How to choose a breakfast cereal
The breakfast cereal aisle of the supermarket can be intimidating. Not only is there an enormous range of beautifully packaged options to catch your eye, there are a variety of health claims that seem designed to trip you up:
low fat – does that mean it’s full of sugar?!
high protein – should I have more protein in my breakfast?
No artificial colours – but what about preservatives and flavourings?
Sweetened with honey – that’s not really sugar right?
No wonder some people give up and just reach for a slice of toast or leave the house without any breakfast at all. Of course, breakfast options aren’t just limited to cereal but they are enduringly popular and cereals can be a quick and easy option at a busy time of the day!
Here are some tips for if you are choosing a breakfast cereal.
Firstly, look at the ingredient list. Ideally, you would like the ingredients to be predominantly wholegrains, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, spices – foods that you recognise. Breakfast cereals can contain astonishing amounts of added sugar – words that indicate added sugars include syrups, maltodextrin, molasses, honey, concentrated fruit purees or juices. It’s okay to have some sugar (all things in moderation, right?!) but be careful if there is more than one type of added sugar in the ingredient list and your cereal has high amounts of sugar per 100g. There are many options available with less than 7g sugar per 100g, but if your cereal includes dried fruit it is likely to contain more sugar than this, around 15-20g (or even more) sugar per 100g. If the sugar content is that high, make sure it has a high percentage of dried fruit.
If your favourite cereal has quite a lot of sugar (or is very expensive – some mueslis/granolas are $20 per box!!!) one way to reduce the sugar or make your cereal go further is to mix it with a plain cereal e.g. add rolled oats to muesli.
It’s important to make sure that your cereal choice contains a significant amount of fibre, ideally over 6g fibre per 100g. This is important for your gut health and to slow down digestion, helping you feel fuller for longer. If trying to switch your child from one cereal option to another choice, mixing two cereals can be a good idea e.g. rice bubbles (low fibre) with puffed wheat (high fibre) while they get used to the new cereal.
Here are some lower sugar, high fibre cereal options.
Cereal name Fibre per 100g* Sugar per 100g* Free sugar#
Wheat biscuits 11g 2g Yes
(e.g. Pams, Sanitarium Weet-Bix®)
Rolled oats 12g 1g No
Puffed wheat 8g 1g No
Sanitarium®
Low GI granola 18g 7g Yes
Vogels® All Good
Low sugar muesli 13g 5g Yes
Te Atatu Healthy Blend
muesli 10g 3g Yes
Quinoa puffs 7g 7g No
* Sugar and fibre values rounded to nearest gram
# Free sugars include honey, syrups, concentrated fruit juices, cane sugar
If you are keen on making your own muesli – which is surprisingly easy – feel free to give my recipe a try. It makes a much bigger batch than a box of store-bought muesli, which is a good thing when you’ve got teenagers in the house! And it meets the nutrition recommendations with 7g sugar and 9g fibre per 100g. If you prefer even lower sugar, you could reduce/eliminate the maple syrup.
Homemade nut, seed & cinnamon muesli (suitable for low FODMAP diet)
Mix together in a large roasting pan:
3 cups wholegrain oats
3 cups rolled oats
½ cup coconut threads
2 teaspoons cinnamon
¼ cup oil (e.g. olive, canola, coconut)
¼ cup maple syrup (can substitute with golden syrup / honey – not low FODMAP)
Bake at 160 degrees for about 8 minutes. Then, stir in:
½ cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup chopped nuts (e.g. almonds, walnuts, macadamias)
Bake for a further 8 minutes.
½ cup serve = 22g carb including 4g sugars, 5g fibre, 7g protein, 14g fat, 1050kJ
If you don’t tolerate oats: For an oat-free version, substitute oats with a combination of puffed rice/rice bubbles, puffed millet, puffed quinoa, puffed amaranth, corn flakes. Will only need to bake once so mix together all the ingredients at the beginning and bake for 8 minutes.