cereal think outside the bowl

THIS BREAKFAST STAPLE IS GETTING A MAKEOVER WITH OUR DOS AND DONTS FOR FILLING YOUR MORNING BOWL

Let's face it: Cereal is often guilty of almost every cardinal sins of nutrition. Sugar. Marshmallows. Food dyes. Artificial flavors. More sugar. But before it became an American breakfast staple with sky-high sugar counts, cereal had a clean record- as a nourishing food for health spa patients. In 1863, sanatorium operator and vegetarian lames Caleb Jackson invented the first cereal in an attempt to combat the digestive woes of a population that routinely ate meat for breakfast. The cereal, which he named Granula, was composed of heavy bran nuggets that required overnight soaking to be chewable.

Fast forward to the 1950s, when cereal morphea into an almost dessertlike food, with up to 56 percent sugar packed in one bowl! Today, many grocery aisles still overflow with not-sohealthful options, but fortunately, it is possible to return to cereal's noble roots. The right kind can provide a host of nutritional benefits, from fiber to B vitamins like folate and niacin to minerals like iron, magnesium, and selenium.

Lighten Up

"1 always recommend looking for a cereal that's flaky or puffy as opposed to dense and nuggety; lighter cereals usually contain fewer calories per portion than more dense ones," says Elisa Zied, MS, RD, author of Feed Your Family Right! and a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. With any cereal, it's best to eat no more than 1-2 cups per serving, she advises. This can contain up to two whole-grain servings while leaving room for low-fat milk or other add-ons.

Be a Label Lover

"Look for three key numbers |on labels]: calories, fiber grams, and sugar grams," says Zied. She recommends cereals that contain no more than 200 calories per cup, provide at least 4 g of fiber, and add up to less than 15 g of sugar per serving. Stay away from labels that list sugar, dextrose, and high fructose corn syrup as ingredients, particularly if they are among the first five ingredients.

Go Grainy

When selecting a boxed cereal, look for whole-grain varieties. Whole grains are high in fiber and can help prevent type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and even some cancers. To glean the full benefit of whole grains, Beatrice Trum Hunter, author of A Whole Foods Primer, says you may want to avoid boxed cereals altogether. "They have a lot of additives that are not all that desirable. It would be not only more nutritious but less expensive to get whole grains either loose or in packages," she says. Brown rice, barley, steel-cut oatmeal, quinoa, amaranth, millet, buckwheat, or bulgur can all provide a nutritious breakfast when cooked. Many health food stores have a bulk bin section featuring a variety of cereal grains. Hunter suggests soaking the grains with dried fruit overnight, and then adding sunflower seeds and a little half-and-half after cooking it in the morning.

Substitute for Sugar

A few final tips for boosting your morning bowl's nutritional value: "An ideal way of sweetening cereal is to simply add some dried fruit - raisins or currants, dried apricots, prunes, mango, pineapple, or banana," says Hunter. You can also reduce sugar by mixing sweetened cereals with less sugary ones. Or top with fresh fruit like berries and a sprinkle of stevia or drizzle of honey.

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QUICK TIP

Wake up in a bad mood? Food Cures author Joy Bauer suggests the following option: 1 cup whole-grain cereal with 1 cup soy milk, and 1 Tbs. each of walnuts and wheat germ.