Best granola for weight loss in Pakistan: what to look for before you buy

Granola has a reputation as a health food, and a lot of it is not. If you are buying granola for weight loss in Pakistan, the difference between a jar that helps and a jar that hurts comes down to four things on the label. Here is how to read it, and an honest look at what is available locally.

Just want to buy? Our answer to the best granola in Pakistan is Granola Pop: sweetened only with honey, handmade in Lahore, from Rs 1,000. Read on for how to judge any granola.

Dahi, granola and fruit: the classic granola bowl

1. Sugar is the whole game

Most granola is oats held together by sweetener. The question is which one. Glucose syrup, brown sugar and "cane juice" are all sugar. Honey is also sugar, but a little goes a long way in binding, so honey-only granola tends to land far lower on the sugar line. Look for under 8 g of sugar per 40 g serving. Anything with sugar in the first three ingredients is dessert.

Whey Protein Granola clusters

2. Protein and fibre keep you full

The reason granola works for weight loss at all is satiety: nuts, seeds and oats digest slowly, so a small bowl at 8 am carries you to lunch without the 11 o'clock biscuit raid. Granola that is mostly oats with a few token almonds will not do that. Look for nuts and seeds high in the ingredient list, and if you train, a whey protein granola gets you 8 g of protein per serving before you add milk or yogurt.

3. Watch the oil

Cheap granola is baked in palm or vegetable oil to get the crunch. Better granola uses very little oil, or coconut oil, and gets its crunch from a slow bake. The label will say.

4. The serving size is 40 g, not a cereal bowl

This is where most people go wrong. Granola is calorie-dense, around 180 to 200 kcal per 40 g handful. Poured into a cereal bowl you are at 500 kcal before the milk. A handful over dahi with fruit is the right shape of a weight loss breakfast. A bowlful is not.

Nutty Honey Crunch, the 350 g Pantry Jar

Granola brands in Pakistan, compared honestly

There are now several local options and most are decent. Fitlicious makes a no-added-sugar range from Karachi. Homemade & Co in Lahore does small packs from around Rs. 400, including a grainless one. Nutrilov focuses on bars. Tayyib Store carries imported and local granola around Rs. 1,600 to 1,700 for 360 g. Imported brands at Naheed and Carrefour run Rs. 2,000 or more and often carry the most sugar.

Our own Granola Pop is handmade in Lahore with rolled oats, roasted almonds, pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds, sweetened only with raw honey, about 4 g of natural sugar per serving, no refined sugar and no preservatives. Nutty Honey Crunch is the classic; Whey Protein Granola adds whey protein isolate for 8 g of protein per serving. A 150 g jar is Rs. 1,000 and a 350 g jar is Rs. 2,250, delivered across Pakistan, cash on delivery. For a full price table of 11 brands, see granola price in Pakistan.