Breakfast Cereal Options

You may just have to spend some quality time in the cereal isle looking at ingredient labels, but there are definitely better options out there (like Kashi). Does he like oatmeal?

Meijer is a local grocery for us and here is a link if you want to see ingredients on line...

http://www.meijer.com/s/grocery-cereal-breakfast-foods-ce...

there are, you just have to be a label-checker. make sure that whole grains (not just 'wheat') is the first ingredient. you want at least 5 grams of fiber per serving, and hopefully a few grams of protein. easy on the sugar and high fructose corn syrup. barbara's and kashi are available in most grocery stores. they're not perfect either but have a lot more/better cereals than the big ones.
khairete
S.

www.livestrong.com/article/502929-healthiest-cereals-that...

If you have a Trader Joes nearby, go take a look at their cereals. They have multiple awesome options. Some are the basic cereal with the preservatives and chemicals removed (like Cheerios, Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran) and others are more organic (Envirokids and others). Finally, they have a lot of what I think are even better options - with nut flakes, granola clusters, etc. That way you're not only getting carbs, but you're getting whole grains and protein too.

You might try some protein bars...not cereal bars which are full of sugar. There are tons of bars out there...I go to GNC and buy them when they're on sale...Have your kids try them to see which ones they like. They are usually lower sugar and high in protein and fiber.

Crispix actually doesn't contain preservatives. My DD is on the Feingold diet and it's an appoved cereal. Envirokids sells yummy cereals that are organic and yummy! They're either sweetend with cane or honey.

Cherrios are loaded with salt. That said I only eat Shredded Wheat and Bran Flakes. Add fruit such as bananas, strawberries, blueberries, peaches or pears. In winter I love oatmeal with diced bananas and frozen blueberries with milk and sugar. The frozen berries cool the oatmeal. You can also cook oatmeal with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and add raisens and dried cranberries top with mild and sugar. It's like eating an oatmeal raisen cookie but much better for you. I will also top plain oatmeal with applesauce, works better if it's cold from the fridge.

It's time to start reading the labels and this becomes frustrating once you realize what you have been eating in the past. We usually get cheerios or honey nut cheerios.

Here are some good choices:

http://www.raisehealthyeaters.com/2010/06/10-of-the-best-...

All foods have additives in them. It is part of the process that allows us to have food for longer periods of time. If we all grew our own meat, veggies, wheat, and sugarcane to make our own foods then we would all be healthier. Since we can't all go back to that lifestyle we ingest preservatives and other things needed for our lifestyles.

I try to do the non sugared cereals like plain cheerios, rice chex, raisin bran, corn flakes, you get the idea.

It is alarming the foods we eat but we have been doing it for years and there is minimal mutation of our genes.

Eating something like this is not horrible. It is normal food from the most basic form of thought. Everyone is eating it.

If you are truly worried about it then I suggest you research learning to grind wheat and other grains and come up with some yummy recipes to make your own breakfast cereals.

NOthing specific comes to mind, but if you check the organic section in your local store there are a lot of options. I buy a lot of ceral bars and such that are organic, but somehow, not cereal itself...

Kashi has natural cereal, and another brand is Hidden Valley Organic...

Good luck!

I love the Kashi Heart to Heart cereal and so do my kids.

It's time to become a lable reader. The 1st ingredient should say Whole Grain - not whole wheat. Whatever the 1st ingrediant is, thats the most abundant item in the food.

The most healthy cereal I know of is Shredded wheat. If you look at the ingrediants, it says Whole Grain Wheat. That's it! Nothing else! Kids dont really care for that one, so, I chop strawberries up in it and drizzle the squares with honey. Let it sit in milk and soften a bit before I give it to them. They love cheerios. Kashi has some great choices.

My son LOVES Wheat Chex! I think any of the chex flavors are a good option, and the rice and corn ones are a little sweeter tasting. I would think they are similar to crispix, but can't every remember eating it. I have heard from a nutritionist that it is better to sprinkle a little sugar into kids cereal, then to buy cereal that is pre-sweetened. in a small amount it will be ok.

On a side note, my 18 month old is a little weird about his cereal. He loves all of the plain cereal, and literally spits out the sweet cereals. Thus the wheat chex being his fave (the least sweet of them all)

Kashi is an enemy in disguise! I wish I could find the article I read about how bad it is for you - highly processed and synthetic ingredients.

We eat a lot of Wheaties (Wheat, sugar, salt, BHT) high fiber, high daily vitamin %.

Raisin Bran is also a good one, but it does have more sugar than I prefer.

I don't know if you would consider these finger-food friendly, but they are healthy and minimally processed.

P.S. Wheaties is a General Mills brand and there are often coupons in the Sunday paper (or coupons.com) for any GM cereal which will cut your costs down!

Kashi :) They have great products