Muffins are one of the classic foods that come to mind when you think about a beautiful breakfast spread. They’re offered up as breakfast options in most coffee shops, bakeries, cafes and diners, and play a large role in most continental breakfasts served at hotels, resorts and conferences. Muffins are individually sized, come in a wide variety of both sweet and savory flavors, and are conveniently packaged for easy transport.  They’re the perfect breakfast option for those busy mornings, right? 

Wrong. In reality, most muffins are really just cake in disguise — the cupcakes of the breakfast table. A standard blueberry muffin sold at national restaurant chains contains, on average, 40g of sugar! That’s nearly 10 teaspoons of sugar in a single item, the same amount found in a typical 12-ounce can of regular soda. For reference, the American Heart Association recommends that adult men consume a maximum of 37.5g and adult women consume a maximum of 25g of added sugar per day.

So if you’re a woman in your mid-twenties like I am, that blueberry muffin you ate this morning contained almost double the amount of sugar you were supposed to consume all day today.  And that “Reduced Fat” muffin? It may contain 12% less fat, but often has nearly as much sugar and roughly 40% more sodium than the standard muffin. So the question becomes, do you have to give up your morning muffins to lead a healthier life?

The answer is no. You may have to give up your standard coffee shop or grocery store muffin, but there is a healthy way to enjoy muffins for breakfast. The recipe section of our website contains a few healthy muffin recipe options, such as this Sour Cream Muffin. Made with blueberries, one of these muffins contains about 50% fewer calories and 63% less sugar than one you would buy from your local shop. It turns out you can have your cake, and eat it, too!

 (Harley)