The Healthiest Options for Cereal Lovers
Love cereal but trying to make healthy choices? Check out Nutrition Diva’s guide to the best options in the cereal aisle.
Monica Reinagel, MS, LD/N, CNS
General Mills took a lot of heat this week, following the launch of their ridiculous new Cheerios Protein cereal. They’ve added soy protein to bump the protein from 3 grams per serving to 7 grams per serving. However, they also managed to add 17 grams of sugar. (Really, what where they thinking?)
I don’t buy a lot of breakfast cereal. It’s not that I don’t like it. I actually LOVE it—a little too much, which is why I generally don’t keep it in the house. As a result, I’m a little out of touch with what’s available in the cereal aisle. To bring myself up to date, I headed to the grocery store to compile a list of the best choices.
With hundreds of types of cereal to choose from, and most of them making some sort of claims about health and nutrition, it’s astonishing how difficult it was to find a few that I could actually recommend.
Not everyone has a Trader Joes in the neighborhood (yes, let’s pause to feel their pain) and not everyone can afford to shop at Whole Foods. So I’ve limited my selections to brands that are widely available in mainline grocery stores such as Giant, Kroger, Safeway, etc.
In making my selections, my first considerations were the sugar and fiber content. I also took protein into account (although cereal is not generally a high protein food), and I was also looking for relatively “clean” ingredient lists. Here are my top picks in a few categories.
Best Low Sugar
You can’t do much better than Shredded Wheat (the original, not the frosted kind). With an ingredient list exactly one ingredient long (whole wheat), it has zero sugar, 6 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein.
Original Cheerios is a close second, made of whole grain oats with only 1 gram of sugar per serving. It’s lower in protein and fiber (3 grams each) but is a good gluten-free option.
Best High Fiber
There are a lot of high fiber cereals out there but most have quite a bit of added sugar—often twice as much sugar as fiber. Fiber One is the standout here, with 14 grams of fiber and 0 grams of sugar. If that’s just too austere for you, the Fiber One Honey Squares is a close second, with 10 grams of fiber and just 3 grams of sugar.
Best Granola
Granola is made by coating grains with a syrup made from sugar and oil. That’s why it’s so delicious. It’s also why granola will always be relatively high in sugar and calories. (Watch those serving sizes, too. A portion is usually much smaller than the standard serving size for other cereals.)
With just 5 grams of sugar per 1/2 cup serving, KIND Protein Fruit and Nut Clusters is one of the lowest sugar granolas there. It also has 6 grams of protein and is relatively low in calories (110 per serving). The one weak link is fiber—only 2 grams per serving.
With 8 grams per 1/2 cup serving, Kelloggs Ancient Grains Origins is a bit higher in sugar (although still low for a granola). It also has an impressive 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber and clocks in at 200 calories per serving.
Best Flavored Hot Cereal
Your best bet for hot cereal, in terms of both nutrition and value, is unflavored rolled or steel-cut oats. If you prefer a flavored option, you’ll see lots of options promising Fiber! Protein! Lower Sugar! However, upon closer inspection, these are not always what they seem.
For example, I was encouraged to see a line of Lower Sugar Quaker Instant Oatmeal. These are 50% lower in sugar than regular flavored oatmeal, clocking in at about 4 grams per serving. Unfortunately, most of the flavors are sweetened with Splenda (sucralose). Quaker also has a line of High Protein instant oatmeal. It boasts 10 grams of protein (thanks to added whey protein) and 4 grams of fiber, but the 12 grams (3 teaspoons) of sugar they’ve added seems excessive. For their High Fiber line, they’ve managed to jack the fiber up to 10 grams per serving, but have once again resorted to artificial sweeteners.
Mysteriously, two of the flavors in the Quaker Lower Sugar line (Apples and Cinnamon and Cinnamon Pecan) do not use artificial sweeteners. They’re just lower in sugar. Was that so hard?
One of the best flavored oatmeal options is a newer brand: thinkThin Protein and Fiber Hot Oatmeal. Ten grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber and a reasonable 7 grams of sugar, and no artificial sweeteners. These guys also make one of my favorite high protein, low sugar snack bars which I always stash in my suitcase when traveling.
How to Evaluate Cereal
My list is far from exhaustive; I’m sure there are decent brands that I have not mentioned here. When shopping for cereal, don’t be too swayed by the marketing copy on the front of the package. Check the nutrition facts labels to see how the numbers stack up—especially fiber, sugar, and protein. Then, give the ingredient list a scan. With any luck, it reads more like a recipe and less like a chemistry experiment.
For more tips on how to read labels and pick the healthiest prepared and processed foods, see Nutrition Diva’s Gorcery Store Survival Guide.
About the Author
Monica Reinagel is a board-certified licensed nutritionist, author, and the creator of one of iTunes’ most highly ranked health and fitness podcasts. Her advice is regularly featured on the TODAY show, Dr. Oz, NPR, and in the nation’s leading newspapers, magazines, and websites. Do you have a nutrition question? Call the Nutrition Diva listener line at 443-961-6206. Your question could be featured on the show.