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!
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
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...)
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Originally Posted by 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.
Dry breakfast cereals are produced by a process called extrusion. Cereal makers first create a slurry of the grains and then put them in a machine called an extruder. The grains are forced out of a little hole at high temperature and pressure. Depending on the shape of the hole, the grains are made into little o's, flakes, animal shapes, or shreds (as in Shredded Wheat or Triscuits), or they are puffed (as in puffed rice). A blade slices off each little flake or shape, which is then carried past a nozzle and sprayed with a coating of oil and sugar to seal off the cereal from the ravages of milk and to give it crunch.
In his book Fighting the Food Giants, Paul Stitt has tells us that the extrusion process used for these cereals destroys most of the nutrients in the grains. It destroys the fatty acids; it even destroys the chemical vitamins that are added at the end. The amino acids are rendered very toxic by this process. The amino acid lysine, a crucial nutrient, is especially denatured by extrusion. This is how all the boxed cereals are made, even the ones sold in the health food stores. They are all made in the same way and mostly in the same factories. All dry cereals that come in boxes are extruded cereals.
The only advances made in the extrusion process are those that will cut cost regardless of how these will alter the nutrient content of the product. Cereals are a multi-billion dollar business, one that has created huge fortunes.
With so many people eating breakfast cereals, you might expect to find some studies on the effect of extruded cereals on animals or humans. Yet, there are no published studies at all in the scientific literature.
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I have to admit packaged cereals are a serious addiction for me. Serious! I LOVE them. Even the "healthy" ones are like cake to me. I buy a box every 6 months or so as a treat. We're talking "adult" whole grain cereal here, not cocoa krispies.
Thank you for posting this (and the above info). Quoted from that article:
Quote:
An extruder is an industrial machine that produces little flakes, O's and other shapes and puffed grains using high temperatures and pressures. The cereal industry has convinced the FDA that extruded grains are no different from non-extruded grains and has contrived to ensure that no studies have been published on the effects of extruded foods on either humans or animals. However, two unpublished animal studies indicate that extruded grains are toxic, particularly to the nervous system.
I wonder how they have convinced the FDA? and for so many years?
The main reason I stopped buying cereal more than occasionally was b/c A) my kids want to eat it often, and a box is gone in less than a day (4 kids, but still!) and B) If I let them eat it dry, it makes such an awful mess (this is also why I stopped getting things like crackers - I hate the mess.
The more I learn about nutrition, whole foods, and TF, the more I am fascinated yet horrified at the same time.
Slightly off-topic but commercial pet foods are also extruded using this process.
ETA: we think alike somegirl!
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