Cereals...

Following my post on Kelly Holmes backing Kellog’s its seems this has started up a debate amongst my fellow cereal lovers, I have decided to do some research about what a healthy breakfast is and what we should avoid within our first meal of the day.

Sadly many of our branded cereals are highly processed, sugar-laden and full of salt, but how do we know which ones to choose, I make Rob laugh sometimes as I will spend hours down the cereal isles trying to decide what cereal is best to eat!

So finally I have decided to research and list the do’s and don’ts of buying a cereal for you and for your children!

While it’s often said that because of the benefits of eating breakfast and the effect it has on our day, I hate to say even a sugary cereal is preferable to no breakfast at all... BUT please read below and avoid if you can, as more benefits may be gained from switching to a healthier brand.

(It seems to me that the majority of cereals to avoid will contain the name “Kellog’s or Nestle.”)

So basically this includes some of the below in which can have over 40g of sugar per bowl that’s like having a few chocolate bars for breakfast!

The worst cereals you can feed to your kids...

* Quaker Sugar Puffs contained the most sugar, at 49g per 100g
* Kellog's Coco pops
* Nestlé Lion Cereal
* Nestlé Coco Shreddies
* Nestlé Frosted Shreddies
* Kellogg’s Frosties Turbos
* Kellogg's Rice Krispies
* Kellogg's Choco Corn Flakes
* Nestle Nesquick
* Corn flakes
* Nestlé Honey Nut Cheerios
* Kellogg’s Bart Simpson’s Eat My Shorts
* Kellogg's Frosties
* Kellogg’s Frosties Chocolate
* Nestlé Cookie Crisp
* Kellogg's Crispix
* Kellogg's Crunch Nut
* Nestlé Golden Graham
* Kellogg’s Choco Corn Flakes
* Kellogg’s Hunny B’s
* Nestlé Cinnamon Grahams
* Nestlé Honeynut Cheerios
* Kellogg’s Frosties
* Kellogg's Crispix
* Nestlé Golden Nuggets
* Nestlé Cheerios
* Kellogg’s Corn Pops
* Kellogg's Crunch Nut

The better option:

* Weetabix Ready Brek (original)
* Weetabix Ready Brek (chocolate)
* Quaker Sugar Puffs
* Nestlé Coco Shreddies
* Nestlé Frosted Shreddies
* Kellogg’s Coco Pops Crunchers
* Weetabix Weetos

Remember Children often add sugar to their cereal, regardless of how sweet it already is... I remember doing this while I was younger. Lower-sugar cereals are a better choice and hiding the sugar at breakfast time!

It is not just kids that have to be careful with their cereals, although adults cereals don’t have the appeal of cartoon characters, free gifts, bright colours and novel shapes.

Claims about nutritional value are added to entice parents and cereals for ourselves.

Bad for adults (as well as the above)

* Kellogg’s Crispix,
* Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut

Besides any other pros or cons, all these cereals are worth highlighting because they contain a lot of saturated fat:

* Kellogg’s Cornflakes Banana Crunch,
* Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut
* Clusters Milk Chocolate Curls
* Jordans Country Crisp (four nut combo)
* Jordans Country Crisp (real strawberry, whole raspberry)
* Jordans Organic Four Berry Crisp
* Jordans Organic Crunchy Raisins & Coconut
* Quaker Harvest Nut Crunch Collection
* Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Red
* Nestlé Clusters

Besides any other pros or cons, worth highlighting because of their very high salt content:

* Kellogg’s All-Bran,
* Quaker Oat Krunchies

Best for adults:

* Nestlé Shredded Wheat (and Bitesize)
* Quaker Oatso Simple (original)
* Weetabix and Weetabix Organic
* All types of plain porridge oats
* Nestlé Shredded Wheat, Nestlé Shredded Wheat Bitesize
* Quaker Oatso Simple (original)
* Jordans Luxury Crunchy (golden maple & pecan, red berry & almond)
* Jordans Natural Muesli
* Jordans Organic Muesli
* Jordans Organic Swiss Style Muesli
* Jordans Special Muesli
* Luxury Fruit & Nuts
* Kellogg’s Frosted Wheats
* Kellogg’s Raisin Wheats
* Nestlé Honey Nut Shredded Wheat
* Nestlé Shredded Wheat Fruitful
* Jordans Original Crunchy (raisin & almonds, tropical fruits
* Jordans Nature’s Wholegrain (honey nut, maple & pecan)
* Kellogg’s All-Bran Apricot Bites
* Quaker Oatso Simple (flavouredvarieties)
* Weetabix Alpen (blackberry & apple, no added sugar,nutty crunch, original, strawberry, wheat flakes)
* Weetabix Mini Crunch (banana, chocolate, fruit & nut
* Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Feast Honey & Nut
* Weetabix Alpen (Caribbean crunch), Jordans Country Crisp (luxury raisins, wildabout berries)
* Jordans Luxury Crunchy (golden honey & nut)

And its not just sugar or fat over 40% of our cereals contain too much salt such as:

* Weetabix Ready Brek (original and chocolate)
* Quaker Sugar Puffs.
* Kellogg’s All-Bran
* Quaker Oat Krunchies
* Nestlé Golden Grahams

These all contain around 1g salt per suggested serving size. This is four times the amount of salt in a 25g bag of roasted salted peanuts. And it makes up one third of what’s recommended!

Most cereals are fortified with vitamins (mainly B1, B2, niacin and folic acid) and minerals, mainly iron. Generally, fortified cereals will have a higher concentration of

those vitamins and minerals than unfortified wholegrain cereals, such as porridge oats and mueslis, but these can be good natural sources of many of the same nutrients as well.

There is always the other option of not having cereal:

Alternative breakfasts:

* A portion of fruit and yogurt
* Wholemeal toast
* Scrambled eggs on wholemeal toast
* Small egg white omelette
* Fruit fajitas
* Crumpets
* Poached eggs
* Boiled egg and wholemeal soldiers
* Low salt and sugar beans on toast
* Mixed fruit salad
* Muesli
* Wholemeal pancakes and fruit

So overall remember its not how they taste or look it’s the fuel cereals give you. Personally I would prefer a bland bowl of Shredded Wheat or porridge oats with some added fruit any day!

Let me know what you have and what you think of these shocking results!?