Making Your Own Healthy Granola

It's been quite a while since the last time I published something. I've been rather busy with school and clinic as well as other life events. Even so, it's important that I maintain good fitness and nutrition. I would not have gotten through my packed days with relative ease without the granola I made. And so, I want to share my recipe to you folks in case you want to try it, too.

Here are the following ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats

• 1 cup crushed walnuts

• 1 cup crushed pecans

• 0.5 cup chia seeds

• 6 tbsp maple syrup

• 6 tbsp honey

• 0.5 tsp salt

• 50 grams of whey protein isolate powder

• 1 tsp Tung Hing cinnamon

• 4 tbsp avocado oil

1. Preheat the oven to 250F or 120C.
2. Combine the rolled oats, walnuts, pecans, chia seeds, and protein powder in one bowl and mix homogenously.
3. Mix all of the wet ingredients, dark brown sugar, and cinnamon in another bowl.
4. Pour the wet mix with the dry mix and kneed until everything is evenly distributed.
5. Place the uncooked granola on a baking sheet with parchment paper.
6. Bake the granola for 1 to 1.5 hours (or until golden brown), mixing every 15 minutes.
7. Let it cool to room temperature and store it for later.
8. Put it on yogurt, eat it as a cereal, or simply eat it as a snack.

You may wonder why do all of this when you can just buy a bunch of granola from a store? The main issue I have with the majority of granolas is the fact they use vegetable or seed oils. Those types of oils have very high omega-6 fatty acid contents and are pro-inflammatory. Long term and large amounts of consumption have shown to deteriorate mitochondria in rodent studies. Such oils are also correlated with Alzheimer's. Ideally, you want to use fats that have a higher omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. It's why I go with avocado oil since it is not highly processed.

On top of that, the walnuts and chia seeds provide a good source of omega-3 fatty acids with the latter also providing plenty of fiber. The whey protein isolate helps boost not just the amount of protein per serving, but also the amino acid coverage.

Best of all, this recipe is pretty flexible. If you want a stickier granola where you can make individual bars, then replace the maple syrup with honey. If avocado oil isn't your thing, then substitute it with coconut oil. Either way, this granola has high nutritional value that provides a nice boost of energy.

This article is co-published on Odysee, Publish0x, and Steemit.