Why is granola so high in calories? What is granola anyway? How could the innocent-looking breakfast cereal be something a dieter be worried about? Here are 10 facts to know about calories and breakfast cereal.
Why is Granola So High in Calories? Facts 1-3
Why is Granola So High in Calories? Facts 1-3
1. For starters, what is granola? Granola is a well-known breakfast cereal. It is made of rolled oats mixed with different ingredients. However, the most popular additions are dried fruits and nuts.
2. What makes granola score high in calories? The sad thing about the cereal oat is its fat content. Although grains have always been on the good side, however, granola proved to be different.
3. Imagine the content. Granola usually contains a mixture of ingredients such as almond slices, raisins, butter, molasses, sugar, honey, dried fruits and others. With the varied content, it is hard to calculate its number of calories and the nutritional value that granola has.
Why is Granola So High in Calories? Facts 4-7
Why is Granola So High in Calories? Facts 4-7
4. When it comes to content, granola scores high but there are meals that can be worse. Quaker Natural Granola with Oats, Honey and Raisins contains about 51 grams or half a cup, good for 16 servings in a 28 ounce box.
5. Granola is denser than Corn Flakes due to the whole grains and added nuts – imagine dried fruits, raisins and almonds.
6. When it comes to calories, a half cup serving of Quaker’s Granola yields approximately 210 calories. It’s quite a big number. When it comes to fat content, granola yields 5 grams subdivided into 0.5 grams saturated fat, zero trans-fat, 3 grams of monounsaturated fat, and 1 gram of polyunsaturated fat.
7. When it comes to nutritional value, regular granola has about 260 milligrams of potassium and 30 milligrams of sodium.
Why is Granola So High in Calories? Facts 8-10
Why is Granola So High in Calories? Facts 8-10
8. When dealing with low fat granola, Special K Low Fat Granola also has its perks. The product yields 190 calories – far lower than the 210 calorie counterpart – 3 grams of fat, 120 milligrams of potassium and 120 milligram of sodium.
9. In terms of carbohydrates and protein, Quaker’s granola has about 38 grams of carbohydrates with 5 grams of fibre and 13 grams of sugar. In terms of protein, it yields about 5 grams. In the Special K Low Fat counterpart, it has 39 gram of carbohydrates with 5 grams of fibre and 9 grams of sugar.
10. Lastly, although granola might score high in calories, but it also contains a lot of vitamins and minerals. Granola can supply about 4% RDA of calcium, 10% of thiamine, 6% of iron, and 15% of phosphorous. Now, why is granola so high in calories? You may blame it to the additional ingredients that granola has.
