Re-thinking my addiction to Breakfast Cereals...

I kid you not when I say I'm addicted to breakfast cereals. That's why I'm not a fan of the name "Breakfast Cereal"...I eat it for breakfast and often times as a snack throughout the day (yep, I love cereal and eat it alllll the time).  But for the sake of its true purpose, we'll call it Breakfast Cereals for now.

This morning I was watching Morning Express with Robin Meade and one of her headlines focused on a new report by the Environmental Working Group on the amount of sugars that fill our favorite cereals.  Ding! I woke up instantly and started listening in...hoping my faves weren't on the list. 

In the report, the EWG took a look at the nutritional content of 84 cereals and found that some of the cereals had more than 50% sugar by weight, ehk!  Here is the list of EWG's 10 worst Children's Cereals (I may not be a child, but children's cereals are great tasting!):

1. Kellogg's Honey Smacks - 55.6% (phew! not a fan of these but I know my mom used to love them)
2. Post Golden Crisp - 51.9%
3. Kellogg's Froot Loops Marshmallow - 48.3% (oh no! wait, the marshmallow one I don't like...I thought I was in the clear until I saw #10)
4. Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch's OOPS! All Berries - 46.9%
5. Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch Original - 44.4% (oh man, one of my favorites to mix with fiber cereals...)
6. Quaker Oats Oh!s - 44.4% (Quaker Oats is taking over!)
7. Kellogg's Smorz - 43.4% (Kellogg's is coming back to win the # of cereals on the list.  Oh, and a cereal calls Smorz? Sounds sugary so no surprise here)
8. Kellogg's Apple Jacks - 42.9% (the word apple can be so deceiving...)
9. Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries - 42.3% (looks like we should just stay away from Cap'n Crunch flavors)
10. Kellogg's Froot Loops Original - 41.4% (no! I've been defeated!)

So the list was pretty disappointing from my perspective, but the good thing is that I can now make healthier cereal changes in my life. The EWG complimented the list of bad cereals with a list of Good ones:

• Amborsial Granola
• Go Raw
• Grandy Oats
• Kaia Foods
• Laughing Giraffe
• Lydia's Organic
• Nature's Path Organics
• Kellogg's Mini-Wheater
• General Mills Cheerios Original
• General Mill Kix Original
• Post Shredded Wheat
• Post Grape-Nuts Flakes
• Quaker Oats Otameal Squares Cinnamon
• Post Bran Flakes
• Post Honey Bunches of Oats with Vanilla Bunches

Along with this list comes some times on checking cereal labels:

• Look for cereals with high fiber content
• Cereals with a short ingredient list are best
• Check the sugar percentage
• Look for cereals with few or no added sugars

For more info, check out the EWG article!

~ Hannah