By now you’ve probably heard the recent report about sugary cereals from the Environmental Working Group. If not, let’s just put it this way – if you have a bowl of sugary cereal every morning, you might as well be eating Twinkies and cookies for breakfast. Four cereals – Honey Smacks, Golden Crisp, Froot Loops Marshmallow and Cap’n Crunch Oops! All Berries – have more sugar than a Twinkie, and a whopping 44 popular breakfast cereals have more sugar in 1 cup than a Chips Ahoy cookie.
But I’m not here to be Debbie Downer. Let’s look on the bright side. First of all, you can rest assured that your shredded wheat – even the frosted mini-wheats – along with Kix and (plain!) Cheerios are still meeting nutrition guidelines without all the extra sugar. If those aren’t sweet enough for your taste buds, drizzle a little honey over your cereal bowl.
Or, get in the kitchen and bake up a batch of homemade granola. Our simple recipe for Cinnamon-Cranberry Granola takes about 5 minutes of prep time, 15 minutes of cooking and 20 minutes to cool – and you can make enough to munch on for a week or two. I enjoy mine with nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt for a healthy and portable breakfast.
Here are 3 more reasons to give this granola thing a try:
- Cranberries are an antioxidant super-food and may boost HDL “good” cholesterol levels.
- Every teaspoon of cinnamon contains as many antioxidants as ½ cup blueberries.
- Granola make a tasty – and healthy – holiday food gift!
How did you react to the sugary cereals report? Will you still eat them for breakfast in moderation, or will you be looking for an alternative?
