Are you a serial cereal lover? You are not alone. So many adore cereal and find themselves eating it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The truth is that many readily available types of cereal are not as healthy as you may think. In this post, we’ll try to answer the overall question if cereal is healthy and if it should be your breakfast choice.
A lot of health experts advise that you should avoid cereals altogether. However, there are some healthy cereal food options you can choose if you can’t live without your breakfast snack. Check out expertofequipment.com for some healthy cereal reviews.
Otherwise, here is why your regular cereals may be affecting your well-being and what you can do about it.
Too Much Sugar
Many kinds of cereal contain high amounts of sugar. While this may be yummy to eat, sugar is one of the leading causes of obesity, and too much sugar can affect your mood, sleeping patterns, and overall health.
Sugar and the rush we get from it is also addictive. Ever tried to give it up for a few days? Try it, you’ll see! Your will experience insane cravings, mood swings, aches and pains, headaches, and your body will feel awful in general.
Even the low-calorie brands often have lots of sugar and lack the right proteins and fats you need for optimum health, and to feel satiated. You may feel great early on in the day while you experience a sugar spike, but later on, you will get a ‘sugar crash.’ You will then crave more sugar or a high-carb meal.
This cycle can cause weight gain, heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer.
Cereals are Highly Processed
Cereals are designed and made by man, which means the ingredients go through quite a process before they’re ready to be eaten. In this process, the grains and flours, etc. are subjected to high heat, mixing, drying, and shaping. A lot of the original goodness is lost, especially when the product is coated with sugar.
The box may say your cereal is good for you, but the good stuff like whole grains in cereals is minimal. Besides, food that has undergone such processing is never as good as naturally-occurring foodstuffs.
Food Marketing
Experts say that by quoting on the box that a kind of cereal contains healthy grains, however marginal, is more about helping to make sales. Marketing pitches also often target children, using bright colors, lots of sugar, and cartoon characters to get a child’s attention. This can lead to serious health problems like childhood obesity, and others mentioned earlier.
Back to sugar (yes, it’s the main culprit): its addictive quality is used to get consumers hooked. The health claims on the box then also lull parents into believing the cereal is healthy for their kids. Eek.
What Can You Do?
Start thinking critically:
— Begin by carefully reading what the cereal’s ingredients are. Don’t just believe the health claims printed on the box.
— Select cereals that have less than 5 grams of sugar per each serving.
— Watch out; sugar can have different names which marketers use to trick you (sucrose, dextrose, glucose…).
— Look for cereals that have more than 3 grams of fiber for each serving. Fiber helps keep the body healthy and at a good weight.
You can also switch to whole breakfast foods that better support your body’s needs, like:
— Greek yogurt with seeds and nuts
— Oats also with seeds and nuts
— Scrambled eggs with veggies
Is Cereal Healthy? The Bottom Line
The impact a bad cereal has on your body and health is much more technical than we can go into here, but you get the picture. If you are serious about cereal, start doing your research and switching to healthier brands.
If you’re looking for some healthier alternatives for your meals – read this.
Stay tuned!
