If you carefully monitor your diet, then you must have noticed that many glossy magazines include muesli in various weight loss programs. But this is a high-calorie product that contains a lot of carbohydrates! Does muesli really help you lose weight?
What is muesli
Muesli is a mixture of raw or baked cereals, bran, nuts, dried fruits, wheat germ, and so on. They may also contain honey and various spices. The world owes the invention of muesli to the doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner, this event took place in Switzerland more than a hundred years ago. There are two main types - dry muesli (they are treated with IR rays) and fried (crunch). As for the benefits for the body, the latter are significantly inferior to the former.
Why muesli is good for you
Cereals, nuts and dried fruits in muesli provide the body with fiber, vitamins E, C, group B, as well as minerals. Unfried muesli promotes digestion and improves intestinal motility.
Muesli and weight loss
Muesli is a source of complex carbohydrates, they perfectly satisfy hunger and leave you feeling full for a long time. Cereals in their composition are digested relatively slowly, so the body has to spend a lot of energy to assimilate. All this works only if you use unroasted muesli without sweet additives from honey, molasses, candied fruits, chocolate and the like.
Muesli is suitable for weight loss if:
- Contains less than 15 g of sugar (per 100 g)
- Contains no more than 10 g of fat
- Contains Over 8 grams of Fiber
- Free from sugary additives and frostings
- Contains no more than 400 kcal
- These are classic dry muesli
How to consume muesli
An indispensable condition for the use of muesli is soaking. The best combinations are milk, natural drinking yoghurt or kefir. Do not pour fruit juice on muesli - this dish will contain too many carbohydrates. By the way, you can also eat muesli hot - for this, fill them with warm milk and put in the microwave for 1 minute. Traditionally, this dish is served for breakfast.
Parfait with berries
Ingredients:
- 1 cup berry mix (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries)
- 1/2 cup low-fat natural yogurt
- 2 tbsp. muesli spoons
Rinse and dry the berries. Cut the strawberries. Stir berries and muesli. In tall transparent glasses or bowls, put alternately the berry mixture and yogurt. Decorate with whole berries.
Parfait with oranges and blueberries
Ingredients:
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
- 2 oranges
- 1/4 cup muesli
- 200 ml low-fat yogurt
- 1 1/2 tbsp. tablespoons of sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
Divide the orange into wedges. Mix yogurt, sugar and zest. Place blueberries, yogurt and oranges in 4 tall glasses. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with muesli.
