Diets & Weight Maintenance Support Group
Chat about how well your latest diet is -- or is not -- working. This group is a great place to find support and accountability as well as share success stories and valuable lessons with the community. From where to start to weekly weigh-ins, get help from others to reach your dieting and weight maintenance goals.
WHAT CEREALS DO YOU LOVE TO EAT,,,??????????
I;M A RASIN BRAN LOVER,,,,YOU CANT GO WRONG.
I;M A RASIN BRAN LOVER,,,,YOU CANT GO WRONG.
I mix 1/3cup porridge and 2/3cup water with 1/8cup currants and some cinnamon.
Cook that up in the morn and you won't be hungry for hours.
Take a look at the sides of the boxes of your cereals to check for trans fats, saturated fats, sugars, and sodium. Don't take it for granted that they are healthy just cuz the ads say so.
LInks to some info on various cereals tested:
http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=104609&catId=100286&tid=100008&p=4&title=Test%3a+Breakfast+cereals
Kids' cereals
Kids get a raw deal with breakfast cereals. Most kids cereals are so highly processed they no longer resemble the grain they started out as. The majority are fibre-flimsy, and either too sugary or too salty. Fortunately kids cereals arent all bad news the high-fibre, low-sodium SANITARIUM Weet-Bix Kids is a welcome newcomer that ticks all the boxes for a healthy cereal (and not just for kids).
See our full report on kids' breakfast cereals.
Do we need breakfast?
Breakfast is definitely a good idea. If you dont eat first thing, its more likely youll be hungry mid-morning. If youre out or at work, buying a healthy snack may be harder than having a healthy breakfast at home. A number of studies suggest that children who skip breakfast tend to be fatter than those who dont. And theres some evidence that eating breakfast improves kids learning ability.
For adults, skipping breakfast seems to be far less common among people whove successfully lost weight and kept it off long-term than for the average person.
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How to choose a good cereal
Generally, for everyday eating youre looking for a cereal thats high in:
Carbohydrates and fibre providing fuel to get you through the morning, both physically and mentally. Adults should be aiming for about 30 g of fibre in a day, while children need their age plus 5-10 grams, and a high-fibre breakfast cereal is a good starting point. The cereals that tend to be high in fibre are wheat biscuits, wholegrain cereals and bran cereals. Just check carefully when choosing bran ones two of the saltiest cereals we found are bran-based.See our Fibre report for more on the different types of fibre and it's benefits, and try our Fibre quiz to see if you're getting enough.
Wholegrain Look for a cereal that contains the words whole or wholegrain in the first ingredient. These cereals are usually less processed and contain more of the natural constituents found in the grain, including vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals (these may provide protection against some cancers and heart disease).
But you also want your cereal to be not too high in:
Fat (fortunately the fat content of most cereals is minimal).
Sugar added sugar can displace more nutritious ingredients and just provide empty calories, so sugary cereals are best eaten in moderation.
Sodium were all advised to limit our sodium intake. Most dietary sodium comes from salt in processed foods, including breakfast cereals.
Follow these tips to help you choose a good, healthy cereal:
First, check the nutrition information panel; all foods have to have one. Use our ratings (see the tables) to know how much sugar, fat or sodium is too much and how much fibre is enough.
Use the per 100 g (%) amount listed on the label when evaluating the cereal and to compare products. The serve size is only a guide its the average serve, but may not be the amount you eat.
You can glean valuable information from reading the ingredients list. The shorter it is the better, because it means the cereal is closest to the original grain. Its useful for identifying sources of added fat (for example, the presence of palm or coconut oil tells you that the products got saturated fat in it), sugars (such as honey, malt, glucose syrup) and salt. It can also tell you when the fat is the healthy kind (as in nuts and seeds, often found in natural muesli) or when the sugar comes from fruit.
Added vitamins and minerals
Breakfast cereals often contain added minerals (such as iron) and vitamins (mainly B vitamins), which can make a useful contribution to your diet. Folate, for example, is important for women of childbearing age because it can help reduce the risk of having a baby with neural tube defects like spina bifida, and fortified cereal can be a good source (for more information, go to our Folate report). However, when choosing a cereal, make your shortlist based on high fibre and low fat, salt and sugar before you consider vitamins and minerals.
We found over 30 products that have an obvious health hook they have a name, carry a statement or make a claim about an ingredient or attribute that gives the impression that benefits can be had if you choose to tuck into that particular cereal. And theyre not just claims about the fibre content or the added vitamins and minerals that are par for the course in a breakfast cereal.
Weve listed the products in the 'Healthy' cereals table, along with breakfast staples Corn Flakes, Nutri-Grain, Sultana Bran and Weet-Bix for comparison. So how effective are they at doing what they claim?
Health or hype?
The health hooks commonly found on cereal packaging include:
% fat-free In their natural state cereals contain almost no fat, and although many are processed, the vast majority of cereals are still relatively fat-free. All in all, a % fat-free claim isnt worth basing a decision on.
Name claim UNCLE TOBYS Healthwise and LOWAN Healthy Balance product ranges give the impression of health. But always go straight to the nutrition panel to evaluate how healthy a cereal is, rather than relying on a name. LOWAN Healthy Balance Uplift, in particular, could benefit from more fibre.
Low GI Despite the claims, theres not yet conclusive evidence that low-GI foods are either generally health-promoting or slimming. Theres some (but not enough) evidence that lower-GI diets protect against both diabetes and heart disease, but we wouldnt recommend choosing your breakfast cereal purely on the merit of its GI (particularly if it only has a moderate amount of fibre, as is the case with FREEDOM FOODS Hi-Lite with its low GI claim). After all, chocolate and ice cream generally have quite a low GI too, but we wouldnt recommend you eat them every day. Whole-grain cereals, however, generally have a lower GI and offer other health benefits into the bargain.
Psyllium Just like oat bran, this is a rich source of soluble fibre (which is good for bowel health), and has well-established cholesterol-lowering properties. The cereals in the table that contain oats and psyllium can all boost your soluble fibre intake considerably, and could be a good choice if youre watching your cholesterol. Just remember to take their overall nutritional value into consideration too (see How to choose a good cereal).
Soy, linseed and phytoestrogens Phytoestrogens are substances that mimic the hormone oestrogen, and theyre found in plants such as soy and linseed. Theyre claimed to protect against heart disease and some cancers, including breast cancer, but in fact theres little evidence for either. Theyre also claimed to relieve the symptoms associated with menopause, such as hot flushes. For this reason theyre often found in products marketed to women (such as UNCLE TOBYS Healthwise for Women 40+). However, the evidence for phytoestrogens role in womens health is inconsistent. So theres no point buying cereals for their soy and linseed ingredients, unless you like the taste.
Our verdict
Healthy hype aside, on the whole the cereals in the table arent too bad, although a few are let down by their lack of fibre and theyre pretty much all healthier options than KELLOGGS Nutri-Grain or Corn Flakes. Just dont assume that a healthy image means its the best option out there.
As with breakfast cereals, a high-fibre muesli that isnt too high in sugar, fat or salt is preferable. Most mueslis are a reasonable breakfast choice. Theyre low in sodium and much of the sugar they often contain is from fruit. Just watch out for the ones with added fat.
Tips for choosing a muesli
First check the fibre content; if its high (10% or more) its a good start.
Next, check the fat content. If its less than 10%, fine; if its more, check the ingredients list to see where the fat comes from. Mueslis tend to be intrinsically higher in fat than other cereals but its likely to be the good unsaturated type from the oats, seeds and nuts they invariably contain. So, the higher up the ingredients list the nuts and seeds are (sometimes a percentage is given), the better.
Muesli musings
Some mueslis list the added fat as vegetable fat. This is probably from coconut oil, which is a saturated fat, or is hardened vegetable oil, which can contain trans fat as bad for us as saturated fat.
In the past toasted muesli tended to be higher in fat, but nowadays this isn't always the case particularly now that the dry roasting method is commonly used.
Muesli is much denser than most other cereals, so youll be eating about double the weight and therefore double the kilojoules and fat per serve. (On the upside, youll be getting double the fibre as well.) If you choose a muesli with more than around 10% fat youd be best having a small serving.
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What about porridge?
Porridge is hard to go past for a good breakfast. A cup of cooked rolled oats gives you around 3-4 g fibre (a decent amount of which is soluble fibre) and the only sugar and salt is what you add.
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And breakfast bars and drinks?
Theres no shortage of options for breakfast on the run but none is as good for you as sitting down to a bowl of high-fibre cereal with milk.
For those frantic mornings when youve really no option but to grabngo, breakfast bars are OK, but grab a piece of fruit as well.
Breakfast drinks are nothing like cereal for fibre content and also have too much sugar.
My favorite as a child was Captain Crunh. My grade 3 teacher broke my heart when she used Cap Crunch as an example of an unhealthy food choice because it is empty calories.
For extra iron I like "Total Honey Clusters"
And I use Almond Milk.