Healthiest junk food cereal?

[Bektasmic]

I know this is a strange question, but are there sugar cereals that have better nutritional value? Plan is to have mostly Cheerios type cereals, but hey it's vacation...sugar cereal every once in awhile won't kill us. Thinking if we're gearing up for a fun-filled day in the park, can't hurt to squeeze in as many nutrients as possible.

 

[HGD24]

Kix & Life are lowest in sugar after Cheerios.

Here is a quote from a consumerreports.com article:

"...we found four cereals with kid-focused marketing that scored Very Good in our new nutrition rating system, based on product label information. Cheerios, Kix, Honey Nut Cheerios (all General Mills), and Life (Quaker Oats) earned points for relatively lower sugar and higher dietary fiber, the two categories we weighed as most important. Cheerios topped the list with only 1 gram of sugar and a healthful 3 grams of fiber per serving."

Here's a link to the full article (unfortunately, you have to subscribe to CR Health to get the full ratings):

http://www.consumerreports.org/heal...ast-cereals/overview/breakfast-cereals-ov.htm

 

[allyphoe]

The nutrients in sugar cereal aren't naturally-occurring - the cereals are fortified with a vitamin and mineral spray. Give your kids a supplement along with an unfortified cereal, and you've got exactly the same thing as a fortified cereal.

 

[pixeegrl]

My kids actually love the Special K with chocolate!

 

[zoemurr]

so my kids get a big bowl of cheerios, and are allowed to sprinkle a few sugary ones on top. Keeps all of us happy.

 

[MaryKLady]

You guys are good, I let DD eat like @#%* on vacation. We consider our daily Dole Whip a fruit when we are there

 

[scrapquilter]

How about mixing a healthier (non sugary) cereal half and half with one of the sugary cereals???? Then you dont' have to feel so bad about it.

As for me, I throw caution to the wind when we are on vacation, and I'd let the kids pick whatever kind of cereal they want!

 

[brergnat]

It's not really about the "vitamins and minerals", it's about the fiber and whole grains a cereal offers, as well as the general LACK of sugar, that makes a cereal be considered "healthy" by most standards.

I give my kids mostly General Mills cereals, only because they at LEAST are all Whole Grain, and that's important to me.

What my son is eating these days (he's almost 5), is:

-Honey Nut Cheerios
-Regular Cheerios
-Golden Grahams
-Fruity Cheerios (similar in taste to Fruit Loops, but SO much healthier!)

He does like Lucky Charms, but that is a really special treat type cereal, because it has lots of sugar, and he tends to just want to eat the marshmallows (don't we all!)

I really wish that WDW was not in contract with Kellogg's. Or, I really wish that Kellogg's would get on the Whole Grain bandwagon too. All they seem to do is lower the sugar in their cereals, but they are still made with bad carbs...

 

[dizneechic]

Well these aren't wonderful but mine really like berry berry kix and cocoa puff combos. We tend to mix both together, toss in some raisins and/or dried cranberry and call it a party mix for snacks.

 

[im4pacers1]

My DD loves, loves, loves the Maple Brown Sugar Life. DH loves it too!

 

[GoinToDisney]

We mostly go for fiber.

I like Barbara's Natural - Puffins. Sweet but not too much sugar.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Our "treat" cereal is Frosted Mini Wheats (or the non-Kelloggs equivalent)

 

[poohfriend77]

My kids love Life and Apple Cinnamon or Fruity Cheerios (you can mix them with plain if you want). DD4 also loves All Bran Strawberry Medley. That kid definitely gets her fiber!

The Cheerios are a good choice, because they pack well. You can take a bag or container of them in the parks for when kids need a (healthy) little snack. Then you won't feel so bad about eating the Mickey bars later in the day.

 

[holden]

We always ship down a bunch of those little boxes of cereal for the kids to munch on while we get ready in the morning. I think the mix they sell at Costco has Cherrios as well as a few sugary ones (Froot Loops, etc.). THis way once they've eaten the sugary ones, they only have the "healthy" ones left to choose from.

 

[rodeo65]

My kids like Multi Grain Cheerios as a "sweet" cereal. My rule is nothing over 6 grams of sugar per serving unless I'm mixing a spoonful in with non sugary cereal, and these have 5. The other one they like is Corn Bran, but I can't remember the sugar quantity. It is lower, though.

 

[puffkin]

Our "treat" cereal is Frosted Mini Wheats (or the non-Kelloggs equivalent)

That is what I was going to suggest.

 

[patchchild]

Is there a reason why you want to buy the sugared cereal? I found that on vacation, lunch and dinner and snacks all seem to go downhill healthy-wise, so I try to keep breakfast as normal and simple as possible. Whole grains, and hopefully something with protein to go with it.

 

[HGD24]

Is there a reason why you want to buy the sugared cereal? I found that on vacation, lunch and dinner and snacks all seem to go downhill healthy-wise, so I try to keep breakfast as normal and simple as possible. Whole grains, and hopefully something with protein to go with it.

I'm with you...the less sugar in the morning, the better, I think. DH disagrees, but then again, he eats any cereal containing the word "cocoa" and slips our DD a few pieces when I'm not looking

 

[PHXscuba]

It's amazing what cereals seem "healthy" or not. My sister and family were staying with us about a year ago and she was ribbing me about letting my kids have Cookie Crisp for breakfast. (My kids eat lots of different cereals -- this was the box she saw). So I got out several boxes, including I think Golden Grahams and something Cheerio-based, and compared. I was actually surprised to see that the Cookie Crisp was no worse and in some ways better than the other cereals that we both assumed were "better" for you. Several of my "healthy" favorites have lots of fiber, but lots more calories that the sugar cereals. Moral: Read the labels!

My kids' favorites (beyond the enticing bright boxes) are Wheat Chex and Quaker Oatmeal Squares. Both make good snack food/trail mix.

PHXscuba

 

[susykt4]

This is a little off topic, but I kept getting hypoglycemic when I was pregnant. I was talking about it to my ob and he asked what I ate for breakfast? I proudly said raisin bran and he laughed and let me know that was one of the most sugary cereals. I checked labels the next time I was grocery shopping and sure enough, raisin bran had more sugar than most kiddie cereals. I switched to Cheerios and felt much better.