Cereal Breakfast: Are they really healthy food items?

Cereals are one of the most common breakfast items in almost every country. However, there is a growing concern over whether eating cereal for breakfast is healthy. The reason is because breakfast cereals are made from processed grains mixed with either sugar, chocolate or refined carbs. The added sugar is proving to be one of the raising concerns with cereal breakfast. Hence, it is always wise to consider properly before consuming the cereal either for yourself or your children.

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Whole-wheat grains contain fiber and B vitamins which can keep you healthy. Meaning, cereal as a whole aren’t the ones that isn’t healthy but additional food ingredients and how they are processed. These are some of the methods you can follow to eat a healthy cereal breakfast:

1. Focus on the nutrition labels: Food labels give you information about what you should avoid and which is considered healthy. It can help you choose between brands and avoid breakfast cereals that are high in sugar, fat and salt. Most nutrition labels of good brands also have food traffic lights such as red, amber and green colour coding on the front of the packet. If the label on the food traffic shows more green, the content is possibly healthier. 
2. Check Sugar, salt and fat levels: Knowing the content of the sugar, salt and fat levels will help you know if the cereal you consume is fit for your body. Ignore the health claims on the front of the box, and make sure to check the ingredients list. With proper information, people with diabetes, obesity or higher insulin activity can know what to avoid and what not to.
3. Serve cereal with milk or yogurt: Breakfast should be the best time to add calcium to your body. And, it can be done right if you add milk or yogurt to your cereal. For vegans, you can replace cow’s milk with fortified soya, rice and oat drinks.
4. Add fruit to cereal: Adding fruit to the cereal will help you have less sugary cereals. You can add raisins, dried apricots, bananas, strawberries depending on the choice of your tastes.

You can also replace packaged cereals with healthier breakfast such as porridge or wheat flakes. They are rich in minerals and has high fibre content that will keep your blood sugar under control.

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