Why You Should Be Having Muesli For Breakfast

Few dishes identify as much with a healthy and balanced breakfast as muesli. And there are many reasons why this delicious recipe, which we owe to the Swiss doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner, can be considered so recommended. You only have to go back to its curious origin to quickly understand why.

A therapeutic breakfast

On one of his regular hikes through the Swiss mountains, Dr. Bircher came across an elderly pastor who, he told him, had never needed to see a doctor. That peasant offered him the hospitality of his humble hut and, as is the custom among mountain people, prepared generous meats for him to replenish his strength.

What he offered him for lunch was nothing other than what he himself used to have as a single dish for breakfast and dinner: an ancient recipe that he had inherited from his ancestors and that consisted of a kind of porridge made with freshly ground raw cereals, milk, nuts and fresh apple to accompany.

Dr. Bircher, seeing how well this curious mixture had done him and the effect it seemed to have on that shepherd who looked so healthy and full of vitality, began to investigate it in his naturopathic clinic. The tests he carried out gave him spectacular results, especially in patients with gastrointestinal and cardiovascular problems, but also with other health problems.

The first thing he noticed when he made his patients eat a breakfast of rolled oats, grated apple and some nuts was a general increase in vitality and an improvement in immune status. An effect that he himself attributed to the solar energy contained in these “living” foods.

The benefits of muesli

It is known that there is nothing better to start the day on the right foot than a stimulating breakfast in the morning. This is the first meal we eat after the night fast and, therefore, the one that will determine the mood and energy that will accompany us until the main meal at noon.

Most experts agree that a healthy breakfast should contain high biological value proteins, enough slow-assimilating carbohydrates, healthy fats, and fiber. All this, in addition, in a proportion in which the different nutrients keep a balanced relationship.

A muesli can be composed in a thousand ways, but in all of them there is fresh or dehydrated fruit ; milk, yogurt or vegetable drinks; seeds or nuts; and cereals, generally flaked.

These are the main benefits of this combination:

1. Energy without ups and downs

This range of ingredients, combined in an intelligent way, fits very well with the requirements of what would be an ideal breakfast. The complex carbohydrates of the flakes, together with the fiber and fatty acids of the seeds and nuts, also make it a dish with a low glycemic index.

The body thus receives its necessary dose of glucose constantly, without suffering energy dips in the middle of the morning, so harmful to physical and mental performance.

But we must not forget that, although it is traditionally classified as a breakfast dish (and there is no reason for this), nothing prevents serving a muesli at an informal dinner, as a complete dish; or prepare it as a snack to recharge your batteries in the afternoon.

• We can always move away from the classic sweet version of muesli, because if muesli has a virtue, it is that it does not allow itself to be restricted by rigid formulas, and it adapts easily to all tastes and needs.

2. Healthier intestine

The first virtue of a muesli, in any of its varieties, is derived from the presence of vegetable fiber, whether it comes from whole grains or fruit. Insoluble fiber passes through the intestine with hardly any changes and, as it has the effect of softening and increasing the volume of stool, it regulates intestinal transit.

The characteristic mixture of whole grains and fresh fruit also has a beneficial effect on the microbiota or intestinal flora, because it provides the raw material that it needs to regenerate. But you can enhance this benefit – so important for a good digestion and assimilation of nutrients – preparing the muesli with ferments such as yogurt or kefir, which can be vegan.

On the other hand, by including apple or other fruits such as pear or banana, rich in pectin, that recognized property of muesli is enhanced to reduce cholesterol levels. This fiber, soluble in water, has a detoxifying effect, since it favors the elimination of heavy metals such as mercury, lead or cadmium.

• As most of the pectin is found in the skin, the ideal would be to include the apple or other unpeeled fruits, and if possible, make sure that they come from organic farming. Corn flakes also provide a considerable amount of this soluble fiber.

3. Reconstitutes and protects

Another benefit of muesli is its great restorative power. By including such diverse and complementary ingredients, it becomes a very complete and nutritious dish : it provides an optimal proportion of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, as well as most of the vitamins, minerals and trace elements necessary for the proper functioning of the body. Thus, it offers an extraordinary food to people who perform physical activity, but also to students, pregnant women and children of growing age.

Whole grains, flaked or ground, provide vitamins of group B, which as they are water soluble and the body cannot store them, we must ingest them daily. These vitamins are essential for obtaining energy from food and strengthen the heart and immunity.

The vitamin E, a potent antioxidant, received from nuts such as walnuts or almonds, but also seeds and whole grains. This antioxidant power is multiplied by provitamin A and selenium in raw rolled oats.

Any muesli is rich in iron, calcium, phosphorus, copper, and magnesium. This last mineral helps to maintain the correct acid-base balance of the body, another of the pillars of health, which is also favored by the muesli recipe as a whole.

• All these properties are maximized if we include supplements such as flax or sesame seeds, wheat germ or pollen, which are powerful superfoods.

4. It is rich in protein

In general, most mueslis provide proteins of high biological value, although they are prepared in vegetable drinks.

This is possible thanks to the combination of ingredients with complementary amino acids, such as soy or almond milk with cereal flakes, which increases the assimilable net protein (NPA).

• If we want a particularly protein muesli, the quinoa flakes are excellent.

Muesli recipes for all tastes and trends

The recipe, popularized in the 60s, has become so diverse that today it is difficult to find a trace of the original ingredients that made up the muesli proposed by Dr. Bircher. But this should not be interpreted as a defect, quite the opposite. It is the consequence of the enthusiasm with which it has been adopted in all latitudes of the world and of the enormous versatility of this recipe, which is not friendly to imposing limits on creativity.

Unlike other culinary creations, what inspired this original pairing of ingredients that we call muesli was the intention to create a dish that was at the same time nutritious, digestive and balanced.

Naturally, this “gastronomic formula” evolves along with the discoveries in nutrition, and is enriched every day thanks to the originality of the cooks. Hence today we have, for example:

• Vegan mueslis, where milk is substituted for vegetable drinks, water or juice
• Mueslis adapted to celiac people, prepared without gluten
• Mueslis enriched with superfoods such as chia, goji berries or pollen
• Other formulas such as granola, porridge or Budwig cream, which, although they are not usually defined as muesli, perfectly match the principles that gave rise to this recipe.

Better make it homemade

Nowadays, it is very easy to find ready-made mueslis to mix with a yogurt or vegetable drink in almost any food store. In addition, the offer of organic and diet mueslis is very wide. However, although the level of quality of commercial products is very diverse, nothing can replace a genuine homemade muesli made with love and with the best fresh ingredients.

By being able to choose the foods that will be part of the muesli ourselves, we have the possibility to customize the recipe to the maximum, and what is more important, we can control the quality of these products and make sure, for example, that they do not contain hydrogenated fats, preservatives or sweeteners not recommended.

When we dedicate part of our time to preparing a homemade muesli, we are giving the recipe an inestimable added value, which will be reflected in an even tastier and more nutritionally complete dish .