Are blueberry muffins healthy?

The answer to the question, "Are blueberry muffins healthy?" is "That depends."

Not all blueberry muffins are created equally. It is possible for blueberry muffins to be healthy! We need to look at the ingredients that are used in creating a muffin (or cake or brownie) to determine its nutritional value and whether it's healthy or not.

"Healthy" simply describes anything that provides the body with something it needs to work well and doesn't contribute to poor health. When it comes to food, that means the food is nutritious, that it contains nutritious substances that contribute to health.

For example, refined sugar (called sucrose) loses all vitamin and mineral content during processing. It retains the calories but has no nutrients (that's why it's described as having "empty calories" - it's empty of nutrients and therefore doesn't contribute to health). Honey, on the other hand, has numerous nutritional benefits and can be used in place of refined sugar.

Using organic sugar might make a recipe a little healthier because the sugar cane would be grown without toxic pesticides or fertilizers - but it's still processed and lacking nutrition. Raw, unprocessed sugar would be even better. A natural sweetener known as stevia can replace sugar altogether as a sweetener. It has no calories, has proven nutritional value and you can cook and bake with it easily.

Do you think blueberry muffins would be healthy if they were made with less refined sugar?

You can turn basic recipes into healthy muffin recipes or healthy cake recipes just by understanding the nutrition value of the ingredients. I don't know of any pre-made muffins or goodies personally that use really nutritious ingredients, but I'm sure they exist. But hey, how yummy would it be to make your own blueberry muffins that are healthy?

Let's take a basic blueberry muffin recipe and see how we could make it much healthier.

• 1 egg: Using organic eggs will make your muffin or cake recipes healthier. Organic eggs come from poultry that are fed organic feed (no toxic chemicals), are not caged and aren't given antibiotics arbitrarily. Their eggs are thus healthier.
• 1/4 cup oil: Oils are fats in liquid form. Some fats are healthier than other fats, although the body uses all the different types of dietary fats. Using canola oil, olive oil or walnut oil among others improves the nutrition and health value of your recipes.

  Here's a list and description of some healthy cooking oils: http://life.familyeducation.com/foods/nutrition/36579.html

• 1/2 cup milk: Use raw, organic or at least skim or low fat milk.
• 1 1/2 cups flour: The all-purpose white flour that we are used to is like sugar in that it is processed and refined, which removes all the nutrients, the healthy stuff. Flour made from whole grains (unprocessed grains) is more nutritious and healthy. There are many kinds of grains that are made into flour and it's worth looking into some of these.
• 1/2 cup sugar: We discussed sugar earlier.
• 2 tsp baking powder: Organic baking powder and organic baking cocoa do exist; check it out on the Web.
• 1/2 tsp salt: "Regular" table salt has been stripped of minerals through processing. Sea salt retains many minerals vital to the body's functioning and health. So use sea salt for blueberry muffins that are healthy.
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries: Whether you use fresh or frozen, use organic. Try to find "fresh frozen" as that type of freezing retains the most nutrients. Blueberries are sometimes known as a "superfood" because they have so many nutrients. They are very high in antioxidant properties, which assist the body in neutralizing toxic substances.

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I'm not an avid cook, but I do love good, healthy food! The purpose of this article is to show how blueberry muffins can be healthy - or any cake or muffin recipe for that matter.

Remember that these are still blueberry muffins - healthy ones yes, but they still contain a certain amount of calories. Hopefully you won't fall for the false idea that "well, it's healthy, so I can eat a lot of it!" The increased nutrition is what makes them healthier.

Try making them into "mini muffins" and enjoy one as a snack now and then. Put a wee dab of real butter, not margarine on it (margarine is not healthy, it's a trans fat). That'll make your blueberry muffins healthy for sure!

Yes, you can "have your muffin and eat it too."

Cheers!

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