When it comes to selecting breakfast cereal, companies should have your health in mind first right? Wrong! Selling a product regardless of what it is doing to your body and your health is their goal. This is why you need to be cereal savvy to select a healthy breakfast cereal which will enhance your health long term rather than increased waist line and increased risk of lifestyle diseases.
Are any of these cereals a go to for your breakfast?
- Cheerios
- Uncle Toby’s Swiss-style Natural Muesli
- Sustain
- BarleyMax Digestive
- Sultana Bran
- Just Right
- Crunchy Nut Flakes
- Nutri-grain
- Coco Pops
- Froot Loops
- Frosties
If these cereals are a regular breakfast choice, these contain:
- Over the recommended amount of sugar (15g/100g or less than 25g/100g if with dried fruit).
- Only Barley Digestive, Sultana Bran, Cheerios and Uncle Toby’s Swiss-style Natural Muesli contain at least 10g/100g of fibre.
Why is this an issue?
Higher amount of sugar leaves you feeling unsatisfied and going for more bowls of cereal, expanding your waistline long term. While low fibre does the same and both together leaves the body feeling like a bottomless pit and going for the morning tea doughnut. Fibre is also needed for digestive health and it is recommended for adults to have 25-30g of fibre a day.
So what should you aim for?
- At least 50% of the cereal wholegrain
Why? Wholegrains contain a fantastic amount of vital nutrients for the body including B vitamins, vitamin E, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, zinc, trace minerals, phyto-chemicals (these are like antioxidants) and fibre. Look for words in the ingredients like whole grains, whole barley or oats.
- Select no more than cereal with 15g of sugar/100g or 25g of sugar/100g if the cereal contains dried fruit
Why? Bottomless pit of hunger and long term increased waistline. In the short term too much refined sugar is released quickly as energy in the blood and causes a ‘spike’ in the blood this is when you will feel like you are full of energy but this doesn’t last long and a sharp crash of energy soon follows.
- Aim for fibre to be at least 10g/100g.
Why? Digestive health and feeling fuller quicker and for longer.
- Salt to be gold standard to be less than 120mg/100g or good standard 400mg/100g.
Why? Foods which contain more salt put added pressure on our body and its systems which can lead to increased blood pressure which effects the health of the heart and kidneys.
What are my top choices?
- Sanitarium Weet-Bix (My top pick as an Aussie classic)
- Sanitarium Weet-Bix Hi-Bran
- Vogel’s Ultra Bran
- Rolled oats
- Goodness Superfoods Cereals
- Kellogg’s All-bran
- Uncle Toby’s Bran Plus
- Freedom Foods Active Balance
- Uncle Toby’s Vita-Brits
- Kellogg’s Sultana Bran
- Kellogg’s Mini Wheats (plain or fruit flavours)
- Kellogg’s Guardian
- Uncle Toby’s Shredded Wheat
- Kellogg’s Sustain Goodness
- BarleyMax Digestive 1st
So the next time you are cruising with your trolley down the breakfast cereal aisle, keep the 4 tips to aim for in mind or maybe select one of the cereals from the top choices list.
References:
- Slavin J. Whole grains and human health. Nutrition Res Rev. 2004;17:99-110
- What cereal type are you?: Lynnis BonannoJOURNALISTlynnis.bonanno@dailymercury.com.au. The Daily Mercury. 2013.
- Ruxton C, Derbyshire E. The health benefits of whole grains and fibre. Nutrition & Food Science. 2014;44(6):492-519.
