A Homemade Healthy Muesli for Better Energy

[easy-social-share buttons="facebook,pinterest,print,mail" sharebtn_style="icon" fixedwidth="yes" fixedwidth_px="30" counters=0 style="icon" template="18" point_type="simple"]
A bowl of healthy muesli with nuts and dried fruit

Most people start the day with supermarket cereals that are setting them up for a vicious cycle of brief highs, longer lows, hunger and weight gain. Here is a much healthier homemade muesli to avoid all of that and start your day off full of nutrition.

Breakfast Cereals and Blood Sugar

Processed breakfast cereals provide a short burst of sugar-based energy soon after you have them. Once you eat them you feel good, for a little while. But that energy rarely lasts. Usually made of heavily refined, high glycemic wheat or corn, they raise your blood sugar levels quickly, often far too quickly for your body to handle.

Once this happens, insulin is released to counteract the dangerous situation of having too much sugar in your blood. This sugar has to be stored somewhere. Insulin can store some in your liver and muscles as glycogen, but excess is converted to triglycerides and stored as body fat.

Insulin regularly works too well and takes too much glucose out of your bloodstream, leading to low blood sugar and the sudden lethargy many people feel mid-morning after eating processed wheat and corn products earlier in the day.

A bowl of fruit loops

Many breakfast cereals are also full of damaging sodium chloride and some, usually those aimed at children, have artificial colorings associated with hyperactivity and behavioral problems.

Ultimately, better breakfasts, like those based on eggs and avocados and other slower digesting and more satisfying foods, are a much better way to start your day and maintain stable energy.

If you do want to have breakfast cereal occasionally though, here is a much healthier muesli recipe. The high fiber and slow-release ingredients are much more likely to keep your blood sugar levels on a more even keel. This will lead to a longer lasting energy and less chance of that mid-morning slump.

Slow Burning Muesli Ingredients

3 cups of organic oats, rolled or steel cut. Oats are a slower digesting grain than wheat or corn. Get the larger rolled oats for their relatively low glycemic index, rather than the quick oats which can be higher.

Full of minerals and healthy fiber, uncontaminated oats are also free of the allergen gluten. Found in the highest levels in wheat, gluten is a substance which many people’s bodies have problems dealing with.

2 cups of desiccated coconut. This ingredient is the key to making this muesli a true slow burning breakfast. Desiccated coconut is full of beneficial medium chain fatty acids like lauric and capric acid. These nutrients have a positive effect on your digestive system and promote weight loss. Coconut also adds a great tropical flavor to this replacement breakfast cereal.

A bowl of walnuts.

1 cup of walnuts or pecans or a mixture of both. Both walnuts and pecans are a rich source of nutrition and add an amazing taste of this muesli.

1 cup of cold milled flax meal. Full of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, beneficial lignans and other health promoting nutrients, ground flaxseed also has a beautiful nutty taste. Make sure you get it organic and cold milled, keep it in the fridge and use it within a month.

3 tablespoons of real ceylon cinnamon. This finishing spice adds a delicious warming flavor and aroma and has also been shown to help reduce appetite and stabilize blood sugar levels. You might want to add even more of it if mid-morning hunger has been a big problem in the past.

How to Make Oats, Nuts, Flaxseed, Coconut and Cinnamon Muesli

It’s best to make this muesli up in a batch for the week or two to come. Simply pour all of the ingredients into a big Tupperware or similar container with a lid. Put the lid on tight and shake it up well.

Close-up of rolled oats.

Serve yourself just a cup worth the first time you try it and keep it in the fridge. I have it with a coconut-based milk alternative and eat it with a teaspoon. While it might not look like that much in your plate, it’s so filling that if you enjoy eating it slowly you really won’t need any more.

Beyond Breakfast

This healthy muesli is a far more nutritious kind of cereal than anything I’ve ever seen in the supermarket. Just a small amount will fill you up, keep your blood sugar stable and help you get to your ideal weight.

Related Posts

Leave a comment

0 thoughts on “A Homemade Healthy Muesli for Better Energy”

  1. What a wonderful web site. A friend sent me this link and I love it. It have lost 50 lbs using these principals. I love the recipes. Thank you.

    Reply

Leave a Comment