Granola is healthier than most other cereals

It’s a very very small study. Only 10 participants which does not give it any statistical power whatsoever to generalise the findings. Also, why 1977? We won’t, on a whole, consider evidence which is more than 10 years old unless it is bullet proof. What are the chances that this study was replicated on a much larger scale more recently and didn’t show the same outcomes… pretty high.
This cherry-picking of evidence is quite poor practice but very common in sensationalist books.

I agree: granola plus fruit keeps me fuller than most other breakfasts I'd choose. I usually have a mid morning snack after other breakfasts but don't usually need one with granola.

It depends what you are eating it with and what you'd be eating instead if you didn't eat the granola....

So if you're eating it with natural live yogurt and some seeds/ berries.and instead of a bowl of frosties... then it is 'healthy'. On the other hand if you're adding sugar and oat milk and would otherwise have been eating scrambled eggs with a of spinach and mushrooms then no, it's sugar filled junk and not 'healthy'

That sounds utterly delicious tbh. Sadly I am time poor.

I like granola, I just buy whatever I fancy and add to it whatever I want. Sometimes it's full fat greek yoghurt, fat free, dried fruits, fresh fruits, nuts, seeds, fresh fruit. Better than some cereal, worse than others but it tastes nice.

It doesn't keep me full for very long though but definitely fuller than toast or coco pops!

I also eat porridge made with milk, add in fruit, seeds, protein powder and a bit of honey or maple syrup (not the proper stuff 😱) Bit more filling than granola.

Eggs is also a go to, poached on brown sourdough with avacado and with or without prosciutto ham, smoked salmon, spinach. Keeps me fuller for longer than the above breakfasts.

If you like granola then eat it, don't eat too much.

Does natural yoghurt mean set without thickeners then? I have natural yoghurt and Greek style natural yoghurt in the fridge and are both just made with milk. I try and avoid flavoured/ fancy yoghurts. Kids have a sweet tooth so just drizzle a spoonful of honey over.

I didn’t say it was!!

It gets a high score on the Zoe app and I’m happy with that. Clever people are behind it.

Oat Flakes (65%), Sugar, Raisins (7%) (Raisins, Cottonseed Oil, Sunflower Oil), Glucose Syrup, Vegetable Oil (Sunflower/Rapeseed), Almonds (2%), Roasted Sliced Almonds, Honey, Sunflower Seeds, Flavouring, Caramelised Sugar, Antioxidant: Tocopherol-Rich Extract

For one it's got rapeseed/canola oil which is apparently very bad for you. It's got 4 types of sweetener and the second largest ingredient is sugar. How much sugar is actually in it? Flavouring, what's that? who knows but they don't say what it is so it is probably something you don't want to be eating.

Yes, a 1977 study quoted in the Lancet. Depletion and disruption of dietary fibre. Effects on satiety, plasma-glucose and serum insulin.

Stewed apple and Greek yogurt is gorgeous,

Yoghurt? Noooo! What goes best with stewed apple is cheap biscuits (ginger nuts are divine) or custard. Plus, stewed apple is pudding not breakfast.

Wanders off shaking head and muttering about newfangled ways...

I've started having yogurt, chopped fruit, a handful of chopped pecans and pumpkin seeds, and a drizzle of honey, takes about 2 minutes to prepare, tastes like a pudding and you can shovel it down in about 5 minutes. I have greek yogurt so its got a bit of protein and keeps me quite full. I think its healthy, but I eat it because its delicious and easy

Im old :) And poor

When we had good jobs in London and were cash rich and time poor, everything was ready made/ready to cook/takeaway or eating out

Then illness meant a complete lifestyle change, loss of earnings, time on hands, so now all meals are from scratch and Ive just learned to make what I can, better, cheaper and healthier then shop bought

Will I really be annoying and say I use the strained whey to make a protein loaf? lol A loaf of bread that tastes like sour dough, really high protein, absolutely delicious and only takes the time of a normal loaf to make :)

When I made granola I was shocked at how much fat and honey is in the recipe as you’re basically roasting the ingredients . I’d say Weetabix or shredded wheat is healthier as they are low sugar, fat and high in fibre.

No it's about level of processing, which often is indicated by weird stuff on the label (guar gum, preservatives, etc.) Stuff can be non-UPF and still high in all that stuff.

The word “healthy” is the problem. It doesn’t mean much til u define you healthy.

Fat content
sugar
fibre
calories

I would swap granola for low sugar muesli and enjoy the calories saved for another meal.

I make my own granola. I don't claim its exactly healthy, but it is delicious.

I thought ultra processed food was bad because of the quantity of salt, sugar and/or fat it sometimes contained. Simply that, not some other mystery ingredient. If that is the case then people saying that despite its high sugar content granola is better because it isn’t a UPF doesn’t make much sense. Maybe I’m wrong though.

'If you really want something healthy, mix plain porridge oats with chopped apple and / or a few sultanas. It takes less than a minute to prepare.

Three of your 5 a day by 8am. Loads of fibre. Very little sugar.'

Loads of fibre. Very little sugar. Totally joyless.

The studies that purported to demonstrate the importance of breakfast were funded by cereal companies to sell us made up food.

Eat real food or don’t bother until you’re actually hungry enough to want to eat real food.

It’s bonkers that we have special breakfast food, designed to overcome the natural aversion to preparing and consuming food early in the morning. We’ve been brainwashed into being afraid of being hungry, tossing around phrases like “I’m starving, I’m absolutely famished, I’m weak with hunger” if a meal is an hour late. As if we are going to drop dead before we can get the spoon in our mouths if we don’t time our meals to avoid ever feeling hungry.

Are there any studies quoted in that book to support this hypothesis? If not, this is just author’s opinion.

I don't make everything from scratch, but my teen daughter makes granola (it takes about 5 min to mix) because she is very picky about what she does and doesn't like, and it saves buying one and her picking out half the ingredients!!

I also make my own - stir up some olive oil or coconut oil, honey or maple syrup and a dash of peanut butter. It's pretty flexible.
Then mix with oats and whatever you like. Last match I think I added coconut chips, dates and my usual bad of mixed seeds from Lidl. And a sprinkle of sea salt. Bake in oven. Easy.

Stewed apple and Greek yogurt is gorgeous, beaten only by Stewed rhubarb! 😋

‘Natural’ flavourings are anything but and UPF

“Not as good” is not the same as “not healthy at all”. Again, what do we mean by “healthy” here is unclear. Are we talking about vitamins, fibre, calories? Would stewed Apple be hypothetically healthier than, say, a slice of cake? And if yes, then we can hardly claim it’s not “healthy at all”.
It is easy to start demonising foods. The truth is, there is no good or bad foods. There are foods that are more nutritionally dense/balanced than others and that’s about it.