Ok, so even I admit that I’ve had catchier titles for posts. And speaking of, I completely forgot to mention about 11 posts ago, we crossed the 1000th post mark. WOW, I talk a lot. Anyway, back to the cereal. Cereal is one of those tricky foods that everyone automatically thinks is healthy. The boxes all claim – Whole Grain! Reduced Sugar! Healthy! And yet, if you’re not careful, you could end up eating something on the nutritional level of candy bars for breakfast. So today, I thought I’d share a few of the things that I look in for in a cereal before the box lands in my grocery cart.
1. Sugar Grams: Put the Honey Cocoa Sugar Marshmallow Smacks down, sister. Step away slowly. If a cereal has 10 or more grams of sugar, it doesn’t make it home with us. This is the number one reason why I was so excited when General Mills and MyBlogSpark contacted me with the news that General Mills is committed to keeping all cereals marketed to kids under 12 to single digits grams of sugar per serving. It’s also the reason we love Cheerios (1 g of sugar) and Honey Kix (6 g of sugar).
2. Fiber Grams: Yesterday, we talked about how fiber fills you up. If your cereal lacks fiber, you might as well be eating marshmallows for breakfast (which sounds delicious but would result in eating more and more marshmallows until the whole bag is gone as is your waistline). Fiber is what makes your engine burn slow and long. The more fiber, the less hungry you’ll be an hour later. A cereal MUST have 3 g of Fiber/serving to make it worth my while. And I actually prefer it to have much more. That’s why you’ll never see a box of Special K in my house. It does not help you lose weight folks. It leaves you hungry.
3. High Fructose Corn Syrup. HFCS is a naughty word in our house. (And another reason why you won’t find Special K products in the Queendom). If a cereal has HFCS or even Corn Syrup in it, I’m putting it back on the shelf. I know the corn farmers tried to put out all of those commercials last year about how it was really healthy but I once saw a tanker truck hauling that stuff and that gave me the willies.
Cereal is a great way to get plenty of your nutrients and vitamins for the day and a great snack no matter what time of day. Just be careful what you let jump into your cart!
General Mills and MyBlogSpark provided me with information about the new efforts to lower sugar levels in cereals marketed to children under 12. They also provided me with 4 VIP coupons good for General Mills Cereals. No monies were received for this review nor was it edited by General Mills, MyBlogSpark, or a PR company. I always give you my honest opinion regarding products so you can make an informed purchase decision. The cereal standards of our house have been long established, endorsed, and practiced well before General Mills’ announcement. Come inspect the top of my refrigerator and you can see for yourself.
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