Trouble in the Cereal Aisle
In “The Whole Darn Grain” I promised to visit the local grocery store and list the package cereals that met our Healthy Change #3:
This rule is a simple device for selecting healthy breakfast cereals. It works for processed foods as well. Some, for example, have noticed that their “whole wheat” bread has more added sugar than fiber. (Stay tuned; in a later post we’ll look at healthy breads.)
If you're wondering where to find the sugar and fiber amounts on your cereal at home, see the nutrition facts on the side of the cereal box. Under "Total Carbohydrates" it lists the fiber and the sugar (see the area circled in green below).
The logic behind this Healthy Change follows the daily dictums of three whole-grain servings and limited sugar consumption (6 tsp. max for women, 9 tsp. max for men, per the AHA). Plus you get all the other benefits of whole grains, including fiber. When little sugar is pre-added, the cereal can be sweetened and upgraded by adding fresh fruit in the home.
Here are the 8 cereals that met our rule and 5 that were close, out of the 128 package cereals inspected in a local store (Ralph’s, the cereal section was 60 feet long!). The first number is the grams of fiber, the second is the grams of sugar:
Nature’s Path Flax plus Multibran, 5/4
Weetabix Whole Grain Biscuit, 4/2
Kashi Go Lean Original, 10/6 (Soy is 1st ingredient listed.)
Kashi Heart to Heart, 5/5
Post Grape Nuts, 7/5
General Mills Kix, 3/3
Post Shredded Wheat (spoon size), 6/0
Ralph’s Shredded Wheat (spoon size), 7/<1
Kellogg’s All Bran, 10/6
Ralph’s Bran Flakes, 5/5
General Mills Cheerios, 3/1
Ralph’s Toasted Oats, 3/1
General Mills Wheat Chex, 5/5
For the typical family concerned about health and value, hot cereals cooked at home from bulk whole grains are the best choice. You can buy grains for a dollar or less per pound versus paying three to five dollars a pound for the less-healthy packaged cereals. Keep a package or two of the store-bought cereals for occasional variety or when you’re unusually rushed.
If you have a favorite healthy package cereal not on this list, please comment. It may not have been in the store we checked.
Friday, January 21, 2011 at 10:27PM | by Skip Hellewell | 32 Comments | 28 References | Share Article | in breakfast, fiber, grocery shopping, sugar, whole grains | Email Article
Reader Comments (32)
As a college student, i rely on cereal to get me up and moving in the morning, without time to really sit down to eat anything larger/better constructed (I also live in the dorms).
I was wondering if you, or anyone else, have an recipes for own cereals that you make. Buying cereal gets expensive, especially when its just not that good for you. I know you're going to post bread recipes, so I'm hoping someone will have some cereal recipes to share as well.
great job on the blog, I look forward to reading it every time a new post pops up in my RSS
Fro, I don't know what resources you have for cooking, but consider the healthy Swiss breakfast cereal, muesli. Muesli is made of rolled oats blended with other grains plus fruit (fresh or dried) and nuts. You can buy it pre-mixed at most health food stores, or make your own from recipes available on line. Eat it cooked or cold (if cold, let it soak while you get ready in the morning). It's also good with yogurt. If you make enough for a week or two at a time you shouldn't need to refrigerate it. Best to you.
Thank you for this blog. We've been following along for awhile now. I'm grateful for a resource that has a good spirit to it. Thank you!
Good rule! For me I would also add no HFCS and no preservatives; which apparently kicks Kelloggs All Bran from the list. In looking at our cereals we have, I also found that Malt-o-meal meets your rule: Fiber 1 gram, sugar 0 grams
This is a great tip - I've always cringed at buying my kids sugary cereal (my only real criteria being no chocolate flavour, or excessive sugar), but now I have a benchmark to measure them all against. I always thought Cheerios were very sweet but it's good to know they also have the fibre too.
In the UK the only Cheerios brand I'm aware of are made by Nestle - 12.3g of sugar per serving and only 2g of fibre! WOn't be buying that one again. In fact there wasn't a great choice of cereals that met your criteria. Guess we'll have to make our own!
According to Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions, all cold cereal has toxic, denatured proteins. I was sad to learn that even cheerios are not as healthy as I thought.
I thought I found the cereal with All Bran's Bran Buds ... but contains HFCS.
Alas ... any alternative suggestions with the bran and the psyllium husk without the HFCS (or fake sugars like Splenda or Nutrisweet)?
Eric, When I don't have time to prepare the Breakfast Compote (see recipe) I like Grape-Nuts, 7 grams of fiber and 5 grams of sugar, but the sugar is not added. Best to you.
Watched the video Sugar: The bitter Truth. I can't believe how bad sugar is for you! Thank you for the recommendation to the other commenter to watch it!
Thanks for this information
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