is there a healthy cereal?

[femalephish]

nak

I eat raisin bran everyday and I recently read the ingrediants and it has added sugar AND high fructose corn syrup! I thought, 'no big deal, must be because it's marketed more for kids. I'll just get All Bran and add raisins to it.' But All Bran (and Fiber One) has sugar AND HFCS too! WTH? I LOVE cereal, I eat it everyday, does anyone know of a healthy option?
thanks!

[Vermillion]

I really like Nature's Path cereals. They have a raisin bran and pumpkin raisin cereal that don't have HFCS.

http://www.naturespath.com/products/...=All&nutri=All

[sewchris2642]

I like Malt O Meal cold cereals. They have no HFCS, use natural sugars, have less packaging, and cost less than the name brand version. http://www.malt-o-meal.com/index_en.php

[staceychev]

If you check out a lot of the organic brands, you'll find that they don't have HFCS. Also, I think you're probably safe with Grape Nuts. (mmm... Grape Nuts, haven't had them in years... I'm so susceptible to food suggestions when pregnant...)

[sewchris2642]

GrapeNuts is a great all purpose cereal. You can eat it hot, cold, on yogert.

[woodchick]

Regular Shredded Wheat is 100% wheat and nothing else. I love it with blueberries!

[nicolelynn]

I recently discovered Uncle Sam brand cereal with dried berries at my health food store and love it. I think the ingredients are just wheat, flax, salt and dried berries! Maybe a bit of malt? But it only has 2 grams of sugars per serving, mostly from the berries and no sugar or HFCS. It's super high in fiber and protein as well. I don't eat cold cereal often but it is a nice treat.

[cristeen]

I suppose it depends on your yardstick for "healthy" - if your only requirement is that it doesn't contain HFCS, there are plenty of them out there, you just have to look... usually the more non-mainstream brands are good with that. Barbara's, Kashi, etc. But then you're still dealing with the extrusion of the grains, which if you read up on it is not the healthiest of things.

Of course, even healthier would be if you make your own granola with whole grains.

[chattyprincess]

We eat kashi cereals, they are whole grain, lots of them are organic(100%) and they now sell them at target. there are also q's out for 1.50 off out there as well, they usually see it for 3 something a box.
~Kate

[somegirl99]

Oatmeal

[Drummer's Wife]

My first thought was that cereal is not really healthy, regardless of brand - b/c of what Cristeen said, (processed grains aren't the best way to start the day) but then I was thinking Kashi or similar would be better than many brands.

That all said, my kids do eat cereal on occasion, I don't buy it often, though, and would much rather they eat something like eggs and bacon with fruit in the morning for protein and fiber.

[EKSmith]

I second the oatmeal suggestion. There are so many things you can do with it too....add some peanut butter and raisins, apples and cinnamon, mixed berries, almonds and cream....the options are endless! We eat oatmeal roughly 4 times a week!

[Ola_]

I agree with Shredded Wheat (the regular kind, in big cubes) - DH eats is every day with whatever fruit is in season or we get frozen berries from Costco (just run under the tap and let sit for a few minutes).

If you like warm cereal, in addition to oatmeal you might also look into quinoa. I hear it's tasty cooked ahead of time, then you can just reheat with a little milk/cream, dried fruit, chopped nuts, etc.

[~LadyBug~]

Cascadian Farms is a great brand and it is organic. Also Kashi is a great one. My girls LOVE the granola with pecans and walnuts.

[greeny]

Regular Shredded Wheat is 100% wheat and nothing else. I love it with blueberries!

I love Shredded Wheat (or Shredded What and Bran) with milk and fresh fruit. SO good.

Oatmeal is another favorite of mine.

[BedHead]

Another vote for oatmeal!

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/...breakfast.html

[Cristiaz]

Cream of buckwheat with maple syrup, crushed nuts...
homemade granola....
Health food stores sell cereal with real sugar, no HFCS but boxed cereals are still processed.

[noobmom]

Yep, I was going to say oatmeal too, but not the packaged envelopes. The slower cooking the better--I think regular rolled oats (not quick cooking) is a good compromise between healthy and not to hard to cook in the morning. You can throw in a handful of raisins in the last minute of cooking and they plump up just a bit. Yummy.

That said, I just ate a bowl of raisin bran myself. It's Cascadian Farms brand and the ingredients are:
wheat bran, raisins, whole grain wheat, sugar, sea salt, oat fiber, malted barley extract, vitamin E (for freshness).

So, overall, pretty good for a box cereal. It does have 15g of sugar per serving, but considering that includes the raisins I don't think that's too awful.

[es1967]

I like Bobs Red Mill Meusli. It has oats, nuts, sunflower seeds etc. I add almond milk and let it sit about 5 min before eating. Then add yogurt and lots of other toppings like-flax,hemp seed,raisins,goji berries,fresh berries,coconut,dried cranberries etc etc.

I've heard good things about this company's cereal but kinda do the same thing myself

http://www.meandgoji.com/

[somegirl99]

Originally Posted by noobmom

Yep, I was going to say oatmeal too, but not the packaged envelopes. The slower cooking the better--I think regular rolled oats (not quick cooking) is a good compromise between healthy and not to hard to cook in the morning. You can throw in a handful of raisins in the last minute of cooking and they plump up just a bit. Yummy.

Agreed, I like the thick rolled oats. I make them in the microwave, usually I put in some frozen berries and then add a bit of ground flaxseed and soymilk.

From time to time I try the steel-cut oats but end up going back to the rolled oats.