Gluten Free, Vegan, No Refined Sugar, “My Granola.”

What makes my Gluten Free, Vegan with no refined sugar Granola so good & healthy compared to most commercial shop bought brands?

• Made with only the best quality, organic, ingredients

• Zero refined sugar

• Rich in both soluble and insoluble fiber

• Chia seed’s provide an additional protein hit.

• ‘Gut friendly’

• vegan

• gluten free

• & low in natural sugar
  
  ….Are you ready to start eating for better health & vitality today with my Healthy Granola?

“Make today the day you take your first step towards changing your diet to a ‘Pro Health’ diet with my nutritious, easy to follow granola recipe. ”

First, a little bit of background about why eating a high fibre, protein rich breakfast is such a great way to start the day?

A fiber rich diet is your gut health ally

Soluble V’s Insoluble fiber
Soluble gives the stool bulk. It’s associated with a decreased risk of heart disease, decreased cholesterol levels, and better blood sugar control, reducing the risk for diabetes.

Foods that are good sources of soluble fiber include apples, bananas, buckwheat, quinoa, oats, and beans.

Insoluble attracts water into your stool, making it softer and easier to pass with less strain on your bowel. It speeds up the transit time of food in the digestive tract and helps to prevent constipation.

Foods that are a good sources of insoluble fibre include brown rice, quinoa, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin, chia and sesame seeds, beans and vegetables, such as cauliflower, green beans and potato.  

Health benefits of eating more plant protein rich whole foods at breakfast and adding more plant based whole foods to our diet:

Reduced inflammation.

Lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

Heart health improvements.

Reduced risk for cardiovascular disease.

Improved immunity.

Reduced risk for Type 2 Diabetes.

Weight loss support

Research indicates that replacing some animal based protein with plant based protein sources may help to decrease the risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. In addition plant based foods contain antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals all boosting our overall health.

Another great reason to include more plant based protein into our diet is for their ability to help lower our intake of saturated fat. There fiber and saponins content has been shown to help reduce blood sugar spikes, further benefiting health and wellbeing.

Foods that are a good sources of plant protien include nuts and nut butter, quinoa, seeds, edamame, green peas, legumes, such as garbanzo, kidney, black, pinto or cannellini beans, lentils and nutritional yeast.

Zero refined sugar
Natural sugars are a better choice V’s refined.
Why? Fruits and dairy contain fructose and lactose, natural sugar that is digested slower than refined sugar and helps to keep our metabolism stable. Unrefined sugar’s also retain natural nutrients like calcium, iron and magnesium.

Foods that are a good sources of non refined sugar include apples, oranges, berries, grapes, cherries, grapefruit, avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil, natural unsweetened yogurt,

Refined sugar is ‘full’ of ‘empty’ calories with on nutritional value.

Refined sugar foods to cut out or down on include sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, and some fizzy drinks and juice drinks.  With a can of cola often containing as much as 9 cubes of sugar!  That's more than the recommended daily limit for adults.

10 easy to choose, Pro Health daily swaps & diet tips

Try the following 10 suggestions & guidance to boost your health and vitality:

• Eat a variety of foods to ensure adequate intake of nutrients

• Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables - the bigger the variety and selection of colour’s, the better

• Consume whole grains, nuts and healthy fats rich in unsaturated fatty acids

• Reduce your intake of saturated fats

• Limit sugar intake. Especially refined sugars.

• Cut back on salt

• Drink good quality water regularly

• Aim to eat only when you’re hungry

• Try to avoid snacking between main meals. It confuses the body’s natural signals of ‘enough food’ from your brain to your gut

• Try to avoid eating when ‘On the Go’. Remember, when and where we choose to eat can also impact on our health.

Want to start eating for better health but don’t know where to start? Want to change to a ‘Pro Health’ diet’, but uncertain how to?

Let me share with you one of my professional gem’s on how to achieve real, rewarding, successful and sustainable results…

“It’s all about making simple swaps rather than extreme changes & restrictions.”

Start today by reducing the amount of highly processed, high sugar, salt & fat foods you eat. It’s No1 when it comes to how to start eating a pro health diet.

Try swapping high sugar, salt, fat and processed foods to their healthier whole food, high fibre, healthy fat alternatives.

Eating whole foods allow the body to experience, sustained energy releasing carbohydrates which contribute to a healthy gut microbiome. Healthy gut, healthy us. With more energy, less stress, better sleep, healthier clearer skin, improved mood & motivation.

Eat Right, Feel Happy

There’s an added bonus when we start to pay attention to what, where and how we’re eating….. As well as being one of the key foundations for promoting better health & wellbeing, when we eat well, we feel good and naturally enjoy life more. And when we enjoy life more, we naturally become aware of feeling and experiencing a greater sense of happiness and purpose in life.

My Gluten Free, Vegan, No Refined Sugar Granola Recipe

Ingredients:
150g Quinoa flakes or Buckwheat flakes
2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
6 tablespoons of raw coconut oil
1 - 2 heaped tablespoons of chia seeds
1/4 tsp of Celtic sea salt
1/2 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
4 tbsp golden flaxseeds, ground
100g Mixed chopped *nuts of choice, or single variety or no nuts
30g Desicated coconut
20g Coconut flakes
50g Dried fruit of choice. Goji berries, chopped apricots or currants
Sterilised jars of size of choice

Method
Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place the quinoa or buckwheat flakes on the tray. Bake at 140 C fan oven for 15 minutes. Check after 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to
130 C if the flakes are browning.
Add the coconut oil and olive oil into a small stainless steel pan. Heat gently to melting point, then turn the heat off.
Meanwhile, place all of the remaining ingredients into a large glass bowl and mix well.
Add the warm flakes into the dry ingredients and stir together.
Add the melted oil into the dry ingredients. Mix well until evenly combined. Cover the bowl with a clean dry tea towel and leave the mixture to cool completely before transferring into clean, **sterilised jars.

Serving suggestions
A couple of desert spoonfuls for breakfast with coconut yoghurt, mixed seeds & blueberries.
Easy, early morning bircher style breakfast with an overnight soak in the fridge.
Swap and replace with any regular shop bought, high refined sugar cereal.
Great with my Berry Fruit & Chia Seed “Zero” Refined Sugar Compote. See my earlier blog post for details.

Tips:
* Store for a couple of weeks in a cool dry place or fridge. Leave the nuts out and it will last 1month in the fridge.
**Use different sized jars of choice. Medium for home use and a couple of smaller jars to give away.

….Choose to start eating for better health and vitality today. Change your diet to a ‘Pro Health’ diet.

NB* My Granola recipe is a mix of ingredients I developed and adapted from original recipies by Sarah Raven, Eve Kalinik and Hemsley & Hemsley. with my thanks & appreciation.

‘Do you want to be a Healthier, Happier version of you?’
‘Are you ready to boost your foundations for health?’

find more ways…. to help reduce chronic health, or lifestyle driven conditions & issues by making the best choices for yourself about when, how & what to eat?

Learn more about how to make healthy food swaps like my Gluten Free, Vegan, No Refined Sugar Granola to boost your nutrition & Diet by ‘Eating right’ for your individual needs, or for additional guidance & support with your Health & Wellbeing journey. Please use my contact form to get in touch and start a conversation. its your life. Choose to live it fully.

Professionally trained and qualified to support people with their Life’s journey.

Helping you achieve success and fulfilment in all areas of your life. Best wishes always - Julie