Healthy Cereal Suggestions

We also use Kashi - my daughter likes the cinnamon ones that look like Cheerios. I like the Cinnamon Harvest (looks like shredded wheat squares with a cinnamon-sugar taste) and the Blueberry or strawberry flavored flakes. I have tried a few others and wasn't as impressed with flavor. These taste like "regular" cereal for me.

You might also consider mixing half and half to compromise - give her some healthy cereal with a little bit of fruity pebbles mixed in. Or try adding fresh fruit to the others - my daughter will eat almost anything if a sliced banana or sliced strawberries are in it. :)

Check out the Eat This/Not That site---they grade cereals according to healthy qualities--looks like Cheerios is a winner!

http://eatthis.menshealth.com/grocery_guided_search/all/a...

We buy Life cereal, Quaker also makes Oatmeal Squares cereal that is really good, Cheerios, Kix, Rice Krispies, Smart Start.

As far as really healthy cereals go, Kashi brand is great. Also Trader Joe's and Whole Foods stores have a bunch of healthy cereals to choose from.

There is also hot cereal, like oatmeal or cream of wheat. You can add anything you want into those. Fruits make it sweet. We have even put peanut butter and banana in oatmeal and that went over well.

They have an Eat This! Not That! book for kids. I know it it has a cereal section and it will tell you what to check for on the different labels. Check it out from the library. I love that whole series.

I have started paying close attention to the amount of sugar in everything, and I am shocked at how much is in most "healthy" cereals. For me, that is the most important issue with cereal. Even diet/health cereals like Kashi, Special K, Smart Start, Fiber One, etc. have so much!! Most have around 20 grams in one cup, which is crazy. My favorite, like others have mentioned, is Cheerios (only 1 gram of sugar per serving). I agree to add some fruit on top for flavor. Have your kids help "make" their cereal--have cut up bananas, strawberries, and blueberries for them to add on their own. They will be much more likely to eat something they made.

Other than Special-K (it actually has some protein in it- but only the original one.. the others don't for some reason), I can only recommend the Kashi line of cereals. Have you tried offering her any of the flavored oatmeals? My husband LOVES the Kashi cinnamin and honey oatmeal packets. And the vanilla one too. Good ingredients, fiber, vitamins, whole grains, protein, and no artificial stuff....

We avoid all extruded and/or "puffed" grains. They are carcinogenic and not part of man's traditional diet. I know that you are asking for the sugar aspect, but this is another take on it. We do occasionally (rarely) have a rice cake in my house since we do crave crunch and are phasing out corn at this point (we've already eliminated a long list of other things like sugar and wheat entirely) but I would not advise eating any cereal, especially for small children. Sally Fallon's book, _Nourishing Traditions_ is an excellent one if you want a diet that ensures optimal health for yourself and your children. We found this book because my youngest was born with no enamel on her baby teeth. We have successfully healed her caries with diet changes and we all feel more energetic, have better mood, and even have shinier hair and less aches and pains.

We also don't consume cow milk, at least not in the state it is sold in stores here. I would drink raw milk if it were available and we do eat raw cow cheese and some goat milk, but if you're looking for calcium look toward other things like dill, broccoli, etc. Any cardiologist will tell you that milk is really terrible for your heart, and anything with powdered milk is even more toxic due to the processing.

I hope I don't sound preachy, but I do hours of research on foods every day since both of my daughters have different health needs, and I hope you will take the time to do some reading on these things- you will truly be amazed!

Total Cereals have 100% of lots of the daily vitamins.
Kashi has 100% on most of its cereals.

Basic 4
Honey Nut Cheerios
Kix
Even Lucky Charms have 25% or more of the daily vitamins..

Back in the day, my mom would allow us some sugar cereal every once in a while, but we had to eat it with non sugar cereal..
So if we wanted Lucky charms we mixed it with Cheerios.

Maybe you could allow it as a treat every once in a while..
Check out the boxes. Besides the sugar, make sure the sodium is not too high..

My daughter eats Cheerios--- regular, honey nut, fruit. I've heard they came out with chocolate too. The fruit ones actually taste a bit like Fruit Loops (not as sweet obviously). She LOVES them! That's the only cereal she eats.

Look for cereals with 7grams of sugar or less. Now a days, your options are plentiful. Kashi has some great ones (my kids love nearly all the Kashi brands, not sure what the Mom tried who said she didn't like Kashi), Enviro-kids too. If I buy cereal, I get it at Target or Trader Joes - much better prices then your mainstream grocery store. Cheerios are great too - add some sliced strawberries, banana's or blueberries. Besides the sugar content in cereals like Lucky Charms and Fruity Pebbles, you want to avoid the dyes and additives. Doesn't matter if they say on the box " good source of ....." don't buy in to that. Breakfast is so important, I wouldn't waste it on something so unhealthy.

read labels. My kids know sugar has to be less than 5g and fiber has to be 2g or more. that doesn't leave a lot....cheerios, kix, chex, some of the Cascadian Farms. The kids also know that there cannot be more than 2 types of sugar in the ingredients (sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, any kind of juice, rice syrup, barley syrup, malted barley, honey are all sugar) I will buy Cinnamon Life (has 7 g sugar) as a treat. the instant oatmeals aren't any better - the flavored kinds have 12g of sugar or more. I make my own now using plain instant oatmeal and I have the kids down to a pinch of brown sugar in the bowl. My daughter asked about Captain Crunch the other day because it was on an end cap and my husband complains that I don't buy it (I don't think she's ever eaten it...). Anyway, she looked at the label and said, "oh, it has 14 g of sugar." Well, the end cap was on the cookie aisle, so we looked at a box of Newman O's (like oreos) just to compare - the cookies had 12g of sugar per serving. so you're right that most cereals are NOT good for breakfast, they are total junk food. we wonder why kids can't concentrate in school! talk about blood sugar crashes.

The only cereal that my kids eat on a regular basis is Cheerios, and that's only because it's sooooo simple nutritionally speaking and as far as gross additives go. Most of the time I make them a semi-hot ala carte breakfast. Things like a healthier version of sausage, bananas/apples/oranges and peanut butter whole wheat toast. Sometimes if they've been really good they can have Toaster Strudels too. (I always insist that they eat a protein, a whole grain and a fruit or veggie at every meal, no exceptions and for snacks they are allowed one of each every day and one pure junk item as long as it's reasonable.) Maybe you could do something like that. It's not difficult and doesn't take much time at all. The easiest is the peanut butter whole wheat toast and fruit. That's got everything since the peanut butter is loaded with protein.

I wouldn't always trust what the manufacturer is telling you BTW, since they ARE trying to sell you a product. Many packaged food manufacturers will tout their foods by telling you that there are vitamins and minerals, but what they neglect to mention is that it's in a form that is not normally absorbable by the human body, or something else wrong with the whole thing. There are a lot of problems with believing advertising.

As someone mentioned, the Kashi line of cereals are actually healthy....too bad they taste like a huge pile of monkey doo-doo on a hot day. I don't think you'll be able to get your kids to eat it.

my kids love sweets as much as anybody but because there seem to be so many "treats" at school, daycare, etc., we just don't buy sugary cereal because honestly it's just like another "treat" and i definitely don't want that for their breakfast

my kids and i love life cereal (6 g sugars) and mom's best naturals oats and honey (6 g sugars) kids also like kashi heart to heart (5 g sugars) although i don't care for it. i think cereal prices are ridiculously high but all of these do go on sale regularly so that's when we stock up!

There are lots of ways to get vitamins and minerals and you don't have to have a ton of sugar with it. Cheerios, Kix, Total, plain Special K, etc are fine. Lucky Charms and Fruity Pebbles might as well be candy. Unless she has some food allergies, there's no reason your SD can't eat what the rest of your family eats.