EATS SHOOTS AND LEAVES

Supergranola

Rice malt syrup — ever heard of it? You will. Hottie Sarah Wilson of I Quit Sugar fame levitates on the stuff. Think of a malted milkshake that hits the spot, without the clawing sweetness. That’s rice malt syrup.

Calm down, it ain’t no superfood (BTW, I’ve bagsed that for my epitaph). It’s just a more natural sugar that escapes the modern evils of fructose.

What’s so bad about fructose? Little, really. Unless you regularly neck the dumbed-up version found in sodas. This is called high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Fructose itself is a naturally occurring sugar found in most fruit and select vegetables — but in small concentrations, and alongside a suite of healthy minerals and fill-me-up fibre. When fructose is artificially concentrated and served up in isolation of other nutrients, our body treats it quite differently.

Glucose is metabolised by every cell in the body, says endocrinologist Dr Robert Lustig (Sarah Wilson’s go-to guru). Fructose, however, can only be metabolised by the liver. Too much fructose in a concentrated, isolated form has been shown to substantially burden the liver. So if you’ve been horsing into high-fructose agave, it might be time to make friends with a new sweetener. Let me help you do exactly that.

The number of expensive granolas to choose from in our supermarkets is unprecedented in Irish history. Trust me, you can make a much better one for a fraction of the price at home. This recipe has three different grains, making it a complete protein by virtue of its amino acid permutation. That’s benchpresser-speak for “high-five”. Sporty teens go mental for it.