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- Hey Munchies, and welcome to the channel if you're new.
I'm Alyssia, and today we are talking about
one of my favorite foods
and I'm assuming one of yours if you're watching: cereal!
Throughout my journey into adulthood
and working on my healthy relationship with food,
I have woken up almost every day and wondered,
"Is the day going to come when I just don't want cereal?"
And not just cereal, but the sweetest, sugariest cereals
that I love so much like Cinnamon Toast Crunch,
Cap'n Crunch, Golden Grahams, or Fruity Pebbles.
Honestly, I am not picky.
If a sugary cereal is in front of me or in the house,
it is gonna get eaten.
But as we know, sugar is far from ideal
as a regular part of our daily diets.
At this point, most people are aware
that we should be trying to cut back or limit sugar,
especially added sugar,
which is most of what cereal includes.
Now, to be honest, I am not doing this video
to tell you which cereals are healthy.
I'm not claiming that these are healthy or clean
or that they should or even shouldn't
be a part of your daily diet.
I did try to choose options that don't look like turtle food
or taste like tree bark.
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At the end of the day, everyone wants to know
which cereals are healthiest,
but all I can do is tell you the stats and let you decide.
These are still processed foods.
Now, there's not a tree out in nature that's growing cereal.
It was processed to become the deliciousness that it is
and there's just no getting around that.
Because sugar is what most people are concerned with,
I've compiled a list of cereals that contain
an arbitrary six grams of sugar or less total sugar,
not just added, because it all affects our blood sugar.
Six grams of sugar is one-and-a-half teaspoons
or one-and-a-half sugar packets or sugar cubes.
For perspective, it's recommended that we have
no more than six teaspoons of added sugar per day.
And of course, less is always better.
Also, for perspective on how most people eat too much of it,
the average amount of sugar people eat in a day
is 19 teaspoons.
So, the six grams per serving that we are using today,
that arbitrary number, is about a quarter
of the recommended total daily intake for added sugar.
Okay, I have rambled long enough, let's get to the list.
I tried to pick some more commonplace
and mainstream options,
as well as some of the seemingly healthier
or cleaner options that you can get
in a regular grocery store, not specialty stores online.
Let's start with the ones you may recognize.
Starting at the top with six grams of sugar,
we've got a few.
Honey Bunches of Oats and Quaker Original Life
both contain six grams of sugar
for a serving of three-quarters-cup.
Remember, serving sizes are arbitrary
and what actually matters is how much you eat.
Most people don't eat three-quarters of a cup of cereal.
I probably eat twice that at least if I'm gonna have it,
which means one-and-a-half cups,
which means 12 grams of sugar.
So, you see how this can add up.
You must read the label to be sure
and you must have awareness
around how much you're consuming for it to matter at all.
Both of these options also do contain wheat,
so they are not gluten-free.
But to be honest, if you are concerned
about these being gluten-free,
unless you are celiac or know you're sensitive to gluten,
I would worry more about the sugar than the gluten.
It's gonna have more of an impact for most of us.
Multi Grain Cheerios also contain six grams of sugar,
but that serving size is now one full cup.
Still not enough for me, but we're getting somewhere.
You see how that means that you get a little bit more cereal
for the same sugar price tag,
and these actually are gluten-free.
Crispix Original contained four grams of sugar
for a one-cup serving.
Oh, I love Crispix so much.
So, staying with that serving size concept for a second,
if I have one-and-a-half cups of Crispix,
which is more of a normal serving size for myself,
I end up with six grams of sugar
versus the 12 grams of sugar if I have the same serving size
of the Honey Bunches of Oats or Quaker Original Life.
Hmm...
Let that marinate.
Moving down to three grams of sugar per serving, plain Kix.
But what's better is the serving size
is now one-an-a-quarter-cup.
So, more cereal and less sugar; what a win.
These also don't have any gluten-containing ingredients,
but they are not certified gluten-free.
For most of us, again, that does not matter much.
Rice Chex come in at only two grams of sugar
for a one-cup serving.
Now, they're not a sweet cereal per se,
but they do have a natural sweetness to them
that can still satisfy that cereal itch.
And last in these mainstream cereals is regular Cheerios
at one gram of sugar for a cup.
Of course, this is not a sweet cereal.
But I gotta say, as a lover of sweet cereal,
Cheerios knows what they're doing because these are good,
even without the sugar.
Unfortunately, as delicious as they are,
I am sure some of you have also read about how Cheerios
and many other breakfast cereals
do still contain glyphosate,
a cancer-causing ingredient in the herbicide Roundup.
But remember, I am focusing on sugar only for this video.
I am not claiming which are healthy, which is relative.
Okay, so there are more I could've included,
like Rice Krispies, Corn Chex, et cetera,
but what I tried to do was have a variety to show you here.
I couldn't show everything,
but I am giving you 17 specific examples here
so you can feel confident walking into the store,
reading the label,
and making the choice that's right for you.
Now, another thing to remember:
six grams is really an arbitrary number I've chosen
to have some structure.
There's no magic to the number six.
It is, like I said,
a quarter of the recommended daily intake for added sugar.
I could've chosen seven or eight or 10 grams,
but I just had to pick something.
If you want more detail
on the specific stats of healthier cereals,
check out my older video about cereals,
as well as my Crazy Sugar Comparisons video,
which will seriously blow your mind.
They are both linked in the description.
If you're enjoying this episode and want more,
I hope you will subscribe and hit the bell to be notified.
I have linked more educational videos just like this
in the description box.
Onto the seemingly healthy cereal brands.
What I will say,
a main difference between the mainstream brands
and the seemingly healthy brands
is that these seemingly healthy ones
do tend to be a little bit cleaner,
meaning they use less ingredients overall typically,
they use less preservatives,
and they use more natural sources of sugar
when sugar is used.
The mainstream brands are typically made with more additives
and the quality of the ingredients
isn't as much of a priority.
So, let's start at the top
with the seemingly healthier brands.
At six grams of sugar,
Mom's Best Cereals brand has an Oats & Honey Blend
which is really just trying to be Honey Bunches of Oats.
It's six grams of sugar for a three-quarters-cup serving.
This brand has quite a few varieties of cereal,
but most of them had the same amount of sugar
as super sugary mainstream cereals,
so you have to read those labels.
And remember, even though the ingredients
might be a little bit more considered,
the sugar in this bowl,
which is going to affect your insulin
and blood sugar just the same,
is exactly the same as the regular Honey Bunches of Oats
or the Quaker Life.
So, don't beat yourself up
if you eat the mainstream ones instead
and don't think you're better off if you eat this one,
because they're essentially
going to affect our bodies the same.
In my opinion, the Mom's Best version
tastes a little bit less processed
and sort of less crunchy.
But come on, isn't processed
sort of what makes cereal taste good?
Still, it is important to remember
that these are all processed foods.
I know, they are a part of our lives.
It is what it is.
But in my opinion and my personal goal
for my own body is to eat less of them.
It doesn't mean avoid them completely,
but tearing yourself apart about this one or that
because of a gram of sugar or a preservative
is sort of a waste of energy.
I wanna spend that energy
learning to get away from processed foods gradually
rather than getting stressed
and hung up on these minor details,
when, really, neither one is serving me.
Okay.
Also at six grams of sugar for two-thirds of a cup,
we've got Nature's Path Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise Cereal.
(sighing) To be honest, Nature's Path has so many cereals
that look almost identical that it was sort of overwhelming.
I don't know which tastes good
or what the difference really is,
but they do have some options with less sugar.
You have got to read the labels.
These are gluten-free and they taste pretty good.
They're sort of a subtle toasty vanilla flavor.
There's also these blueberry/vanilla Polar Puffs
by Love Grown.
So, this brand is pretty cool
because they use beans as the main ingredient.
I will say that this brand seems very focused
on making actual change with processed foods
rather than trying to trick you into thinking
that they're making a change,
like some of these other seemingly healthy brands.
For one cup of these, you get six grams of sugar
and, powered by beans, they are completely gluten-free.
These almost, almost taste like Trix.
It uses natural flavors,
but it actually does taste a little bit artificial.
It's not hyper-sweet, but it's pretty good,
especially with milk.
Kashi Cinnamon French Toast cereal
is also six grams of sugar for a three-quarter-cup serving.
They're not certified gluten-free,
but they do appear to contain
only ingredients without gluten.
I will say, these actually taste sort of like apple pie.
Now, there's no apple in them,
but it's almost like this warm cinnamon bite
that's reminiscent of the holidays,
and it has a good crunch.
Barbara's Spoonfuls Multigrain cereal
is also not gluten-free, but has only five grams of sugar
per three-quarters of a cup.
It's about as sweet as Life cereal,
but tastes a little more wheaty and natural.
Barbara's Original Puffins, which are actually super good,
are only five grams of sugar per three-quarters-cup too.
Now, these unfortunately are not gluten-free,
but Barbara's does have a Puffins variety
in Multigrain and Honey Rice that are both gluten-free
and contain six grams of sugar for the same serving size.
But I must say, I am a huge Puffins fan.
This is one of the seemingly healthy
that actually does taste like regular cereal;
a good light crunch and a nice texture and sweetness.
Nature's Path Honey'd Corn Flakes
are only five grams of sugar per one cup and gluten-free.
They are a little bit sweet, not overwhelming at all.
Not really as sweet as you would think for honey.
They also have a Corn Flakes
that are sweetened with fruit juice.
So, super cool in theory, but honestly,
upon tasting them, they don't really taste sweet,
at least not sweet enough for me.
They almost just taste like a Corn Flake,
so, in my opinion, that four grams of sugar per one cup
becomes a waste of sugar to consume
when I can't really enjoy the sweetness.
Back to Barbara's brand,
we're jumping down to only one gram of sugar
per serving of one-and-three-quarters-cup
of these Organic Brown Rice Crisps.
So, essentially, these are healthier Rice Krispies.
What drives me nuts about Rice Krispies
is almost every brand, seemingly healthy or not,
has sugar as an added ingredient
and you don't even really get to taste it and enjoy it.
But it was nice to see
that these actually do use fruit juice concentrate
instead of just table sugar.
I'm telling you, read the labels,
because even other seemingly healthy brands of Rice Krispies
include regular old sugar.
I will say, these do not taste as good
as regular Rice Krispies, (laughing) but what can you do?
And last, Barbara's Honest O's, AKA organic Cheerios.
Only one gram of sugar per one-and-two-thirds of a cup,
which is a bigger serving than regular Cheerios
at only one cup.
They are gluten-free and, again, not sweet.
Not as good as regular Cheerios either.
They are a little too light to match up,
but they could still satisfy.
So, which is the one for you?
Is there another one that isn't on the list that you love?
Remember, this is just a taste of what's out there,
but the point of this video
was to bring awareness through examples,
not to tell you to eat this or not eat that.
My personal opinion is that cereal does not provide my body
with the quality fuel that I want it to be running on,
at least cereal on its own,
so I don't want to be eating it every single day,
but you have to make the choice that's right for you.
The more awareness that we have,
the more that we can make informed decisions for ourselves
rather than blindly listening to what a person says
or a random article or a health claim on a cereal box.
(laughing) There you go.
You got it baby, you got it.
If you want more videos like this where I compare brands,
let me know what you would like to see
in the comments below.
If you found this video helpful,
I hope you will share it with a friend or on social media.
Help me spread the word.
Education is key.
I appreciate you.
I will see you next week with a brand-new episode.
And remember, especially when it comes to cereal,
it's all a matter of mind over munch.
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