4 Tips to Building a Better Breakfast

Breakfast Cereals

Most parents say no to dessert for

breakfast, but many children’s cereals have

just as much sugar as a dessert - or more!

Here are 4 Tips to Building a healthier Breakfast for you and your children.

1) Read the Ingredient List: Find out what's really in the food you are eating! The very first ingredient listed on the panel is the highest concentration in your food, and the case of Froot Loops, it is SUGAR. There is nothing like a bowl of sugar to start off your child's day on a roller coaster -- instead, support your child's immune system by avoiding cereals with extremely high sugar content, meaning sugar should NOT be the first ingredient listed.

2) Avoid hydrogenated oils. Do your body good and avoid cereals with any ingredients listed as 'partially hydrogenated' or 'hydrogenated oils'. This includes the most commonly used soybean oil, palm kernel oils, cotton seed oils, sunflower oils - AVOID THESE as best you can. These are the cheapest, junkiest, most processed oil fillers, which are both responsible for causing inflammation in the body (contributing to childhood diabetes and obesity) and for shifting away from the healthy omega-3 fats that keep our brains young, sharp and focused (such as those found in salmon and walnuts), and more toward the omega-6 and trans fats that we are all trying our best to avoid in our diets. These hydrogenated oils are lingering in many of the cereal bars and protein bars so read the ingredient list and beware!
FROOT LOOP RATING: 1 out of 5 Breakfast Bucks. Too much sugar, wrong fats, artificial flavors and colorings. YOU CAN DO BETTER.

 2) Keep sugar LESS than 10 grams of sugar per serving. This cereal is the reduced sugar form and fits the < 10 grams of sugar per serving recommendations, as you can see sugar is listed as the third ingredient. Maybe not the most nutritious choice, however, if you slice up some bananas, and pour over some unsweetened almond milk, this cereal could be rated as a once in a while treat.
FROSTED FLAKES Multi-Grain Reduced Sugar: 3 out of 5 Breakfast Bucks. OK as a treat once in a while along with some berries and protein-rich milk such as almond, coconut, hemp...

3) Avoid cereals with preservatives (such as BHT, seen in Froot Loops - is a potential carcinogen, meaning can cause cancer!) or artificial colorings, lakes or dyes (see Froot Loops label, red #40, blue #2, yellow #6, blue #1 -- all derived from coal tar and petroleum YUCK!). 

4) Aim for 9 ingredients or LESS. Clean up your breakfast and think simpler, shorter ingredient lists are better.
CHEERIOS: 3.5 out of 5 Breakfast Bucks. Sugar is listed as the third ingredient, but it is <10 grams per serving. Add some fresh berries, cinnamon and omega-3-rich hemp milk or coconut milk and this cereal is an OK choice as a treat, once in a while.