Muesli... a GOOD breakfast choice

Tonight's blog has been inspired from a recent report published by well renowned Choice magazine on their latest review of muesli. Now I have been a member of Choice for many years and I'm certainly a big fan of their work, up until this point.

In their report they sensationalised the fact that some mueslis have more fat than a McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder. But to me this makes no sense. We don't eat nutrients, we eat foods. And there is no way you can compare a bowl of muesli to a fast food burger.

The flaws in Choice's report

To the naked eye it may appear that Choice have lifted the cover on a giant list of mueslis, and uncovered all of their deep dark secrets. What you need to know is that there are a number of limitations in Choice's report. Choice based their conclusions mostly on numbers on a nutrition panel. But as we know, it's important to look at the ingredients list as well as the numbers to find out the whole story. You can download my How To Read a Nutrition Information Panel here, where I talk about what numbers to aim for but also a what to look for in the ingredients list. It's important to read both when making a decision about choosing a product.

Choice looked unfavourably upon a lot of mueslis that had higher total levels of fat, even if these fats were mostly unsaturated (the good types of fat). More and more evidence is showing us that we need good fats in our diet. These include a number of plant based oils such as canola oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, nuts and seeds, many of which are found in mueslis. These fats are heart protective and good for us. We need these in our diet. As the dietitian for Carman's Fine Foods, I was alarmed that Choice rated Carman's mueslis only satisfactory, even when their mueslis have <3g saturated fats per 100g.

The other major limitation of the report was that sugars were looked upon as one single nutrient, and it was not considered what type of sugar it was or what food it came from. So those mueslis that contained small amounts of dried fruit were shunned upon because they had higher levels of sugars, and there was no comparison made between those mueslis that used added sugars and those that used naturally occuring ones from dried fruit.

What you should know about muesli

First things first I think we need to remember that a number of people don't eat breakfast at all. This means their bodies are not receiving the fuel they need to run efficiently all day. So having a bowl of muesli for breakfast (with reduced fat milk of course) is a good thing! Well done to those of you who do this already.

Secondly most mueslis are wholegrain and low GI due to their base ingredient of oats. This means you are going to feel fuller for longer and will be less likely to grab the lolly jar at morning tea time! Wholegrains are a rich source of dietary fibre, which also helps to keep you satisfied, as well as keeping you regular, reducing cholesterol and reducing your risk of bowel cancer.

When you purchase a muesli, check the ingredients list to see what fat is used. If there are some nuts, this is a plus. If there are oils like olive, canola, sunflower or safflower, grapeseed, soyabean or corn oil, these are high in good fats and get the Heart Foundation Tick (see page 4 for an oil comparison). Try to avoid mueslis that have palm or coconut oils listed in the ingredients list. If 'vegetable oil' is listed you'll need to contact the manufacturer as this could mean a good oil such as canola oil or it could be a not so good oil such as palm oil. Natural mueslis are also a better choice over toasted mueslis as they contain less kilojoules overall.

And as for sugars, look at the ingredients list to check what the source of sugars is. If it's dried fruit, and it's a fair way down in the ingredients list (near the end), then you know there is only a small amount of dried fruit in the muesli. Dried fruit is healthy in small amounts, and there's no need to avoid a muesli that contains dried fruit.

So now looking back that McDonalds Quarter Pounder is not looking that crash hot after all. Just remember we eat foods, not single nutrients, therefore we need to look at the whole picture not one element inside it.