Posts like this probably aren’t going to get me invited to any Quaker Oats Weekends, but I do have fond memories of eating cereal for breakfast when I was a kid. Mostly it was non-sugar cereal like Corn Flakes, Cheerios or Grape Nuts to which I would sprinkle a little sugar on top with my milk - 2%, which I can’t imagine drinking today. I had a friend at whose house I used to sleep over a lot and they had this exotic milk called “Skim” that I thought was really cool. Plus they got to eat sugar cereal like Fruit Loops, which was a nice treat.
At some point my parents started buying Golden Grahams, which my dad used to call “Golden Grays” which I never quite understood until only a few years ago when he explained that what he was calling it was “Golden Graze” in tribute to the huge bowls of it I would consume. Thanks Dad!
With that as way of background, however, I try to stay away from cereal much these days. I often fail, like this morning, which reminded me of why I shouldn’t be eating cereal and was the impetus for this article, the 4 Reasons I Shouldn’t Eat Cereal for Breakfast:
- We Don’t Stock Good Cereal. OK, so this one could clearly be remedied, but that fact is that the cereal we buy is for our kids, and we buy cereal like Sugar Frosted Flakes, Trix, Fruity Pebbles and Lucky Charms. Recently I had some coupon deal where I got a bunch of money off for buying 10 boxes of cereal so I expanded our horizons a little bit. One of the cereals I bought was for me, because it sounded healthy - Honey Bunches of Oats. But as you will read below, even though this cereal is labeled as “Heart Healthy” it isn’t so good either. If I am going to go with cereal it’s going to mean stocking up on some non-sugary stuff and having the discipline not to add any sugar.
- Cereal is Expensive. The primary reason for cereal being expensive is the rising cost of wheat flour, corn meal and oats caused by a shift in crops to corn for use in Ethanol fuel. Fewer farmers are growing cereal grains, which drives up scarcity and cost. The interesting thing, though, is how the cereal makers have responded. For the most part we have not seen huge increases in the price of cereal (although $5/box is now the norm) but rather, we are seeing a decrease in the size of the cereal boxes. For the same price. Of course this isn’t a phenomenon restricted solely to cereal - have you checked your peanut butter, lately? We are currently mitigating this by buying huge double-boxes at Sam’s Club or stocking up on coupons for name brands, which certainly helps. Still, cereal is not a cheap breakfast option and it’s seemingly getting more and more expensive to consume (don’t forget rising milk prices!) - even if the price looks the same.
- Recommended Portion Sizes are Inhuman. I don’t measure the food I eat, I just don’t have that discipline - but every once in awhile I will look at some food item and analyze the portion sizes to see if it meets reality. Like the clearly single-use 16oz drinks that are labeled as having 2 servings so that it looks like you are only drinking 180 calories when in reality you are drinking 360 (who drinks half a bottle?). My Honey Bunches of Oats from this morning is a good example. According to it’s nutritional facts, this 14.5oz box (used to be 16oz, see above!) contains 14 servings, each containing 120 calories if you don’t include the milk. “Hey, that’s not too bad!” you may be thinking, but hold on. Recommended portion size? 3/4 of a cup. Take your cereal bowl and carefully measure 3/4 of a cup of cereal into it (not heaping!) and tell me the truth - is that how much you pour for yourself? Not me - that wouldn’t feed a hamster. I measured it out and when I have a normal (for me) bowl of cereal I actually am having 4 servings. And when I’m feeling like being really bad I use a bigger bowl that holds 6 servings. Suddenly that meal isn’t looking so good for calories or cost.
- Cereal Does Not Fill Me Up. Cereal is quick and convenient, but not withstanding the above, it comes with a cost. And for me that cost is being hungry again at 9:30 in the morning! Cereal simply doesn’t do it for me. I need that protein in the morning if I am going to stay satisfied until lunch or at least until a late morning snack. I know people say oatmeal “sticks to your ribs” but it doesn’t stick to mine - even with oatmeal I simply get too hungry, too soon. Which then leads to eating other things I shouldn’t be eating. And this is even if I have my 6 servings belly-buster bowl.
Sorry Jerry!
So that’s why I need to be staying away from cereal. How about you?
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