What makes breakfast and cereals a healthy breakfast?

Health & Energy

Cereal nutrition, hot cereal or cold cereal…and which cereal brands provide a healthy cereal?

According to the book “Cerealizing America,” by Scott Bruce and Bill Crawford…

The cereal industry uses 816 million pounds of sugar per year. Americans buy 2.7 billion packages of breakfast cereal each year.

That means…if you laid cereal boxes end to end the empty cereal boxes from one year’s consumption stretch to the moon and back.

1.3 million advertisements for cereal aired on American television every year, or more than twenty-five hours of cereal advertising per day, at a cost of $762 million for air time.

Only automobile manufacturers spend more money on television advertising than the makers of breakfast cereal.

Most of the boxed cereals found in supermarkets contain large amounts of sugar and some contain more than 50% sugar (sugar smacks have 53% sugar).

Cereal manufacturers are very clever in their marketing, making many cereals appear much more healthy than they appear by “fortifying” them with vitamins and minerals.

Do you honestly believe there are health benefits from eating vitamin-fortified sugar?

Now, before you eat any cereal, read the ingredients list and see how high sugar appears on the ingredient list. Then check the “Nutrition facts” panel.

There are actually only a small handful of national commercially branded cereals that are made from whole grains and are sugar free. Shredded Wheat is one.

If you shop smart at a health food store instead of in your local supermarket, you are much more likely to find a healthy, whole grain, sugar free (or very low sugar) cereal.

Just watch out because some of the health food store boxed cereals are sweetened with fruit juice or fructose. Although this may be an improvement over refined white sugar, this can really skyrocket your calorie intake.

Although there are some good boxed cereals available, you may find it interesting to make a choice for unsweetened old fashioned oatmeal (not the flavored, sweetened packets).

This might surprise you, but most commercial breakfasts cereals with their hidden sugars and clever marketing are foods that turn to fat not to mention have little in regards to providing real fiber cereal or a good whole grain cereal.

Leave those sugary breakfast cereals on the shelf and go for organic cereal instead!