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It is a challenge to find pure and healthy cereal options.  By its very nature, cereal is a processed product, so most boxes include sugar, salt and preservatives in it.  Most have little fiber or protein, yet the higher fiber and protein options also have higher amounts of sweeteners.  Go figure?

I find an interesting phenomenon occurs when I eat something sweet for breakfast.  It sets the tone for the rest of my day, and I seem to crave the sweetness until bedtime.  Maybe my purified system goes into shock, but that’s just me.  For an Easy Skinny Life, try to break out of the sugary breakfast habit.

Consider the cereal your one main carb for the meal, so make certain it’s a whole grain to stay full and even keel until lunch.  If you are hungry an hour or two later, what’s the point?  Add good protein and healthy fat to it for staying power, too.

The best “cereal” is old-fashioned slow cooked oatmeal.  Not instant with the added ingredients, but the slow cooked steel-cut or old-fashioned Quaker oatmeal.

It doesn’t take time in the morning if you have a system.  Before you get in the shower, mix one cup of water with one cup of pure almond milk or nonfat milk to a pot.  Add a serving of oatmeal and let it simmer for at least 15 minutes or until very fluffy.  The extra fluid and time creates a huge bowl.  By the time you are out of the shower and dressed, it’s ready.  Add cinnamon, chopped fruit or berries and a sprinkle of nuts.  Perfect.

Boxed cereal is even quicker, and I get it that some people are just cereal people.  It roots back to growing up with our Fruit Loops and Frosted Flakes as kids.  My brother is one of them.  He appreciates my suggestions for high protein Vegetable Omelets or Greek Yogurt with Nuts and Berries, but he’s just a cereal guy, as he says.

In scanning the aisles, the only pure cereal box without sugar, tons of salt and sweeteners is good ol’ Shredded Wheat found at any grocery store.  The other option is a bag of pure Puffed Cereal typically found in Whole Foods or specialty stores.  The sole ingredient is puffed whole grain wheat, corn or rice, with no other ingredients or additives.

Keep in mind that Puffed Rice may be the most popular and familiar, but it has virtually no filling fiber or other nutrients.  As an alternative, get the Puffed Corn (gluten free too) or Puffed Kamut with at least 2 grams of fiber and only 50 calories per cup.  Two cups create a filling bowl with 4 grams of fiber and only 100 calories.  Add your own mixed fruit for natural sweetness and nutrition, plus nonfat milk for protein.

Despite its healthy reputation, Kashi 7 Whole Grain Cereal Puffs is one of the only Kashi cereals without added sweeteners or salt.  Unfortunately it only has 1 gram of fiber, which was a surprise.

Runner up options is to find whole grain cereals with low sugar at 3mg or less.  Look at the label and aim for as few ingredients as possible.  Kashi typically makes the cut, but read the labels.  The ones with sweetener added also have more fiber or protein, so it really makes my head spin when analyzing labels and choosing.

Another idea is to mix the cereals with half pure cereal and half lightly sweetened if you can’t quite kick the sugar habit cold turkey.

Ramblings and Rants About Milk Alternatives:  I know many have switched to Soy Milk and other alternatives, but most have added sugar and sweeteners to them.  Read the labels carefully.  If you can’t stomach Nonfat Milk from a cow, try the pure Almond Milk shown in my photo with no added sugar.  Not vanilla, but the plain kind.  Unfortunately, it also has no protein!  Nonetheless, I will take it over a sugar spike and crash any day.

Rice milk is another popular alternative if you can’t tolerate dairy or choose not to consume it. As with soy or almond milk, the key is to get unsweetened and as pure as possible. Many of the milk alternatives
have syrup and other sweeteners added to it.  Ick.

As with all food, define its purpose. Does it have any nutritional value? If not, it’s just a waste of empty calories, so take a pass on it.

Most milk alternatives are typically fortified with calcium, but read the label. I make certain to get a serving of calcium at every meal, so to me, that is the purpose of my almond milk.

Unsweetened almond milk also provides HALF the calories of nonfat milk and soy milk. One cup is only 40 calories. It has a large dose of calcium, but no protein.

Unsweetened soy milk is a better alternative for protein and it also contains calcium, but it’s higher in calories. At about 80 calories for one cup, it’s the same as nonfat milk.  Also, I found it hard to find one
without syrup.

Unsweetened rice milk has some calcium in it, but one of the brands of rice milk I researched had 120 calories for one cup. Yikes!  Yet another one, Whole Foods 365 Organic – Rice Milk Unsweetened, had only 45 calories with 0 grams of sugar.

Remember, since my favorite almond milk and also rice milk have no protein, consider how else you can add it to your morning breakfast.