The one thing you shouldn’t be giving your grandkids…

While you’re enjoying your time with the grandkids these school holidays, make sure you stay away from the one food that is pushing up obesity rates in Australia fast… Commercial, processed muesli bars.

They have been a lunchbox staple for years, but these bars of rolled oats, high volumes of sugar and heavy full-fat butter are actually more caloric than a standard chocolate Mars Bar.

A couple of years ago, Choice magazine ran a study analysing 150 different types of muesli bars.

Of all of the different types with the words “healthy” “fit” or “natural” featuring prominently on the packaging and in the product name, they contained an average of over 20% sugar.

Of the 150 bars tested, only 13 met nutritionist recommended standards for consumption by children based on criteria of; kilojoules, sugar, saturated far, dietary fibre and wholegrain content.

A surprising discovery was that over 50% of the fruit in the muesli bars was not naturally dried fruit, but was instead a glucose compound flavoured with fruit essence.

The biggest trick to making sure you and your grandkids aren’t enjoying these bad foods is to read the label. You don’t need to understand the science behind the big words and numbers, but you should know these five keys as a guide:

1. For every 100g serve, there should be less than 3grams of fat. There may be up to 10grams of fat if the bar contains nuts.
2. For every 100g serve, there should be less than 1.5grams saturated fat. Anything higher than this should stay on the supermarket shelf.
3. For every 100g serve, there should be more than 5grams of fibre.
4. They should be classified as low to medium GI (glucose index).
5. They should contain no more than 600 kilojoules per serve.

If you’re looking for alternative options to muesli bars, you could try:

• A banana or apple or a serve of seasonal fruit salad
• Some low-salt crackers or cruskits topped with hummus, avocado and tomato
• Air popped-popcorn with no additives
• Carrots and celery
• Whole wheat toast and egg whites

If you’re feeling more adventurous, you can even try making your own muesli bars by using this healthy recipe:

Crunchy and healthy muesli bars 

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups puffed rice or wheat
• 1½ cups traditional rolled oats
• ½ cup grain based cereal
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries or chopped dried apricot (or mix of both)
• 1/3 cup salted sunflower seeds
• ¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds
• Dash of cinnamon
• 3½ tablespoons almond butter (can substitute soy butter or peanut butter), creamy or chunky
• 3½ tablespoons brown rice syrup
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line an 8 or 9 inch square pan with a long sheet of baking paper (so ends extend over edges of pan).

2. Mix the puffed rice or wheat, oats, grain ceral, dried fruit, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and cinnamon in a large bowl.

3. In a small saucepan over low heat, warm the almond butter, brown rice syrup, honey, brown sugar and vanilla until sugar has melted and the almond butter has thinned.

4. Pour the liquid mixture on top of the dry ingredients, mixing well. When everything is equally coated, spread the mixture into the pan. Press the mixture down with the bottom of a measuring cup or the back of a wooden spoon. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

5. When you remove the pan from the oven again use the back of a wooden spoon to press the bars flat. Allow to cool completely before touching them again.

6. When totally cooled and hard, lift the ends of the parchment and put onto a cutting board and cut into bars or squares. I wrapped the individual bars in foil and stored them in a ziploc bag at room temperature.

By being aware of the so called, “healthy” muesli bars and marketing tricks, you can make sure your grandkids are staying healthy and getting the nutrition they need. It’s important to fuel their growing bodies with the best ingredients… And to look after yourself in the same way!

We want to know what is your favourite healthy snack? Tell us in the comments below…