As soon as a healthy breakfast comes to our mind, our usual go-to options are oats, cereal, granola, muesli, and the list goes on.
While they are typically made with oats, nuts, dried fruits, and seeds, what are the differences between granola and muesli? These two similar-looking oat-based treats have dissimilarities and offer different healthy breakfast options to suit your preferences.
Granola is baked along with a sweetener such as honey or syrup and oil to bind the ingredients together. It is also known as ready-to-eat cereal. You can consume it anywhere, anytime.
Granola is a product of the health and wellness movement of the late 19th century. It was developed by an upstate New York doctor Dr. James Caleb Jackson to treat his rehabilitating patients. It was named the “Granula” by Dr. Caleb back in the mid-1800s and was the first manufactured cold breakfast cereal in the world.
The idea and name were purloined by Dr. John Kellogg, who, under threat of a lawsuit, changed the name of his product to “Granola”. Kellogg later founded the cereal company and made the big bucks while his brother, focused on medicine, invented the popular cereal options Corn Flakes, All-Bran, and Raisin Bran.
Granola is usually with a splash of milk or over yogurt, or even straight out of hand as a snack. Granola has a higher calorie, carb, and sugar content than muesli due to its added sweeteners. With its rich source of carbohydrates, it provides fitness enthusiasts and runners a boost of much-needed energy.
Muesli is a mix of uncooked whole grains, and can be served hot or cold.
Muesli is the perfect alternative to sugary, processed cereals lining the shelves of supermarkets as it contains only raw and unprocessed ingredients.
It is developed in Switzerland during the early 1900s by Swiss physician and nutritionist Dr. Maximilian Bircher-Benner. Like Dr. Caleb and Kellog, Bircher-Benner sought to use Muesli as a nutritional supplement for his patients during hospital rehabilitation.
Muesli can be enjoyed in a few different ways. One of the most popular methods involves soaking the muesli overnight in milk, alternative milk such as oat milk, almond milk, or fruit juice. It can also be cooked on the stove with some water or milk, similar to how you would make oatmeal. But the easiest way to eat muesli is raw, just tossed with some milk or yogurt to moisten the oats.
Protein is an important part of a training diet and plays a key role in post-workout recovery and repair. This fiber- and protein-rich breakfast option provides enough energy and nutrients to meet the demands of training for athletes. A muesli bar is usually used for general snack purposes or as a major energy boost to sporting performance.
