A healthy lifestyle is directly related to proper nutrition. Basically, you need to give up sweets. But not everyone succeeds. Fortunately, there is a great alternative to various chocolates and sweets - these are oat bars. Recently, they have gained quite a lot of popularity. The delicacy tastes great, it has a lot of vitamins and a low sugar content. Bars are simply prepared at home by yourself, so you will be sure of the natural composition of the product, and the ingredients can be added to your taste.
The benefits of bars
If you are trying to eat right and at the same time doing sports intensively, or your lifestyle doesn’t allow you to eat “junk” food, and you feel worse from heavy snacks, then oatmeal bars can be considered the most ideal option. This snack has a lot of useful properties, here are some of them:
- The composition of the bars includes only natural ingredients.
- Depending on the composition, they have a high energy value.
- Unique taste.
- If you use the bar during a small hunger, this will significantly increase metabolism.
- After consumption, blood sugar is regulated.
- For their manufacture, you do not need to buy rare ingredients. This also indicates a low cost of the product.
- If you cut the bars into convenient strips, you can take them with you to work or just for a walk.
There are a lot of complex carbohydrates in the bar, which is why after eating the body is saturated with energy for a long time. And due to the fact that they have few calories, a few bars a day will not harm your figure. They are also a prophylactic for diabetes.
The main difference between bars and morning oatmeal is that the vitamins contained in the cereal are preserved, and during cooking part of them disappears.
Which bar to make
The first thing you definitely need to decide is why you need oatmeal bars. If you want to take them with you to the gym for a small snack, then you need to make them low-calorie. If you want to take the bars with you to work, then you can not count calories. Various dried fruits and raisins are commonly used to add sweetness to the treat. At the same time, the fructose content increases.
Thanks to the use of bars you can forget about sweets for a few days. Very often it is they who carry out a quick snack. Thanks to oatmeal, in which there is a lot of fiber, your body will satisfy your hunger for a while. After all, it is digested long enough.
The composition of the bar
There are a lot of recipes for oat bars. You can add various ingredients available at home, it completely depends on your desire. But the most basic is, of course, oatmeal, it is it that improves the digestive system. And due to the fact that it is digested for a long time, various diseases are prevented. Also, such snacks will be an excellent option, because due to the fact that there are large intervals between meals, jumps in blood sugar can be observed.
In addition to cereals, various components are added:
- honey;
- raisins;
- dried fruits;
- mashed fruit;
- nuts
- fresh fruits;
- sesame.
You can make a bar based on your own preferences. If you like moderately sweet dessert, then you can add less honey or even replace it with raisins, but it should be borne in mind that it itself is also very sweet. When making, you need to rely on your own tastes, add your favorite products.
Cooking methods
Once you have decided which ingredients you will add, you can begin the cooking process. There are a lot of ways for this, the main thing is to choose the right proportions of the components, because the consistency of future oat bars will depend on this. Each of the cooking methods is considered unique, but you can safely choose all the actions for yourself. There are several secrets on which the success of the future goodies depends:
- Before you put the bars in the oven, roll them in sesame seeds. This will give a beautiful appearance and a unique crunch to the product.
- After cooling, melt the chocolate and pour them the bars, then immediately put them in a cool place for half an hour. They will become an indispensable snack at any time.
- If you have diabetes, you can add fresh apples, raisins or other fruits to the bars. In the cooking process, they will become soft. The combination of a crispy bar with soft fruits will be especially delicious.
Making a bar at home
Oat bars are a great way to replenish your body with missing energy, while maintaining your shape. If you are an opponent of purchased sweets and want to use healthy products to the maximum, then you definitely need to try this delicacy. After all, bars can be prepared from your favorite foods, it all depends on your imagination.
Dried Fruit Oat Bars
This recipe is the simplest, but you can make your own changes to it. For example, instead of fresh berries, put fruits to your taste. Cooking is the simplest, but you need to understand it well so that there are no flaws in the treat. Prepare the following ingredients:
- 250 g of oatmeal;
- 100 g of dates;
- 100 g dried apricots;
- 50 g of raisins;
- 1 tbsp. l sesame seeds;
- 50 g of sunflower seeds;
- 50 g of pumpkin seeds;
- 50-70 g of honey;
- some butter;
- 200 g of fresh berries;
- a small apple.
Cooking
The cooking process itself is quite simple. It is important to consider all the nuances. This will not take you much time. Follow this procedure:
- Peel the washed fruit and cut into small cubes.
- Mix oatmeal with finely chopped dried apricots and dates, add raisins.
- Grind fruits with a meat grinder or blender. It will be a fruit base.
- Grate the apple on a fine grater. Mix with fruit puree.
- Mix all the resulting masses.
- Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper and oil it. Lay out the resulting mass, smooth it well and tamp. The thickness of the reservoir should be no more than 1 centimeter.
- Preheat the oven to 150 degrees and send the future oat bars to bake for about 1 hour. After that, cut into portioned slices.
So simple and easy you can make healthy and tasty bars. They are very well kept, you can take them with you both for walks and for work.