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Why granola even if organic is not a healthy choice nutritionally or for the gut microbiome. Making your own is not even a healthy choice!
Is granola healthy to eat? Are brands from the store that are organic and/or sprouted acceptable?
What about homemade granola?
Sadly, the answer to all three of these questions is a resounding NO!
Even so-called “traditional granola” recipes, where soaked organic oats (or sprouted) are used before toasting in the oven, are not in the least bit digestible.
While soaking or sprouting oats before making granola is a big improvement, the fact is that digestive damage is still going to occur if you eat it. This preparation method is not traditional in the slightest.
Many granola fans do not seem to know that oats, even if sprouted or soaked first, are still not properly prepared in a traditional manner.
Thus, the proteins in the oats remain in a form that is extremely difficult to break down in the digestive tract.
Difficult-to-digest food that is not metabolized completely leaves undigested residues in the gut that cause pathogens to thrive.
This is why some people “crave” granola…it’s an addictive food like sugar that feeds gut pathogens.
Over time, pathogen overgrowth in the gut leads to a disrupted microbiome and eventually digestive symptoms.
The high potential of improperly prepared grains to harm health…with granola being perhaps the most prominent modern example…is why traditional societies took such great pains to soak, sprout, or ferment (sour leaven) them.
Here’s the last piece many folks seem to miss…
Not only did traditional peoples soak, sprout, or sour leaven their grains. They also thoroughly cooked them as the final preparation step before eating!
In other words, toasting sprouted or soaked oats in the oven does not fully deactivate the anti-nutrients.
Let’s explore this important precept of traditional diet in more detail below.
Why Granola is SO Difficult to Digest
The dry heat of an oven at the proper toasting temperature is simply not hot enough to complete the breakdown of anti-nutrients in oats or other grains.
Thus, even homemade granola is extremely difficult to digest. Eaten often, it can damage the gut over time.
Perhaps if a person has an iron gut, then homemade granola that is soaked or sprouted but not fully cooked might work on occasion.
The reality is that most people have sensitive guts today. This is a generational decline in health that is the result of several generations of children raised on antibiotics and processed foods.
Most people have some sort of digestive sensitivity to grains, even if there are no grain allergy symptoms present.
I know for me, I bloat terribly if I eat homemade granola that has been soaked or sprouted and then toasted.
Interestingly, thoroughly cooked unsoaked oatmeal digests far better.
The lesson to me is that the final cooking step for sprouted grains is very important!
Healthy Alternatives
The good news is that when you ditch granola, there are other options to consider that are very tasty and no more difficult to prepare.
In my home, I make these healthy breakfast cereal recipes instead of granola. Several of them provide that lovely crunch that is so yummy in milk for breakfast.
Another alternative is to make grain free granola that uses soaked nuts, fruits, and soaked seeds instead of grains as the primary ingredient.
Sources and More Information
Nourishing Traditions, p. 454
I’ve made this one a couple of times and it’s a hit!http://paleomg.com/pumpkin-granola/
Now what are we going to say instead of saying we are ‘crunchy’ ?!
thanks Rach 🙂
Have you looked at the granola recipe in Eat Fat, Lose Fat (by the same authors as Nourishing Traditions)? I tend to trust those gals.
I created my own “granola” bars using pepitas, sunflower seeds, cashews, almonds, and flax seeds. I soaked them for about 18 hours, combined it with coconut flour, coconut flakes, a bit of honey, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and baked for 18 hours at 170. They are yummy!
Not True: http://paleomg.com/pumpkin-granola/
Here is a really great grain-free granola that we LOVE. I used soaked nuts (and don’t use the seeds).
http://paleomg.com/pumpkin-granola/
Got a good recipe for healthy granola (with no toasted oats) coming out soon … hopefully tomorrow 🙂
I used a product called Execalm on my daughter’s persistent excema. This was over a year ago and it hasn’t come back!! She was 4 at the time and had it on her arms, legs, face, neck etc. The Execalm is a homeopathic cream with a couple different common homeopathic remedies in it. It was the only thing that made a difference and actually cleared it up.