A great option for breakfast or a snack if you do not have time to cook.
- Saturates with vitamins, amino acids, micro and macro elements, allows you to quickly satisfy hunger.
- It improves intestinal function due to the high content of coarse fiber in whole grains. Improves a metabolism.
- It is stored for a long time, takes up little space, it is convenient to take on the road.
Of the minuses, the following facts should be mentioned:
- High calorie content. Therefore, people on a diet should not use this product, except in very limited quantities.
- Significant sugar content. This makes the bar an inappropriate food for diabetics. Manufacturers often add sugar, condensed milk, molasses in excess of honey or other useful sweeteners in excess, which leads to a sharp increase in the amount of glucose in the blood, tooth decay and caries.Even if the label indicates that honey is present in the composition, this does not mean that you have a natural product. For the manufacture of such sweets, synthetic raw materials are often used. On top of that, the bar can be coated with caramel or glaze, which is only harmful in the form of excess calories.
- The content of harmful substances in the factory product. For the production of these sweets on a production scale, dried dried fruits, palm oil, dyes, preservatives, flavorings are used, in which elements of little health benefit are present. And palm oil has long been recognized as a harmful product that is cheap, so it is widely used in production.
- Increased fat content. If nuts or seeds (products with a high oil content) are included in the bar, then such a product, if overused, can create a serious burden on the liver.
Most of the above negative points apply only to factory sweets.
If you pick up products and cook a treat yourself, it will turn out to be a harmless and useful alternative to sweets, rolls and pastries, from which there is much more harm.
Of course, there are some companies that specialize in healthy eating and produce products only with a natural composition. But such goodies are not cheap, so in many cases it is more profitable to purchase the ingredients yourself and learn how to make sweets yourself.
Home cooking
If possible, it is always better to cook this product with your own hands, rather than buying at the supermarket without even looking at the composition of the muesli bar. So you will know for sure that only natural and healthy ingredients are included in it. Most often used are oatmeal, whole grains, nuts, honey, seeds (sesame, pumpkin, sunflower), home-dried fruits. Instead of honey, you can add agave syrup or stevia extract, as well as use the flesh of bananas, apples, dates.
Such products are prepared simply and quickly. Children can also be involved in this business; they will be happy to mix the mass and cut the bars.
With orange for tone
Ingredients:
- 200 g of oatmeal;
- 100 g of dried fruit;
- 100 g of nuts;
- orange peel - to taste;
- 4 tbsp. l orange juice;
- 60 g of honey;
- 2 tsp vegetable oil.
You can take any oil, but it is better to give preference to the product of the first cold pressed, regardless of the feedstock. Suitable sunflower, linseed, sesame, pumpkin.
Sequencing:
- Chop the nuts with a knife.
- Remove the zest from the orange, squeeze the juice.
- Divide dried fruits into parts: grind one half with honey (30 g) to a paste, the second - cut into slices.
- Combine flakes, nuts, zest, dried fruits. Enter the remaining honey, juice, oil. Stir so that all components are evenly distributed in the mass.
- Cover the baking sheet with baking paper and lay the mass on it. Roll into a flat layer.
Put in the oven and bake for about a third of an hour at a temperature of 180 degrees. Still hot dessert cut into rectangles or squares. Serve to cool. Such a delicacy will surely appeal to the little sweet tooth, and adults will not remain indifferent to it.
With apple and cinnamon
The required set of products:
- a glass of oatmeal;
- a handful of dried fruits;
- 2 apples
- a handful of sunflower seeds;
- a few nuts;
- cinnamon.
Cooking:
- Soak dried fruits.
- Grind apples, chop nuts with a knife.
- Finely chopped dried fruit.
- Mix all components to form a viscous, viscous mass.
- Put on a baking sheet covered with paper and bake for about half an hour.
When the cake is browned, it must be removed and immediately cut into portioned bars. Store the finished treat in the refrigerator.
The benefits and harms of muesli for weight loss
These bars should not be carried away by people who want to lose weight or are watching their figure. Still, the product is too high in calories. Of course, nothing bad will happen from a single use. Therefore, if you really want something sweet, it’s better to make yourself such a bar than to buy a handful of sweets and cream cake.
These bars are most likely part of a balanced diet between meals. One time you can eat no more than 40-50 g of the product. It is best to use them as a snack to get the required amount of energy.
With moderate consumption, this delicacy will be beneficial and will not have a negative effect on the body.
