Granola bar- a perfect breakfast meal?

What is Breakfast?

The first meal of the day is essential for good health. As the name suggests break-fast means the meal which breaks the long fasting period which is nearly 8-10 hrs. So this meal is crucial for the body to replenish all the nutrients and energy in your body. This meal must include all the important nutrients like carbohydrates, protein, fiber, fats and micronutrients like minerals, vitamins and antioxidants to give a powerful start to your day, so you can feel energetic and ready to face everyday challenges.

Why healthy breakfast is so important?

Breakfast is necessary as it gives energy to the body to kick start the day with vitality and enthusiasm. The benefits of having a good breakfast daily to the body are as under:

1. It provides energy to the body to perform in the best way.
2. If you don't have your breakfast then you will feel sluggish and not able to concentrate on your work. Breakfast helps boost brain power.
3. Helps in maintaining proper body weight.
4. Helps in regulating blood glucose levels.
5. Helps in reducing chances of illness.

Options of a healthy breakfast.

Here in our country, we have multiple culinary heritage from northern breakfast options to South Indian food options which are full of taste and loaded with goodness of nutrients. From all these scrumptious food items, we can choose the option that is not only good in taste but also healthy for our breakfast. We must consider the food items which provide us with a good mélange of carbs, protein, fibre, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. A normal person needs approximately 2000 calories in a day.

Breakfast items table

Skipping breakfast

Nowadays, skipping breakfast is very common in today's fast-moving life. It is seen among the people who are doing jobs in metro cities, they need to catch public transport in a hurry to reach their workplaces on time. The regular skipping of breakfast has many bad effects on the body in the long run. Some of the reasons why people generally skip breakfast are as under:

• Busy morning schedule.
• Too tired to cook or make any arrangements for the meal.
• Don't like to eat in the morning or don't feel hungry.
• Want to lose weight.
• No readily available food at home.

Effects of skipping breakfast on our health.

As discussed earlier, skipping breakfast hampers health in the long run, some effects are illustrated as under:

• Bad health, low energy level.
• Lower focus and concentration on work.
• Poor eating habits like high sugar and high salted fatty items.
• Poor appetite.
• Underweight/ Overweight.
• Lower immunity.
• Bad behavior.

To overcome the side effects of skipping this essential first meal, we must have something to eat in the morning that is readily available and can be eaten on the go and should be a perfect meal, which provides us with all the essential nutrients in the proper amount. One such food item is granola bars which we can consider sometimes when we are short of time but we must include this with our normal foods.

Granola bars

A Granola bar is a melange of many ingredients like rolled oats, almonds, walnuts, seeds, chocolate chips, honey, peanut butter etc. This mixture is baked to form these bars which can be crunchy, soft and chewy. Most of the granola bars are made up of whole grains which are high in fibre and low in glycemic index, nuts, and dried fruits which are high in protein along with seeds, berries, and fruits which are good sources of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. But there are also granola bars available in the market that contain added sugar in higher amounts, alcohol sugar, inverted syrups, artificial flavors and preservatives which can cause high blood sugar, poor weight management and can increase bad cholesterol and become a reason for diabetes and heart problems.

Conclusion

Granola bars can be a good choice for breakfast but one should select them wisely. A good granola bar is that which contains whole grains cereal like oats, ragi, bajra, jowar and nuts and seeds like almonds, walnuts, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, and honey for sweetness with no added sugar, no cholesterol, no trans-fat, no preservatives can be a good choice. You can also check out our Eat Anytime range of granola bars with their unique and exciting flavours with the perfect blend of taste and health.

Disclaimer: Content in this blog is drawn from Wikipedia and Google searches. Accuracy may fluctuate, and updates may not be immediate. For dietary or health changes, consulting a dietician or healthcare expert is recommended.