[acb-diabetics] the best and worse cereals

[Patricia LaFrance-Wolf]

I was sure surprised when I read this. 

 

Best & Worst Breakfast Cereals

Let's face it: We're rushed. Especially in the morning. Often we're running
out the

door a few minutes behind schedule as we stuff our bags and pray that we
haven't

left anything behind. (Did I pack my lunch? My gym clothes? Do I have that
file I'm

supposed to give to Roger? Wait! My pants!) Yeah, mornings are messy, which
is why

breakfast is so often placed on the back burner. The problem is we sometimes
forget

to ever turn that burner on.

We've all heard the studies that show breakfast consumption is related to

weight loss

. For those who haven't, the results are pretty clear: Breakfast eaters
carry less

body fat than non-eaters. Yet surprisingly, nearly 40 percent of us still
skip breakfast,

according to a poll conducted by ABC News. For those who do eat breakfast,
about

a third choose cereal. That makes it America's favorite breakfast food. But
whether

that's a good thing or not pivots on the choices we make in the supermarket.

Every box of cereal lives in one of two worlds: the world of fiber or the
world of

sugar. The first world pairs perfectly with freshly sliced fruit, while the
second

is already pushing the sugar threshold through a combination of
marshmallows, sticky

oat clusters, and frosting. Obviously you want to choose a cereal from world
No.

1, but with all the marketing hype on cereal boxes, that's not always easy
to do.

Especially when you're speed-walking through the grocery store in the usual
hurry

to get home. (Why is everything so rushed these days?)

But fear not; we've got you covered. Here are the grocery store's worst
cereals and

their more nutritious counterparts. Get your bowls and spoons ready.

WORST ICONIC CEREAL

Kellogg's Raisin Bran (1 cup)

190 calories

1.5 g fat (0 g saturated)

7 g fiber

19 g sugars

It'll be hard to find a more sugar-loaded cereal than Raisin Bran. It's
sweeter than

even Lucky Charms, Reese's Puffs, or Cocoa Krispies. Some of that sugar can
be attributed

to the raisins' natural blend of fructose and glucose, but the real culprit
is the

sticky white armor of sucrose that enrobes each piece of fruit. Both
Kellogg's and

Post are guilty of this raisin mistreatment, so what should be a
legitimately healthy

bowl of fruit and grains pours out closer to a candy-coated dessert.

Eat This Instead!

Kellogg's All-Bran (1 cup) with a tablespoon of raisins

150 calories

0.5 g fat (0 g saturated)

7 g fiber

13 g sugars

WORST CHOCOLATE CEREAL

General Mills Chocolate Chex (1 cup)

174 calories

3.5 g fat (0 g saturated)

1 g fiber

11 g sugars

First, let's get this out of the way: Chocolate-flavored cereals should
rarely be

part of your morning routine. That said, they can make decent desserts. One
study

published by the American College of Nutrition found that among late-night
snackers,

those who chose cereal took in fewer calories than those who made other
choices,

and ultimately they wound up losing nearly half a pound of body fat per
week. That

doesn't mean you should switch to an all-cereal diet, just that cereal is a
better

evening snack than you might think. Of course, not all are created equal,
and surprisingly,

the worst of them is the one that seems geared toward mature eaters. So the
rule

is, if you're going with chocolate cereal, let your inner kid free. Per
bowl, Chocolate

Chex packs in more calories than Cocoa Puffs, Cocoa Krispies, or Cookie
Crisp.

Eat This Instead!

Cookie Crisp (1 cup)

133 calories

1.5 g fat (0 g saturated)

1.5 g fiber

15 g sugars

WORST HIGH-FIBER CEREAL

General Mills Chex Multi-Bran (1 cup)

210 calories

2 g fat (0 g saturated)

8 g fiber

13 g sugars

Chex might seem harmless, but it's the only brand that holds down two spots
on this

list. The slip-up with this box is the heavy load of sugar. (Notice that
it's even

sweeter than the chocolate-flavored Chex.) General Mills calls it a "hint of
sweetness,"

but really it's on par with some of the most indulgent boxes on the shelf.
In fact,

one bowl of this cereal has more sugar than a scoop of Edy's Slow Churned
Fudge Tracks

Ice Cream. We applaud the fiber, but the sugar won't cut it.

Eat This Instead!

Post Shredded Wheat Original Spoon Size (1 cup)

170 calories

1 g fat (0 g saturated)

6 g fiber

0 g sugars

WORST VITAMIN-ENHANCED CEREAL

Kellogg's Smart Start Original Antioxidants (1 cup)

190 calories

0.5 g fat (0 g saturated)

3 g fiber

14 g sugars

Of all the cereals on this list, this is the best example of inflated
marketing.

This box is littered with words that attempt to make you think you're
getting a wholesome

breakfast, but in reality you're getting a run-of-the-mill bowl of highly
sweetened

cereal with a multivitamin tossed in on top. Don't let the added vitamins
persuade

you into thinking that the sugar isn't a problem. It most certainly is.

Eat This Instead!

Kashi Vive (1 cup)

135 calories

2 g fat (1 g saturated)

10 g fiber

8 g sugars

WORST HOT CEREAL

Quaker Oatmeal Express Golden Brown Sugar (1 cup)

200 calories

2.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated)

3 g fiber

18 g sugars

Sure it's convenient to have your oatmeal pre-packaged with a serving bowl,
but is

it really worth the love handles? Because that's the likely result of eating
this

much sugar every morning. Sure, there's a small shot of fiber, but in terms
of the

sweet stuff, this bowl is worse than eating a Little Debbie Marshmallow Pie
for breakfast.

Instead, leave an old coffee cup at work, and every morning load it with a
packet

of Quaker's High Fiber Cinnamon Swirl. With that swap you'll earn more
belly-filling

fiber and eliminate the blood-sugar surge. You'll never even miss the
plastic serving

bowl.

Eat This Instead!

Quaker High Fiber Cinnamon Swirl (1 packet)

160 calories

2 g fat (0.5 g saturated)

10 g fiber

7 g sugars

WORST GRANOLA

Quaker Natural Granola, Oats, Honey & Raisin (1 cup)

420 calories

12 g fat (7 g saturated)

6 g fiber

30 g sugars

You're in big trouble if your mornings include a bowl of this stuff. One cup
eats

up 20 percent of your day's energy needs and saddles you with as much sugar
as a

Snicker's bar. That's indulgent even by dessert standards. The culprit in
this box

is the combined impact of brown sugar and coconut oil, which together add
loads of

calories with scarcely any nutrients. What you want to do is switch to a
lighter

granola like Kashi's GoLean Crunch!, and then instead of eating it by the
bowl, use

just a handful as a topping for unsweetened whole grain cereal or oatmeal.
Now that's

a recipe for a good breakfast.

Eat This Instead!

Kashi GoLean Crunch! (1 cup)

200 calories

4.5 g fat (0 g saturated)

8 g fiber

12 g sugars

Joseph Mooney

 

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