Granola amazing health benefits includes improving digestion, promoting weight loss, reducing cholesterol levels, improving energy levels, promoting a healthy pregnancy, promoting skin health, great source of vegan protein, helps manage blood pressure, help treat anemia, help manage migraines, helps boost the immune system, reduces the risk of heart disease, and help reduce cancer development.
What is Granola?
When most people think of granola, they think of snack bars. But what they don’t know is that granola is actually a super food that has numerous health benefits. It contains dozens of vitamins, minerals and not to mention a high fiber content, making it extremely versatile as a healthy and convenient option to snack on in between meals.
Not sure what benefits you can see from granola consumption? Read on and find out more!
Nutrition Info of Granola (per 100g)
Calories- 440
Total Carbohydrate- 54g18% RDI
Dietary Fiber-8.5g 33% RDI
Sugars-19.5g
Total Fat-22.5g 34% RDI
Protein-11.6g 23% RDI
Vitamin E-8mg 40% RDI
Vitamin K-5mcg 6% RDI
Thiamin-0.5mg 30% RDI
Riboflavin-0.3mg 15% RDI
Niacin-2mg 10% RDI
Vitamin B6-0.2mg 11% RDI
Folate-46.8mcg 12% RDI
Pantothenic Acid-0.7mg 7% RDI
Calcium-82.2mg 8% RDI
Iron-3.2mg 18% RDI
Magnesium-150mg 37% RDI
Phosphorus-340mg 34% RDI
Potassium-370mg 11% RDI
Zinc-2.7mg 18% RDI
Copper-0.5mg 27% RDI
Manganese-2.2mg 110% RDI
Selenium-19mcg 27% RDI
13 Amazing Health Benefits of Granola
1. Improves Digestion
It’s a given that foods high in fiber almost always improve digestion. And why not use granola? It contains a mixture of both soluble and insoluble fibers, making it extremely helpful to the entire digestive process. Insoluble fiber passes undigested through the tract and adds bulk to the stool, making it much easier to pass; whereas soluble fiber acts as nutrition for the probiotic bacteria living in our gut.
2. Promotes Weight Loss
One of the main reasons people eat granola bars in the first place is for its effect on weight loss. Granola is an excellent source of fiber as mentioned, which decreases hunger significantly in between meals and helps control blood glucose fluctuations. It also absorbs water and reduces your appetite by inhibiting the release of ghrelin, which is a hormone that makes you feel hungry. Reducing calories is the number one way to lose weight so anything that makes you eat less is a welcomed addition.
3. Reduces Cholesterol Levels
Oatmeal is known to reduce cholesterol by virtue of its high soluble fiber content, something that granola also possesses and allows you to add versatility to your meals. Fiber actively promotes the excretion of cholesterol in stool by acting as a kind of sponge that traps the cholesterol and removes it from circulation. Just be sure to get granola that is not fortified with artificial fats, as they may worsen your cholesterol problem and defeat the purpose of it in the first place.
4. Improves Energy Levels
Granola is preferred by many athletes and people that need to work at a high intensity, thanks to its ability to improve energy levels. It doesn’t have a high sugar content but contains manganese, a mineral which is involved in many biological processes in the body which includes amongst its long list of tasks energy metabolism. Next time you’re feeling sluggish or just need a quick burst of energy, consume some granola instead of a cheap energy bar.
5. Promotes a Healthy Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a time rife with cravings, many of which are far from healthy for the unborn child and expectant mother. A great snack Choice granola is of course Granola, rich in folate which is a natural form of folic acid that helps to ensure neural tube development and prevents deformities or neurological deficits in The Unborn Child.
6. Promotes Skin Health
Just a small 100-gram serving of granola contains close to 50% of the recommended intake of vitamin E, the vitamin that plays a key role in the maintenance of skin health. Vitamin E is said to have a UV reflective ability that minimizes the amount of rays that can penetrate and cause damage to skin cells.
7. Great Source of Vegan Protein
Though granola is not a complete protein, it can be a welcome addition for vegans who need extra protein in their diet. It contains approximately 12 grams of protein per 100g serving, which is essential for the rebuilding of cells and muscle growth post workout. Protein also has an important role to play in Weight Loss since it stimulates the metabolic rate and has the greatest thermic effect of all macronutrients. This is why high protein diets are so effective for bringing about weight loss.
8. Helps Manage Blood Pressure
While granola doesn’t have a lot of potassium, it contains enough to be helpful, especially since a surprisingly large number of people are deficient in this essential mineral. Potassium exerts a balancing effect on sodium and helps support your blood pressure by flushing excess sodium and water out of the body. It also has a vasodilatory action on blood vessels that contributes greatly to blood pressure modulation, and also helps to regulate kidney function.
9. Helps Treat Anemia
By a long shot, most cases of anemia are caused by insufficient iron consumption. This then causes insufficient production of red blood cells, which are integral for carrying oxygen to cells throughout the body. The easiest way to remedy anemia? by consuming more iron-rich foods. When it comes to Iron consumption people fall in one of two sides of the spectrum; they either consume too much or far too little.
Granola contains moderate amounts of iron which is extremely beneficial, especially if you are vegetarian and do not consume animal-based products to get your iron. Just have your granola with a piece of fruit rich in vitamin C to enhance the absorption of iron and increase your blood building capacity.
10. Can Help Manage Migraines
Though many people wouldn’t go to granola as a first choice for managing migraines, it is actually surprisingly very effective in handling this condition. This is believed to be due to the presence of ample magnesium which study after study shows helps to reduce the frequency and severity of migraines. Magnesium also helps regulate blood vessel tone under the scalp and reduces muscle spasms occurring in this area.
11. Helps Boost The Immune System
While granola doesn’t have a high vitamin C content, it does have a high vitamin E content, which is another antioxidant vitamin important in ensuring the health of your immune system. But that is not the primary way it works to strengthen your immune system; in fact it does that via your gut. The gut contains a large colony of probiotic bacteria which incidentally form a large part of your immune system. In many cases this part of the immune system is the first thing recruited after you consume foods or come in contact with a foreign pathogen. The fiber containing granola help to feed his probiotic bacteria so that they can function their best at all times and help to keep a lid on pathogenic bacteria at all times.
12. Reduces Risk of Heart Disease
Granola is a perfect food for reducing your cardiovascular risk, thanks to the presence of fiber and also potassium which helps to maintain blood pressure. It helps to slow down the deposit of atherosclerotic plaques which in turn reduce heart disease risk and strokes as well.
13. Helps Reduce Cancer Development
Granola helps reduce cancer development thanks to the presence of vitamin E which prevents cellular mutations, and also folic acid which is essential for normal DNA synthesis. High sugar foods are also believed to play a role in cancer development but luckily granola does not have a lot of this either.
Conclusion
The next time you need a healthy snack look for some granola instead of a packaged artificial treat. Not only will it save you money but your health will increase by Leaps and Bounds as well