Cereal or just candy in disguise?

Lucky Charms cereal...magically un-nutritious!

I remember as a kid always whining at my mom in the grocery store about getting my favourite cereal, which at the time was either Corn Pops or Golden Grahams. Thinking about eating either of those now makes me cringe because, well I can't eat it unless I want to be bloated for 2 days thanks to my handy dandy wheat allergy, but also because the amount of sugar in those cereals would make me super hyper...for about 30 minutes followed by a serious crash and sugar withdrawal symptoms for the rest of the day. So I thought about it, and I decided to do a side by side comparison of food labels on cereals and what they mean exactly.

There is a common misconception that any label that boasts a high level of carbohydrates must be high in sugar but it's important to read the sugar content separately from the carb count. Not all carbs are bad. (Remember the Atkins diet and the "carbs = satan" epidemic? Not always true.) Some carbs come from fibre and some come from natural sugars in fruit (ex/ raisin bran has high sugar content from the raisins not from added sugar in the cereal. 

Rice Chex Cereal

Rice Chex cereal is one of my go-to cereals because it's wheat-free and also I can make my own Chex Mix which I happen to love, because it's so much less salty than the packaged kind! (Recipe to come soon!) As far as cereals go, it's not so bad. 26.5g of carbohydrates 2.0g of which are from sugar. That means 6% of the whole cereal is sugar, which is not so great when you think about it this way but, in all honesty, nobody is eating Chex cereal for the health benefits. Should I be switching cereals for something more nutritious? Probably. But I need a little sugar in the morning and this sure beats a donut. 

Kashi Go Lean Cereal

I want to pretend that I wake up every morning and eat Kashi cereal but I don't like it. It's just not fun for me to eat, and I feel too full afterwards. This cereal has got 6g of sugar for every 52g serving, which is 11.5% sugar. This is justified, however, by the fact that Kashi Go Lean has dried fruit in it which contributes greatly to the overall sugar content. Additionally, Kashi totes a high level of protein and fiber, making it an all around great choice nutrition-wise, but also a great option for those counting calories.

Corn Flakes Cereal

Cornflakes is a common choice, though a pretty boring one. It's low in calories but has 10% sugar per serving, which is fairly high considering there is no dried fruit, just flakes. What cornflakes does have, however, is a high amount of iron, something I never noticed until doing this blog post. Corn flakes is low in calories, though, but it's not high enough in fiber or any other nutrients to justify eating something so bland. 

Cheerios Cereal

I don't really know any adults who still eat this cereal, but it's still interesting to see the label of such a common choice cereal. As far as sugar content goes, it's only 3.5% sugar per serving which is the lowest so far. It has the highest amount of fiber and protein aside from the Kashi cereal so far, and there is a huge list of vitamins and minerals found in this cereal that is not included in this particular label because of blog space. My only caveat with this cereal is the taste. Sure, toddlers love it but I can't get on board.

Fiber One Cereal

This is such an "adult cereal", and going over all these food labels is making me self-conscious about the fact that I love Rice Chex which is basically just calories with no nutritional value whatsoever! This cereal claims a sugar content of 0 but a HUGE fiber content (57% of your daily value!). The calories in this one are the lowest of all the cereals so far, including the Kashi Go Lean. So far this is the winner, health-wise.

All Bran Complete Oat Flakes Cereal

This cereal boasts 4g of fiber, 3g of protein but a sugar level of 20% per serving. This can be, in part, attributed to the dried fruit in this cereal, however it still seems fairly high compared to the Kashi Go Lean which also has the fruit but much less sugar. What's interesting about this cereal, is that it claims to provide you with 100% of your daily recommended values for both Vitamin C and Iron. In my head, though, I associate All Bran with those weird gerbil-poop looking buds and it's a big breakfast-food turn off for me.

Kellog's Special K Protein Plus Cereal

Special K has always been considered a "diet cereal" but this one with the extra protein seems to be a little different. It has 10g of protein per serving, which is not as high as the Kashi but higher than the rest, and 5 g of fiber which is again not as high as Kashi or Fiber One (go figure that one). It has a low sugar content at only 7% per serving, and a really low calorie count at only 100 calories per serving, only being beaten by the Fiber One cereal.

Quaker Instant Oatmeal-Apple Cinnamon Flavour

This is another one of my go-to breakfasts as it doesn't necessitate having any milk in the fridge! What's alarming to me about what I eat on a fairly regular basis is the sugar content; at 34% sugar per serving that is a crazy amount! Though this oatmeal does have close to 3g each of fiber and protein per serving, it doesn't cancel out that high sugar level which is obviously from all the flavourings that make it taste and smell like apple pie (great way to wake up in the morning, though!). 

Arrowhead Steel Cut Oats Hot Cereal

I added this one just to compare the instant oatmeal to this longer-to-cook-but-ultimately-more-nutritious version. I try to have steel cut oats but I have to make that effort to cook them ahead of time. These boast zero sugar, 6g of protein, and 8 g of fiber making these an amazing breakfast choice--for those who plan ahead for weekdays or perhaps choose to eat healthy weekend breakfasts in lieu of pancakes and bacon (oh how I love bacon!)

Here is my table summarizing all the data above. 

The highlighted bits are the winners in each category of sugar content, fiber, protein, and calories. Remember that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and we should keep in mind that we are fueling ourselves after quite a number of hours of fasting and should be mindful not to go into unnecessary sugar highs if at all possible. I realize now it's time for a change. What a wake up call this was for me!