Everyday Systems

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:05 am**

So, I read some disparaging remarks about Captain Crunch, and I'm wondering, can we have cereal? I looked at the cereal isle for a long time last night trying to find a cereal that wasn't either like eating hay or like eating chunks of sugar.

I made up a rule that I ended up breaking: No cereal with cartoon characters on the box.

I eventually was going to go with Special K with Vanilla and Almonds, and then I saw Cheerios. But I thought plain Cheerios were, well, plain, and I ended up actually buying Honey Nut Cheerios.

So is Honey Nut Cheerios a sweet? Which cereals are? Which aren't? How can we tell?

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:14 am**

I check the ingredients - if sugar is one of them, it's an 'S'.

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:09 pm**

It's not no sugar, it's no sweets. If sugar is one of the first 3-5 ingredients, it's more sweet than anything else. However manufacturer's are great at adding small amounts of various sweeteners. Because the quantities of each are low, they're at the end of the ingredients list, but you're still getting a unhealthy dose of sugar.

I'm not sure about Honey Nut Cheerios, but I'm sure plain Cheerios are okay, along with Shredded Wheat, Grape Nuts, Bran Flakes, Kashi cereals and some others. Even if you add a teaspoon (or two) of sugar to the cereal, it's less than you'll get by consuming the sweet packaged stuff. Add some fruit for sweetness, too.

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:28 pm**

In my view, if cereal is neutral in colour, rather plain looking and doesn't make you hyperactive after eating it, it's probably not an S, but if it is colourful, frosted, full of marshmallows, or has you bouncing off the walls afterwards it's probably an S

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:04 pm**

It's up to each individual to define that line, I think. For me, I don't consider Honey Nut Cheerios to be a sweet, but I do consider Froot Loops to be one.

However, I do find if my cereal doesn't have enough fibre in it, I get hungry quite far ahead of lunch time. I try to eat a high fibre cereal for breakfast on N-days so it tides me over until lunch. My personal favorite is "High Fibre Crisp" by Weetabix. I don't know if they have it in the States, but it's delicious, and high in fibre to boot.

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:17 pm**

Here's a great comparison of breakfast cereals.

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/breakfast-cereal.php

I eat Post's Selects Great Grains (pecan only) which has 9 grams of sugar - - ironically the exact same amount as Honey Nut Cheerios. My recollection from the book was to choose an adult cereal that wasn't loaded with sugar, but it was permissable to have some sugar in the cereal. Just like there is sugar in plenty of other foods we eat - - including fruit, juice, tomato sauce, etc.

It is not supposed to be a sweet treat - - I think if you'd feel happy eating it out of hand as a snack, that's probably not a good sign. If it is named after a cookie, probably not good.

9 grams seems like a middle ground. There are some plainer cereals with 6 or less that are probably better. But I'm not sure it is making a huge difference so long as you aren't eating seconds! The calorie disparity of breakfast cereal just isn't that big and low-sugar Grape Nuts (which I love) has one of the highest calorie counts per serving. I just use a modest sized cereal bowl and leave it at that.

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:23 pm**

magicman wrote:So, I read some disparaging remarks about Captain Crunch, and I'm wondering, can we have cereal? I looked at the cereal isle for a long time last night trying to find a cereal that wasn't either like eating hay or like eating chunks of sugar.

I made up a rule that I ended up breaking: No cereal with cartoon characters on the box.

I eventually was going to go with Special K with Vanilla and Almonds, and then I saw Cheerios. But I thought plain Cheerios were, well, plain, and I ended up actually buying Honey Nut Cheerios.

So is Honey Nut Cheerios a sweet? Which cereals are? Which aren't? How can we tell?

One of the healthiest cereals out there is Total.

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:59 pm**

I'm not a big fan of Eat This, Not That, but these are pretty interesting:

http://www.menshealth.com/eatthis/index.php

http://www.menshealth.com/eatthis/Best-Grocery-Foods/

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28799225/

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/ ... 1#29366451

Jeff Novick has done a talk called "Health Food vs. Healthy Food." He says not to believe anything you read on the front of a package, but to look at the nutrition label instead -- it will tell you more of the truth. Personally I think that if you need to read the nutrition label, you probably shouldn't be eating it (there are a few exceptions to that). The ingredients label should tell you everything you need to know -- if it reads like a chemistry experiment, you shouldn't be eating it!

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 6:14 pm**

I think that if you need to read the nutrition label, you probably shouldn't be eating it

I totally agree. But I still eat cold cereal because I'm lazy -- I just look for something that's whole-grain.

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:06 pm**

Here's a breakdown of grams of sugar in some different cereals.
I'd say, if it's over two or three teaspoons per serving, they would classify as an S.
Otherwise borderline.

My problem personally with most cold cereals, sweet or not, is that I find it very hard to have a "regulation" bowl as well as not being too successful when it comes to being tempted to eat it at midnight or later..
It's much harder to whip up some scrambled eggs when your tired.
I see that "Quaker Cap'n Crunch" is actually one of the better ones..
But again, I'd eat two or three bowls of it at one sitting.

http://www.communityhealth.dhhs.state.n ... Cereal.pdf

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:13 pm**

Just to put this in perspective: a can of coke has 39 grams of sugar.

So I'd say go ahead and eat your honey nut Cheerios.

It would be nice if the word for a kind of sugar weren't in the title, but I would call this borderline and not worth much anxiety.

What cereals do my family and I eat regularly?

Puffins (5 grams, not that I ever bothered looking before, they taste plenty sweet -- the kids love em)

http://caloriecount.about.com/calories- ... nal-i89577

Hemp Plus (6 grams, ditto)

http://caloriecount.about.com/calories- ... ola-i89502

Ezekiel 4:9 (0 grams -- pretty awful straight up, no one else in my family will touch it, but gives a nice and virtuous crunch mixed in with other stuff)

http://caloriecount.about.com/calories- ... 100-i98210

Reinhard

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:46 pm**

I do have to laugh that Raisin Bran seems to have by far the most sugar in it, and if I were asked to stand in the cereal aisle and sort cereals by healthfulness - - I am sure I'd have put it in the healthy pile. I mean it has raisins and BRAN - - how bad could it be?

Worse than Captain Crunch apparently . . .

Posted: **Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:46 pm**

apomerantz wrote:I do have to laugh that Raisin Bran seems to have by far the most sugar in it, and if I were asked to stand in the cereal aisle and sort cereals by healthfulness - - I am sure I'd have put it in the healthy pile. I mean it has raisins and BRAN - - how bad could it be?

Worse than Captain Crunch apparently . . .

Is that from added sugars or the sugar naturally present in raisins?

Posted: **Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:19 pm**

reinhard wrote:Hemp Plus (6 grams, ditto)

http://caloriecount.about.com/calories- ... ola-i89502

Interesting to me is that that is 6 grams of sugar per 1/2 cup serving. So it would be 9 grams per 3/4 cup serving, which is the same as Honey Nut Cheerios.

And I've noticed some cereals list a serving at 1 cup.

According to the website reinhard is linking to, Ezekial 4:9 has a serving size of 4 oz!

Posted: **Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:45 pm**

Post Raisin Bran is pretty sweet -- the raisins are covered with sugar, and the flakes are sweetened too, I think. I'm guessing it's total grams of sugar, including the naturally occurring ones in the raisins.

Posted: **Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:05 pm**

magicman wrote:
reinhard wrote:
Interesting to me is that that is 6 grams of sugar per 1/2 cup serving. So it would be 9 grams per 3/4 cup serving, which is the same as Honey Nut Cheerios.

And I've noticed some cereals list a serving at 1 cup.

According to the website reinhard is linking to, Ezekial 4:9 has a serving size of 4 oz!
It's all based on ounces of cereal..
The fluffed up ones are less dense so you can have more.

How's it going for you Magicman??
You liking NoS??

Debs

Posted: **Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:07 pm**

Thalia wrote:Post Raisin Bran is pretty sweet -- the raisins are covered with sugar, and the flakes are sweetened too, I think. I'm guessing it's total grams of sugar, including the naturally occurring ones in the raisins.

Kelloggs is also!
hahah, that used to be one of my fave cereals, and I could see the sugar on the raisins..
I kinda never understood the need for adding sugar to raisins!!

Posted: **Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:34 pm**

I never saw the need to add sugar to spaghetti sauce and salad dressing, either, but they always do to the bottled ones! I don't like things that sweet, but I think I'm in the minority of Americans on that one.

Posted: **Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:31 pm**

This is a great article on breakfast cereal:

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/breakfast-cereal.php

The best breakfast cereals:

Cheerios (General Mills)
Shredded Wheat (Post)
Fiber One (General Mills)
Grape Nuts (Post)
Wheaties (General Mills)
Total (General Mills)
GOLEAN Cereal (Kashi)
All-Bran (Kellogg's)
Wheat Chex (General Mills)

The worst:

Honey Smacks (Kellogg's)
Corn Pops (Kellogg's)
Apple Jacks (Kellogg's)
Franken Berry (General Mills)
Trix (General Mills)
Eggo Cereal Maple Syrup (Kellogg's)
Basic 4 (General Mills)
Smorz (Kellogg's)
Oreo O's (Post)
Froot Loops (Kellogg's)
Cocoa Puffs (General Mills)
Count Chocula (General Mills)
Waffle Crisp (Post)
Reese's Puffs (General Mills)
Mini-Swirlz Cinnamon Bun (Kellogg's)
Frosted Krispies (Kellogg's)
Cocoa Pebbles (Post)
Fruity Pebbles (Post)
Cookie Crisp (General Mills)
Frosted Flakes (Kellogg's)
Golden Grahams (General Mills)
Lucky Charms (General Mills)
Rice Krispies Treats Cereal (Kellogg's)

Posted: **Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:18 pm**

GoLean is revolting, though. I think it should lose "best cereal" points for that.

Posted: **Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:31 pm**

I'm just citing the article. I would never eat GoLean or anything by Kashi.

Posted: **Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:35 am**

Oh, but GoLean crunch is one of the best cereals ever! And Kashi Cocoa Beach granola is probably THE best (although I have no idea what the sugar count of it is and am slightly afraid to look)

Posted: **Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:59 am**

I love GoLean original (not the Crunch--a bit too sweet).
I often choose to eat 1/2 cup dry.
It's healthy, and I find it crunchy and tasty.

Posted: **Thu Feb 26, 2009 4:36 pm**

GoLean Crunch IS tasty. It makes my jaws tired, though! It's also way too sweet for breakfast, to me.

Posted: **Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:53 pm**

Thalia wrote:I never saw the need to add sugar to spaghetti sauce and salad dressing, either, but they always do to the bottled ones! I don't like things that sweet, but I think I'm in the minority of Americans on that one.

I'm SO with you on that. I even found sugar in one brand of canned diced tomatoes! (Needless to say, I never bought it again.) Maybe we can start a group of "Americans who REALLY don'd like THAT much sugar" and see if we can get the marketers to pay attention to us the way they do other sub-groups.

But I disagree with you on Kashi cereal. I like the GoLean (not the crunch - way too sweet). It's the only cold cereal I eat on the rare occasions I eat cereal. Different strokes.

Posted: **Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:40 pm**

KCCC wrote:
Thalia wrote:I never saw the need to add sugar to spaghetti sauce and salad dressing, either, but they always do to the bottled ones! I don't like things that sweet, but I think I'm in the minority of Americans on that one.
I'm SO with you on that. I even found sugar in one brand of canned diced tomatoes! (Needless to say, I never bought it again.) Maybe we can start a group of "Americans who REALLY don'd like THAT much sugar" and see if we can get the marketers to pay attention to us the way they do other sub-groups.

But I disagree with you on Kashi cereal. I like the GoLean (not the crunch - way too sweet). It's the only cold cereal I eat on the rare occasions I eat cereal. Different strokes.

I found sugar on the ingredients list on a package of smoked sausage.

We've been trained to want sweet. Someone told me that one (or more) of the European choclatiers adds more sugar to chocolate being sent to the U.S.

Posted: **Sun Mar 08, 2009 8:54 pm**

Ever since reading this thread, I've been hemming and hawing a bit about the amount of sugar in my favorite cereal (9 grams for 3/4 cup).

So I bought a much lower sugar (and lower calorie) cereal (Special K) and am now mixing the two cereals together about 50/50.

The Special K texture is pretty similar to the cereal I like and much more voluminous. So far, I'm pretty happy doing this . . .we'll see how it goes over the long haul.

I'm definitely wanting to get rid of the sweets habit most of all!!

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2009 7:00 pm**

Yes. I love cereals too. Since I've been no S-ing, I'"ve been eating more oatmeal and also more cereal.

The best kind for you is a bran cereal. Fills you up and is really good for you too. If you don't like the taste so much, add a handful of unsalted peanuts and some dry raisins (Both are good for you too !) This way you are taking care of yourself.

Best kind of bran cereal, I hear it's FIBER ONE (original)
by General Mills. 14g of fiber per half cup serving.
http://tinyurl.com/4ywrfq

I researched this just a couple of days ago. I was eating a different brand. I'll look for the FIBER ONE brand next time I am at the grocery store.

Kellogg's All-Bran extra fiber would be an excellent 2nd choice if you can't find FIBER ONE.
http://tinyurl.com/cuoc5v

Side note, I think you add a bit of sugar to spaghetti sauce to take away some of the acidity of the tomatoes ... it's not like there's a huge quantity in there anyway, you make a big pot of spaghetti sauce and you add a couple of tablespoons of sugar.

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:23 pm**

The plain Fiber One is very, very healthy and low sugar - - but I must confess that, to me, it tastes an awful lot like shirt cardboard.

There are many Fiber One varieties, but some have quite a bit more sugar. I can't speak to how those taste.

I do love oatmeal -- especially steel cut oats!

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:27 pm**

I wish I wasn't too damn lazy to get out of bed early enough to make oatmeal. I end up eating (expensive, processed) cold cereal because it takes no time, but I like oatemal or malt-o-meal so much better! With milk and raisins and a little bit of butter, mmmmmm ...

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:30 pm**

Thalia,

It's a little bit of an investment, but I so so recommend buying a rice cooker (a fuzzy logic one). Not only does it make cooking rice completely foolproof and fabulous, BUT it comes with a timer, and you can set up your oatmeal the night before so it will be all wonderful and delicious in the morning.

It makes the most marvelous steel cut oats . . .

But truthfully, even though the gadget is a little pricey - - I do use mine at least three times per week - - so I do think it is worthwhile!

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:36 pm**

Ooh, thanks, that's definitely a thought!

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:38 pm**

Thalia,

Let me know if you need assistance identifying a brand or anything - - mine is a few years old already, but it is fabulous. But you could probably look at reviews on Amazon to see what works well. Just make sure it is "fuzzy logic" and has a timer . . .the fuzzy logic ones are SO easy to use - - it's like pour in the grain and press a button. It KNOWS when the rice is done. It's kinda amazing.

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:56 pm**

If it knows when the rice is done, that would make it officially smarter than me, which is kind of scary, really.

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:07 pm**

My version of making real oatmeal fast is overnight soaking.

I put oatmeal and milk in a bowl, add cinnamon or raisins or whatever, and set it in the fridge.

In the morning, all I have to do is warm it in the microwave. Or eat it cold, like Museli.

(I do this old-fashioned, not steel-cut. If you try this with steel-cut, let me know how it works.)

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:18 pm**

KCCC - Sadly, your method won't work with steel cut, though soaking will make the cooking time shorter. But the cooking time is sooo long to begin with!

Thalia - - lol - - it's way smarter than me, I will admit.

Posted: **Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:01 am**

I've also heard you can put the oatmeal & boiling water in a thermos overnight.

Posted: **Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:24 am**

The one true way to make oatmeal:

SLOW COOKER!!!!

Posted: **Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:40 pm**

Cheerios--plain or honey nut--strave me to death. So does Cracklin Oat Bran, although I love to eat it dry, it tastes like cookies.

Posted: **Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:41 pm**

Cheerios--plain or honey nut--strave me to death. So does Cracklin Oat Bran, although I love to eat it dry, it tastes like cookies.

Everyday Systems

Sereal?

Sereal?

Re: Sereal?

Fiber one