Since I stressed the importance of breakfast in a post a few weeks ago, I thought I would revisit the topic today. Whenever I do grocery store tours with community members, we always end up spending a lot of time in the cereal aisle. Many Americans start out their day with cold cereal, which can be a great choice if you know what to look for. It’s wonderful to have so many options, but it can also seem a bit overwhelming at times, especially if you are trying to choose a healthier cereal.
I have a set of rule-of-thumbs that I keep in mind when I am selecting a cereal. I look at two things (other than price) – the Nutrition Facts panel and the Ingredients list – to decide if it meets these guidelines. Let me walk you through the highlights of each of these tools to demonstrate what convinces me I am holding a healthy product.*
First, here is an example of what the Nutrition Facts and Ingredient List look like (taken from the cereal's website):
(A million points to the reader that guesses what cereal this is!!!! I’ll give you a hint – it’s very popular, and, although it doesn’t meet all my rule-of-thumbs for picking a healthy cereal, I still give it my official thumbs-up. Just pair it with some fruit and yogurt to start your day right.)
Step #1: The Nutrition Facts Panel. I do look at the entire panel, but the following sums up what I consider to be the most important sections.
· Serving Size. This is the first thing I check. The nutrition information provided in the Nutrition Facts panel is only for the serving size specified. If you are planning on eating more or less of the cereal, be sure to adjust the perceived nutrition information accordingly.
· Calories. Although this number is important, I like to pay more attention to where my calories are coming from rather than obsess over the number of calories itself. Anything between 140 and 260 calories or so per serving of cereal is typical for me, but I don’t have strict guidelines for this. Remember, calories aren’t bad guys – it is just a name for energy! You need that first thing in the morning!
· Total Fat and fat breakdown. If the cereal contains any more than 2 or 3 grams of fat per serving, I make sure that the majority of those fats are coming from monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. These are the good fats! I don’t want to eat a lot of saturated or trans fats (the “bad fats”) for breakfast. Those bad fats are the ones that clog arteries, make your blood cholesterol increase, and can lead to heart disease. Not the best way to start your day!
· Dietary Fiber. This is a very important nutrient. Dietitians recommend consuming between 25 and 38 grams of fiber each day, depending on age and gender. I like to choose cereals that provide at least 4 to 5 grams of fiber per serving. Fiber helps keep you fuller longer by adding bulk and slowing down the digestion process; this means you can get through your morning meetings without suffering hunger pains or reaching for those donuts.
· Sugar. This is probably the biggest problem area for many cereals out there. I tend to look for cereals that have more grams of fiber than grams of sugar. This is much harder to find than one would think. To give you a frame of reference, 4 grams of sugar is equal to 1 teaspoon of sugar. That means 12 grams of sugar is equal to 1 tablespoon of sugar. This is a lot of sugar to be eating for breakfast! I like to keep this number on the lower side, so I can have a breakfast that doesn’t leave me with a mid-morning sugar crash. Barring special occasions, I try to pick cereals that have no more than 4-5 grams of sugar per serving.
· Protein. This is a nutritional component that people sometimes forget about during breakfast. Ever notice that an egg for breakfast will keep you full longer than a bowl of cereal? Part of this is because one medium egg has around 7 grams of protein. This is good fuel for your body! For this reason, if you want to have only cereal for breakfast without any other additions, I would recommend aiming for at least 4 grams of protein per serving.
Step #2: The Ingredients List. Even as a registered dietitian, I still encounter ingredients daily that I’ve never heard of before. This doesn’t make me paranoid and avoid mysterious ingredients like the plague (it is nice to have the FDA around, after all), but I do admit I like to know what I’m eating. Although I skim through the entire ingredient list for just about everything I buy, when I shop for cereals, I mostly look for two things in the ingredients list.
· Whole Grains. I don’t want anyone messing with my grains! This means I look for the word “whole” in the ingredients list. If it isn’t there, then the grain has been stripped of its natural nutritional value. This means less of the fiber and vitamins that are a basic part of the grain.
· Sugar. Cereal companies love to add sugar to their products, especially if the cereal is marketed towards kids or they want to cover up all the fiber they added to the cereal. Words meaning sugar: Sugar, syrup, honey, molasses, just about anything ending in –ose (fructose, sucrose, maltose, etc), cane juice, agave, nectar, or malt. I think that’s all of them. Whew!! Remember, the ingredient list is listed by weight – the first ingredient in the list is the one that contributes the most to the weight of the product.
That wraps up the highlights of how I choose a healthy cereal. Remember to always read the Nutrition Facts and Ingredients. Many products can have pretty misleading labels – after all, their marketing department spends a lot of time and money ensuring that consumers will pick their product!
Tomorrow, I’ll go through some examples of how I compare cereals at the grocery store to decide which one is the best product for me. See you then!
Thanks for reading!
Anna
*Please keep in mind that this isn’t an exact science. I put in numbers to give you a better idea of what I look for, but think of them as guidelines that I use for my own cereal selection, not as strict rules that everyone must follow.
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