Going on from a previous post I made about quick oats, I thought it was worth looking deeper into the range of breakfast options and where they all stand nutritionally.

Many a times in the private practice, have people come who make their own home-made muesli, or purchase some of the traditionally accepted healthy brands of muesli, only to find that real alterations need to take place if they want to start to lose weight.

There are a few key points to look at:

1. Toasted muesli has added oils (fats) and sugar (may come from a variety of sources)- now the fats are almost always from an unsaturated "healthy" fat source, however both additional ingredients will provide additional kilojoules (significant amounts) compared to the untoasted muesli counterpart.

2. Nuts, seeds and dried fruits that are added are again similar to the above ingredients, they are healthy, I am not fighting that at all, however they are energy dense, meaning for a small volume of the food, you get a lot of kilojoules, hence meaning your portion size really needs to be cut down, relative to a cereal flaked breakfast.

3. Fibre- this is topical, and some dietitians may disagree with me here, however when looking per 100g for a cereal, I believe there are enough options on the shelf that allow us to grab one that is up at around 20-25g/100g as opposed to one that is down at 10g/100g. Think about it,  the serve size for a muesli is already recommended to be smaller than other cereals, and therefore if the serve is 30g- you will be getting around 3g of fibre, which really is not significant enough to keep you full for the entire morning. There are some up at around 15g/100g, but that is still only 4.5g per serve, which again, doesn't really do justice for the breakfast meal.

4. Sodium- this is where muesli's pretty much always take the cake vs other cereals, they are low in sodium and therefore good from a blood pressure management perspective.

So what is the solution?

If energy consumption is not an issue for you, than there really is no concern consuming untoasted muesli for breakfast. If however you are someone who is trying to reduce your kilojoule intake whilst still being able to consume adequate amounts of food to keep you full, try one of the following suggestions:

1. Mix your untoasted muesli with a higher fibre cereal choice such as All bran, any of the Goodness Superfoods range cereals, or Vogels high bran or soy and linseed cereals. This will decrease the energy density of your meal, whilst bumping up the fibre to help you feel full.

2. Decrease the serve size of your untoasted muesli and add a fibre supplement powder mix on top such as chia seed bran, psyllium husk or fibre boost sprinkles.

3. Switch to a higher fibre cereal for breakfast, or alternative healthy breakfast choice, and save your toasted muesli to have as a small serve for a snack or dessert. Often cereals that don't make the cut as the healthier breakfast cereal options, still top many of the available snack foods from a health perspective, so why not use that in your favour, and enjoy the cereal later in the day?

 Anyone have a good untoasted muesli suggestion they would like to share?