I was going to make some bran muffins and freeze them so my husband could have one with his lunch, but he is complaining now that they are really bad for you. I know they have sugar and butter, but I thought that it wasn't so bad as they have bran and wholemeal flour - so low GI and filling. What do you guys think - are bran muffins really unhealthy?
buzzy110,
Feb 19, 7:22pm
Duh. It all depends on what YOU think is healthy and what you think is unhealthy. If you think that adding bran and wholemeal flour somehow cancels out the bad that sugar does then think again. It doesn't. When you add butter or any other fat, be it natural or unnatural,to sugar and flour (of any sort) it immediately becomes fattening and unhealthy.
There are many people on these boards who think that when you add wholegrains to anything sweet at all, that food becomes healthy but really they are only showing their ignorance. No amount of wholegrains will cancel out the evil that is refined sugar. I vote with your husband.
A small amount of sugar (say a tspn a day) never hurt anyone but a steady diet of sugar, be it table sugar spooned into tea or coffee, added onto desserts, baked into homemade sweets or from the various types added into manufactured and processed foods, is not healthy.
spoeklet,
Feb 19, 7:45pm
Ok, thanks. I wasn't suggesting that the wholemeal and bran canceled out the sugar - I just didn't know what other people considered as healthy and if others ate them in conjunction with salad/sandwiches etc. We don't eat a lot of biscuits or cake, so I wanted to know how other people viewed bran muffins. I didn't think I was being 'ignorant' by asking others people's opinion but thanks for input anyway.
spoeklet,
Feb 19, 7:47pm
Perhaps I won't ask this type of question again in here.
buzzy110,
Feb 19, 8:06pm
I never called you ignorant. I am sorry you read the post that way. I cannot control how people view posts. Eventually the crowd will come in and roundly abuse me, call me names and any other thing they want, but the truth of the matter is that you asked for an opinion on whether a sugary food was healthy and I gave my opinion and also gave you some insight into how others think.
You did not intimate you thought bran muffins were healthy. If you had of then the remark would assuredly been directed straight at you, but it wasn't, it was a general overview of how some of the posters in here think. If I had wanted to call you ignorant, I am known for my forthright postings and you would have not been left in any doubt btw.
Cheers.
Edited to add- maybe I misunderstood and you wanted people to agree with you against your husband. In that case I really am sorry I gave you a differing pov.
spoeklet,
Feb 19, 8:07pm
OK, thanks :)
greerg,
Feb 19, 8:23pm
Don't worry about the question spoekelt it was fine.A lot of us here subscribe to the "everything in moderation school of thought" as you will see although there are some who have extremely strongly held views that differ from this.We even (shock! horror!) bake cakes and biscuits.I'd say there'snothing wrong with a muffin in the lunchbox as long as it's not part of a diet that is heavy in sugar and fat.And a bran muffin has the advantage of extra fibre
spoeklet,
Feb 19, 8:31pm
Thanks. The idea with the muffin is that he would have with for lunch with his salad/sandwiches, because i found out that he was still hungry and sometimes eating chocolate biscuits and not telling me. Naughty. I figured maybe, if he is goign and eating crap anyway, the muffin might be better and fill him up a bit. Preferably he would have no snack, but he already has fruit, but he can't help himself.
ant_sonja,
Feb 19, 8:44pm
So he's telling you your home baked muffins are bad for him but choc bikkies are ok lol
I'd say a muffin once a week or so isn't going to do much harm but I wouldn't call it a healthy addition if he was to eat one every day..maybe do a savory variety to alternate with? At least there'd be less 'added' sugar overall..
wildflower,
Feb 19, 8:45pm
There are a lot of variations you can make on most foods including bran muffins to make them a better choice.There are recipes for them that don't have sugar or butter or oil.Just look around.The wholemeal flour and bran sure helps with fibre though.You can also sweeten bran muffin by using diced/dried fruit.
A muffin a day keeps the munchies away :)Go with the wholemeal.
I'm with greerg and the 'Moderation Schoolof Thought'.
I read this just yesterday, from a former medical director of the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine. QUOTE:If you are craving carbs while you are on a high-protein diet, "eat whole-grain pasta or whole-grain pancakes, don't resort to white carbohydrates," he says. "There is a place for healthy carbohydrates in a low-carbohydrate eating plan, so if you are craving them, have them."
"Just stay away from white pasta and white potatoes and eat whole grains instead," he says. UNQUOTE.
lx4000,
Feb 19, 9:01pm
Cheese Muffins/Puffs 2 eggs water 1 C Grated Cheese 1 C veggies,any,(courgettes, corn, caps, onion with tomato on top) pinch Salt 2 C Flour 3 tspn BP 1/4 tspn Cayenne Pepper if wished Break eggs into 1 measuring C then fill with water, then add another 1 C water. Mix. Add veggies and cheese then mix. Stir in salt, flour, cayenne pepper, BP until just mixed. Spoon into muffin tins. 20 mins approx at 180.
ant_sonja,
Feb 19, 9:07pm
lx4000 - do I read this right - you break the eggs into a measuring jar and top up with water until you have a combined egg/water volume of 2 cups?
spoeklet,
Feb 19, 10:18pm
Can you freeze these?
dorothy_vdh,
Feb 20, 12:55am
for the past 2 1/2 years most days I have a muffin of some kind for my lunch. Over this period of time I have lost over 60 kilos,so I for one don't think they are unhealthy
joybells2,
Feb 20, 1:22am
When you make a batch of muffins he is only having one of them per day, so I am sure you aren't putting a cup of sugar equivalent in each muffin lol.Or you could use artifical sweetener if you dont want sugar.Some people go over the top in saying don't have sugar etc.Go for it.
lx4000,
Feb 20, 2:10am
spoeklet
Yip you can:)
huggy5,
Feb 20, 4:45am
Not everyone thinks sugar is the enemy ("evil that is refined sugar"?? - Jeffrey Dahmer was evil, but sugar?? - at best unhealthy surely).I'm all for moderation in what I eat, and I think if he eats chocolate biscuits then the bran muffin is the healthier option.
korbo,
Feb 20, 1:29pm
agree, a bran muffin over a chocolate biscuit anyday. I would have to eat 3 biscuits to curb hunger, one muffin does it for me.
wildflower,
Feb 20, 8:39pm
Everyone needs some carbs, you can't not eat them if you want energy to do anything!It's just eating mostly complex carbs, not too many simple ones.It all comes back to the moderation thing already mentioned.And plenty of protein too.
lx4000,
Feb 20, 9:08pm
hehehehe
break eggs in and fill with water, empty into bowl then add another cup of water!
Yummie as even once defrosted! Cheap as no milk or butter so great on the budget!!
greerg,
Feb 21, 2:25am
lx400h0 ow would you describe the texture of these - reasonably close to an ordinary muffin or are they more puffy and less solid?
erewhon04,
Feb 21, 5:40pm
Hi Spoeklet, I have just posted one of my favourite ever recipes in a thread on here called 'Why does my baking never turn out'.It's a bran muffin recipe, makes about a dozen and a half muffins (depending whether you're having a nancy little baby muffin, a honking, greedy Texas muffin, or the middle size) and contains 1 Tbsp of butter and one cup of brown sugar for the entire recipe.Also has raisins for sweetness.Do try them, they freeze wonderfully too. And imho if you want a bran muffin, HAVE a bran muffin.Don't worry about the food police.
kuaka,
Feb 22, 2:06am
I've read this thread with interest, because when I was a cook at an old folks home years ago, matron always insisted that when I served bran muffins for morning tea, the diabetics couldn't have them, but were given cream crackers and cheese instead.Whilst still working there I did a course at tech which included portions on food safety, hygiene, and nutrition.the nutritionist insisted that bran muffins were better for the diabetics than the crackers and cheese, because the bran in them helped the body to absorb the sugar and butter at a slower more consistent rate, and that the crackers and cheese were worse for the diabetics because of the high fat content.Hmmm.
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