Studies show that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Starting your day with a good breakfast of whole grains, milk (or milk substitute) and a serving of fruit is one of the best things you can do. BBC News There are hundreds of cereals out there, not all of them good, so here are a few guidelines for picking a healthy cereal.
Choose a Healthy Cereal:
- First ingredient should be "whole grain". Ingredients are listed in order by weight.
- Sugar less than 5g per ¾ cup serving is preferred. Serving sizes on packages vary from ¼ cup to 1¼ cup often depending on the density of the cereal; heavy ones like granola tend to have a serving size of ¼ - ½ cup and flakes typically have a serving size of ¾ - 1 cup. Any name that begins with 'Honey' is sure to be too sweet.
- Avoid artificial coloring and chemical additives. Many commercial brands use BHT as a preservative which gets a 'Caution'. Fiber One (Original) uses Aspartame which is an 'Avoid'.
Natural food companies have clean ingredient lists. Some may be high in sugar but generally they are healthy choices. These are companies like Cascadian Farms, Arrowhead Mills, Barbara's, Kashi, Erewhon, Nature's Path etc. However, with the large commercial brands it's a case by case basis. Some are whole grain and some are refined grain, some use chemical additives. The ingredients list should be check. These are companies like Kellogg's, General Mills, Post and Quaker.
Add Some Toppings:
Buy plain breakfast cereals (like wheat or bran flakes) and add your own fresh or dried fruit rather than relying on the dried/sugared fruits added in cereals. Dried fruits in cereals are usually as hard as rocks. Adding your own fresh raisins, chopped dates, figs, dried cherries, dried cranberries etc. are always more delicious and satisfying. Typical choices for fresh fruit are ½ a sliced banana, a diced apple or a handful of raspberries, blueberries, blackberries or strawberries.
Some toppings can make a plain cereal more interesting. Try a few spoonfuls of granola, wheat germ, All-Bran, chopped nuts etc. These are a bit dense for a bowl by themselves and are better as toppings on other lighter cereals.
A Few Examples:
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| Corn Flakes & Granola | Cheerios & All-Bran | Wheaties & Wheat Germ |
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| GOLEAN | Autumn Wheat & Raisins | Crispy Rice & Sliced Almonds |
Healthy Cereals:
| GRAIN | COMMON CEREALS |
| Wheat | flakes (Wheaties), shredded (Autumn Wheat, Spoon Size), bran (All-Bran, Bran Flakes), squares (Wheat Chex), puffs (Quaker/Arrowhead Mills Puffed Wheat) |
| Oats | Cheerios, granola, oatmeal flakes (TJ's Toasted Oatmeal Flakes, Barbara's) |
| Corn | organic flakes (TJ's, Nature's Path, Erewhon), puffs (Kix, Gorilla Munch), squares (Corn Chex) |
| Rice | crispy brown rice (Erewhon, Nature's Path), puffed brown rice (Arrowhead Mills), squares (Rice Chex), Special K |
| Millet | puffed (Arrowhead Mills) |
| Multigrain | Kashi GoLean, Heritage Flakes, Great Grains, Cascadian Farms Multigrain Squares, Puffins |
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