What’s granola?

While on our last trip I heard an interesting comment. My friend happily said, “I live to eat!” Looking at his abundant waistline, I believed it. “How about you?” he continued.

“Since food is plentiful where I live, eating isn’t my priority. I don’t live to eat. Instead, I eat to live. I normally eat twice a day, but sometimes, once a day.”

He continued. “What’s your favorite snack food?”

“Granola. But sometimes granola with milk or coffee is my entire meal.”

“You’re disgusting.” he retorted. We both laughed and continued our discussion.

But that got me to thinking about food.

My favorite mealtime is breakfast. You probably know where that word (breakfast) came from. We fast – that means we do not eat – while we are asleep. Then when we wake up, we eat. We break the fast. But for the fun of it, I call every meal breakfast because I fast (I don’t eat) between meals.

Carol’s favorite morning meal is eggs and sausage with coffee. Mine is Honey Bunches of Oats with milk, and get coffee afterwards. We then eat an afternoon meal around two or three o’clock. But I often want a light meal and it sometimes consists of two or four granola bars. Specifically, Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars, which are primarily whole grain oats with honey.

Oh, I should tell you, Honey Bunches of Oats has more corn and wheat than oats. But it’s still my favorite morning meal.

But what is granola? Merriam-Webster’s definition is “a mixture typically of rolled oats and various added ingredients (such as brown sugar, raisins, coconut, and nuts).” Here is a bit of interesting granola trivia.

In the 1800s, Dr. Sylvester Graham created a whole wheat flour and promoted it for its supposed nutritional and spiritual values. He called it Graham flour. We still have Graham crackers named after him.

In 1863, Dr. James Jackson rolled a dough made of graham flour into sheets and baked it. He then broke the hardened sheets into nuggets and called it Jackson’s Granula. Jackson got the name from a Latin word for grain, granum. But James Jackson also had other ideas. He said that his granula was a pure food that would prepare us for the second coming of Christ. But it would also hasten Jesus’ return. His granula was supposed to have a calming effect on us, cure us of various diseases and ailments, and it would help us develop better Christian values.

He wasn’t the only person with well-meaning but strange ideas.

When John Kellogg learned about Jackson’s creation, he mixed the graham flour with oatmeal, wheat flour and cornmeal. After baking it, he broke it up into nuggets, thereby making his own granula. Kellogg also had spiritual and physical values associated with his creation.

When James Jackson sued John Kellogg for using the name granula, Kellogg changed the name to granola and by the end of 1899 he was selling almost four tons of granola every month.

My question was, how beneficial is granola in real life?

Jayne Hurley, nutritionist and administrative analyst in San Diego, Calif., stated that granola bars are not health food but are basically cookies masquerading as health food.

That gave the picture a different color and I agree with her about the cheap brands. I don’t want the generous amount of sugar, fats, oils, high fructose corn syrup and chemicals, but some granola is good for us. For example, our kids make their own. They mix oats, chopped nuts, dried fruit, raisins, dates, gluten-free flour, gluten-free cereal, honey and other ingredients they may have at the time. That could include chocolate and peanut butter.

I like theirs, but without nuts, and I prefer my fruit separately. I like to blend strawberries, blueberries, cherries, blackberries with a banana in milk. No sugar, ice cream or flavoring. Many people call that a smoothie, but I call it a fruit drink. Eating granola bars with my fruit drink is a full meal. However, although there are many health benefits, it does not relate to the return of Jesus or spiritual growth.

But speaking of Jesus, the Bible says He will return some day. Eating special foods will not prepare us for meeting Him, but knowing Him, living for Him and honoring Him will benefit us for all eternity. Learning to know Jesus and talking with Him is a start. He loves you and is waiting to hear from you.