Delicious Low Sugar (Not Low Carb) Granola

Here is a recipe for some great low sugar granola. For sweeteners, you can use either agave nectar (available at your local health food store) or honey. The nutrition information, provided by Fitday, is for the agave nectar and multi-grain cereal, but substituting honey and/or oats will only change the information marginally.

Ingredients:

8 cups Multi-grain cereal or oats

.5 cups (42g) Pecans

.5 cups (60g) Walnuts

.5 cups (60g) Slivered almonds

.5 cups (66g) Sunflower seeds

.5 cups (53g) Flax seed meal

.5 cups (56g) Pepitas

.5 cups (53g) Wheat germ

3 TBS Canola oil

.5 cups Agave nectar

2 TBS Cinnamon

.5 cups Applesauce

.5 cups Unsweetened dried blueberries

.5 cups Dried cranberries

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.

Mix wet ingredients together in a small bowl.

Mix dry ingredients (except for the blueberries and cranberries, they will burn if you cook them) in a large bowl.

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

Spread mixture onto cookie sheets (preferably with sides) in a thin layer.

Bake in oven for 20 minutes, taking it out to stir every 7 minutes. Let cool on pans for 20-30 minutes; add berries; store in a large zip-loc bag.

Calorie and macronutrient breakdown per half cup serving:

Calories: 195

Calories from fat: 90

% of calories from fat: 46%

Fat: 10g

Saturated fat: 1g

Poly-unsaturated fat: 5g

Mono-unsaturated fat: 4g

Carbohydrate: 21

Protein: 5

While this may seem like a lot of fat to some of you, 9 of the 10 grams of fat are what are now being termed "healthy fats," and when combined with a good protein source, they will give you a great start to your day. For instance, I like to pair this with a cup of non-fat Greek yogurt, which brings my totals to: 315 calories, 10g of fat, 28g of carbohydrate and 27g of protein. This is a 41%carbohydrate,19% protein, 40% fat ratio. A fantastic ratio for my first meal of the day. I'll have to boost protein intake later in the day to bring this ratio into line for my daily intake, but I always want my breakfast to be my highest carb meal of the day.

Let me know if you like it!

Train smart; eat right!

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