So many of you have been asking the question “is cereal good for you, what about the special k diet, what are the best cereals ?” and so I have devoted my next Blog to the topic CEREAL.
Lets start with some food facts:
49% of Americans eat cereal for breakfast every morning. Its the 3rd most popular item at the grocery store. Thats a whopping 2.7 billion boxes of cereal sold annually.
Still confused why we have an obesity epidemic here in the U.S. ??
Now the actual definition of the word cereal is any grass that produces a seed that is used for food. Eg Rice, Oats, Wheat Barley.
These are clearly not what we think of when we say the word cereal – we automatically think of those brightly packaged boxes with processed food ready to place in our bowl.
Unfortunately the product at the end stage of its process has barely any of the nutrients that were originally in the grains that make it what we call cereal !
In short – todays cereals are not whole foods and not something that i would recommend as a breakfast staple.
Breakfast Cereals when processed lose a lot of there nutrients and are not in their orginal form and all those vitamins and minerals that were so concentrated in the natural whole food are all gone and yes they pump synthetic vitamins and minerals back into the product – but its truly not the same as getting it in its origina form.
So many cereals on the shelves right now are so high in sugar – at an average of 15g of sugar per serving ! – thats like 4 teaspoons of sugar per serving !! Not to mention that most people eat way more than what’s recommended as a serving size on the box –
Interested in knowing how much the manufacturers class as a serving ??
I strongly recommend you do the ‘Joey Rubino Cereal Test’ –
Now I know this seems like a lot of effort to prove a point – but i beleive it will truly help you understand:
Take a look at the side of the box next to the nutrition facts and it will tell you how many servings there are to a box.
So lets say it says there are 12 servings to a box, I want you to place 12 empty cereal bowls out on the table in your kitchen
now open up the box and divide that cereal between the bowls you have placed out out on the table
When you physically see how much is classed as a serving – you will be amazed as to how little you’d be eating for breakfast each morning if you were to go by these guidelines.
And more importantly how much you are actually cureently consuming – so that actual 15g of sugar that you justified as being ok for your breakfast turns out to be 30 or 40g.
The other key thing that should be brought to your attention is how little fiber these cereals do actually have. The amount of fiber in the natural whole grain is so high prior to all its processing and then once processed it is devoid of most of that fiber.
The reason why we should eat whole grains is because of the fiber content. We dont need to eat carbohydrates that devoid of fiber – you will just be hungry again in a couple of hours and of course end up consuming more calories.
There are some really bad cereals out there and sadly it is pretty much all the childrens cereals. All these cereals marketed to our children who are growing into there bodies and we end up giving them all this sugar in the morning ? Too much sugar, too little fiber and generally replaces healthier breakfast items.
Now ive really given cereal a hard time. And if you are a cereal eater then some of you are just not going to be willing to give this up despite having read this blog – now if thats you here are some tips as to what to look for when choosing your cereal:
Dont just assume you are onto a good thing, For the longest time i used to eat Kellogs All Bran – thinking i was a good boy – because it was so high in fiber – until one day i actually spent some time reading the label and there it was in black and white – i had been consuming cereal that was yes high in fiber but also contained high fructose corn syrup and aspartame – which is as toxic as can be – which really shows that you need to be reading whats in your cereals because the manufacturers are not going to place this information for you on the front of the box where you are most likely to see it.
Look for cereals with 100% Whole Grain (not whole wheat – whole grain)
Avoid Cereals that have sugar in the top 3 ingredients and avoid artificial flavors and food colorings
Look for Cereals that are high in fiber and low in sugar. The best ones available to us today are : Kashi, Food For Life & Nature’s Path.
My clients that have started making better breakfast choices with this subtle change in their diet have found that there cholesterol level havs gone down, they are fuller for longer, has helped regulate there bowel movement and overall have more enegry.
Its time to make the change.