Healthy Recipe Doctor

The good news is there are some great-tasting whole grain cereals in the supermarket aisle and they do offer people who might normally be skipping breakfast a “better than nothing” breakfast choice. A recent literature review found that breakfast skipping is rampant in the U.S. and in Europe.

The irony is that some people skip breakfast in an effort to lose weight and the opposite appears to be true. Twelve out of 16 studies recently reviewed suggested that breakfast skipping was actually associated with an increase in body mass index.

What could be easier than making yourself a bowl of cereal in the morning? If you are late and trying to get out the door, take one measly minute to pour some cereal in a bag. You can enjoy it by the handful without milk on your way or enjoy it once you get to work with some milk from the cafeteria or snack bar.

When choosing your breakfast cereal look for:

• cereals made from whole grains (a whole grain should be the first ingredient in the ingredient list)
• it would be great if your cereal serving contributed 5 grams of fiber or more to your daily fiber total
• cereals with enough sugar that it tastes appealing but not too much (look for the % calories from sugar to be 25% calories from sugar or less – this might be higher if the cereal you choose contains dried fruit, which counts toward the total sugar grams)

To calculate the % calories from sugar take the grams of sugar (from the nutrition facts label) and multiply by 4. Divide this number by the total calories per serving and multiply by 100 to get the % calories from sugar!

~~Elaine

Related Topics:

• The Most Important Meal of the Day
• Healthy Briefcase Breakfasts

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