Muesli bars were originally developed as a health food. However, today they are known as a healthy dietary product popular among athletes. The history of its creation goes back more than 100 years; it was invented by a Swiss physician in 1900.
However, the prevalence of compressed muesli bars has raised doubts about its benefits. But homemade bars definitely cannot cause harm. Therefore, it is worth learning how to make granola bars at home yourself.
What's included
Muesli bars are pressed bars made from oat flakes, as well as from other grains: barley, rye, wheat.
Cereals contain many vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber, which is extremely necessary for the proper functioning of the intestines.
They have a high calorie content, which makes it easy to satisfy hunger, but complex carbohydrates take a long time to digest, so eating bars in moderation does not lead to obesity.
Depending on the recipe, the following can be added to the bar: candied fruits, seeds, nuts, honey and sugar. Some people add chocolate, cocoa or caramel to the dish. But this turns a healthy snack into a delicious dessert.
The calorie content of a bar can vary depending on its composition, from 150 to 400 kilocalories. When preparing a dish at home, it is important to calculate the energy value in order to prevent unwanted weight gain.
Pressed muesli comes in two types: raw and baked. The former are much healthier; they usually do not contain oil. The latter are higher in calories, but after heat treatment they are easier to digest.
If a person often experiences functional disorders of the intestines, baked bars are more suitable for him, but their size should be made smaller to reduce the calorie content of the snack.
Testing for sugar
Almost all granola bars should be thought of as purely sweet. In many of them, the amount of sugar exceeds more than 60%, while the current norm is 15%.
By the way, some manufacturers like to add so-called maltitol syrup, which is much higher in calories, along with the classic and familiar sugar.
The appearance of the bars is straight out of an advertising textbook, chapter “How to deceive the consumer and slip him bullshit.”
Please note: these bars have very bright, eye-catching packaging - so they immediately catch your eye and make you want to buy them.
The wrapper is very convenient, it opens easily, and when you snack on it on the go, you don’t get your hands dirty.
Usually on the packaging there are a lot of inscriptions in the style of Fitness / Fit / Sport / For weight loss / low-calorie and the biggest deception - WITHOUT SUGAR.
Let's see the composition. This is where the devil and his whole family lie.
In order not to be unfounded, we will consider various types of muesli bars, which are known to everyone and are positioned as a healthy and balanced snack or as a dietary dish.
Corny Big
The composition of the “Schwartau Corny Big cereal bar with hazelnuts” is taken. Just for fun (although, of course, it’s not funny enough), just count how many times the word “sugar” appears.
And here is the composition of a muesli bar from the same Corny big series with banana flavor.
Compound:
- roasted cereal flakes 28% (oat, barley, wheat),
- fructose glucose syrup,
- flour (wheat, rice, corn),
- hazelnuts 9%,
- corn flakes (corn, sugar , salt, barley malt),
- Brown sugar,
- glucose syrup,
- Coconut oil,
- sugar,
- coconut flakes,
- chopped roasted hazelnuts 1%,
- honey,
- barley malt, salt,
- caramelized sugar syrup,
- emulsifier sunflower lecithin,
- “Hazelnut” flavor identical to natural.
- May contain traces of almonds and peanuts.
Total from sweets:
- glucose syrup with fructose (this is actually a killer mixture, sorry for our French),
- corn flakes (corn, sugar, salt, barley malt),
- Brown sugar,
- glucose syrup,
- sugar,
- honey,
- caramelized sugar syrup
As a result: as many as 7 titles !
Even if it seems to you that for such a sweet tiny 50 gram bar, after which you will want to eat in 15 minutes, the calorie content of 200 kcal, of which 30 are carbohydrates, is quite justified, but is this what you want to get from a “diet” snack?
Nestle Fitness
. Let's check if this description is true.
Let's look at the composition:
- grain products (whole grain wheat, rice, whole grain wheat flour, corn, rice flour),
- chocolate ( sugar , cocoa mass, skimmed milk powder, whey powder, cocoa butter, emulsifiers (soy lecithin, E476), flavoring (vanillin)),
- glucose syrup,
- sugar,
- invert sugar syrup,
- barley malt extract,
- humectant (glycerin),
- vegetable oils (palm and sunflower oils),
- brown sugar invert syrup,
- salt,
- cocoa powder,
- emulsifier (sunflower lecithin),
- cocoa powder,
- flavorings (chocolate, vanillin, cinnamon),
- acidity regulator (sodium phosphates),
- cocoa powder,
- antioxidant (tocopherols),
- glucose,
- vitamins and minerals.
In addition, the entire bar is generously sprinkled with sugar syrup, it is visible to the naked eye and somehow does not fit in with the word Fitness.
“Lose weight in a week”
“For those people who always prefer movement, slim muesli “Lose Weight in a Week” is the ideal way to restore energy and recharge your batteries for the whole day.”
Tak-tak, what's going on with our lineup?
Our record holder, it contains the least amount of sugar and its substitutes! *fanfare sounds unobtrusively*
But still, the presence of various glucose syrups and, especially, confectionery glaze will make even the most notorious Sherlock Holmes doubt the usefulness of this product.
Moreover, their advertising campaign with similar reviews is frightening: “I eat about 5-6 pieces every day. In fact, I’ve already replaced my food with muesli bars.”
Bite bars
If you really want store-bought candy bars, then you can buy “Bite”. The composition is absolutely pure, but it doesn’t taste like ambrosia, just ordinary pressed dried fruit.
By the way, we deliberately placed such a low-quality photo. In professional photographs, these bars look super attractive, but you and I now know that in real life everything is much more prosaic.
Please note that the calorie content is decent , so you shouldn’t get carried away with them!
The price is really steep, for a tiny 45 gram bar it costs about 100 rubles.
The basis of these culinary masterpieces are dates, so think about whether it’s easier to buy a kilo of these sweet bastards, nuts, seeds, in short, whatever your heart desires and make them yourself at home.
We kept the dates and dried fruits in boiling water for a couple of hours, crushed everything in a blender, added all sorts of different things, rolled them out on a plate and put them in the refrigerator. Ready! You can sell to friends
