What To Choose Between Granola And Muesli & What Are Their Benefits?

Did you go shopping but can’t seem to find any difference between granola and muesli? Are you wondering which one to bring home or which one will be better? Then, you are on the right page. Not only you, even stores get confused between muesli and granola & they often end up mixing them up on the shelves. 

When you look into them closely, these breakfast cereals have many common ingredients like grains, fruits, nuts, and seeds, but they are also quite different in origin, nutrition, and health benefits. Muesli is often called as the healthy sibling of granola. However, granola contains a lot of sugar and other sweeteners.

What Is Muesli?

Muesli was introduced by a Swiss physician named Maximilian Bircher-Benner around the 1900s as a dish for his patients. The original ingredients consist of apples, nuts, rolled oats, lemon juice, and cream, honey, or sweetened condensed milk. The popularity of muesli spread in the 1960s when people started taking a greater interest in healthy foods.

Even you can make your own muesli with rolled oats, fresh dried fruit, dairy products or dairy substitutes, lemon juice, nuts, seeds, cinnamon or other spices, and honey. However, there are also commercially available packaged muesli available that is made with rolled cereal grains, dried fruit, nuts, and seeds, a usual combination to make it chewy and crunchy, along with a variety of chocolates and other ingredients.

Benefits of Muesli

• High in Fiber and Whole Grains
  As muesli is combined with various types of items, the dish typically becomes high in fiber and whole grains. Both of them are good for your digestive system and help to regulate your digestive tract.
• Good for Your Heart
  Muesli contains oat bran that includes oat fiber called beta-glucan. According to some studies, beta-glucan can help reduce cholesterol levels. So, by eating muesli regularly, you can drastically improve your heart health. By adding lemon juice to the mixture, you can lower your cholesterol.

What Is Granola?

It is said that granola has been invented at a health spa in the mid-1800s. It is quite similar to muesli because it’s also made of rolled oats and nuts along with other mix-ins such as dried fruit or granola fruit. A major difference between granola and muesli is that granola has oil and a sweetener. It is mostly baked that results in crunchier, clumpier texture. It can be eaten with milk or on its own, with yogurt, or as a topping for smoothie bowls or even ice cream. By adding more honey or other sweeteners, it can easily be turned into granola bars.

Benefits of Granola

• Prevents Anaemia
  Anaemia occurs when the body has a deficiency of iron in the red blood cells. It can lead to issues such as fatigue, constant weakness, low energy, and many more problems. Granola Chocolate or bars are loaded with iron. So, consuming iron-rich food can help your body to counteract symptoms of anaemia and even prevent chronic headaches, irregular breathing, and fatigue.
• Helps Increase Cognitive Activity
  Granola bars have high potassium content and low sodium which makes them ideal for fighting high blood pressure. It also helps increase the flow of clean blood and oxygen to the brain and the rest of the body. It means that your brain will start working faster and more effectively.