Today at the grocery store, I spent what felt like an eternity in the cereal aisle, looking and checking labels.

The only thing stated for cold cereal is "low-sugar with 5g or more fiber per serving.

Anyone have any ideas on what is considered low sugar??

I ended up buying All-Bran strawberry medley, which has the following ...

180 cals
1.5g fat
10g fibre
10g sugars

This is for a 1 1/4 cup serving.


Up to this point, I've only had cereal once, and that was some Special K. The thing I hated about that was you only get 3/4 cup for a serving.

I like the idea of cold cereal, but am totally baffled on what might be SB safe.

Sugar is the third ingredient. That's usually a no-no. Ten grams of sugar is alot in my opinion for a cereal. There's also molasses, honey and high fructose corn syrup. It's hard to find a cold cereal that's high fiber and low sugar. I think there are a few out there....Fiber One, some of the Kashi cereals, Weetabix, Uncle Sam's.

I found these from some previous posts "for cold cereal the sugar amount should be less than 8 grams per serving. Fiber One is a popular cereal, as is Kashi Go Lean and Shredded Wheat." And "Cold cereals - 30 grams/1 ounce/3/4 cup. Varieties with 3.0 - 4.9 grams are “good” sources of fiber. “High” fiber cereals have 5.0 grams of fiber or more per serving. Choose a cereal with enough fiber to be at least on the upper end of “good,” and make sure it has less than 8 grams of sugar per serving."

Ingredients:
WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, WHEAT BRAN, SUGAR, BERRY FLAVORED OAT CLUSTER (TOASTED OATS [ROLLED OATS, SUGAR, SOYBEAN OIL, HONEY, MOLASSES], SUGAR, ROLLED OATS, STRAWBERRY FLAVORED APPLES [DRIED APPLES, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CITRIC ACID, RED #40, SODIUM SULFITE], CORN SYRUP, BROWN SUGAR, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, BHT [FOR FRESHNESS]), WHEAT FLOUR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, FREEZE DRIED STRAWBERRIES, SALT, MALT FLAVORING, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), SUCRALOSE, NIACINAMIDE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), REDUCED IRON, FOLIC ACID, RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), VITAMIN A PALMITATE, BHT (PRESERVATIVE), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), VITAMIN D, VITAMIN B12.

I LOVE fiber one. My plan will not even allow for me to have cereal at this point so I crave fiber one. You can add stevia or honey if you need it sweeter but it is sooo good.

Hi Ruby

I've been there...looking and trying to find something. It is very confusing and I need to make sure I have my reading glasses. My finding was that pretty much everything has too much sugar. I have selected 2 cereals to stock right now.
Cold-Ezekiel Sprouted Whole Grain Cereal-box I have says 0 Sugar per 1/2 cup.
Hot-Old Wessex Ltd 100% Whole Grain 5 Grain Cereal 0 sugar per 1/2 cup.

I'm not getting too attached to any cereal yet. I can too easily overeat. I sometimes have some cold cereal w/soy milk instead of dessert-usually right before bed. Hot, I have once every two weeks when I am just hungry. Both are very satisfying and help ease some type of craving I have, but I'm not putting either one in as a "meal" at this point.

I sometimes eat ezekial and there is also a flax and pumpkin seed cereal I get from Walgreen's (can't remember the name!) that had about 2g. of sugar in it. I'm not a morning cereal eater, but like it for a snack at night sometimes.

Last night, I found the perfect cereal. I made my own. I found a recipe for granola and just replaced the honey in it with agave necter. Talk about filling!
I had a very small bowl of it and was stuffed. My husband thought it was fantastic.

I didn't use any oil either or the applesauce. Baked it on a big cookie sheet with parchment paper. I added my dehydrated cherries to it. I really like the idea of making my own since I can control what goes in it and there were not added chemicals I can't pronounce.

I've been experimenting with unsweetened muesli type cereals (they aren't all the same so I'm always reading ingredients and checking numbers). This time of year I really like them soaked overnight in unsweetened almond milk or Greek yogurt. I don't buy much cereal though because it tends to go bad before I eat it all. Cold cereal is just not a good breakfast choice for me. On the other hand Bob's Red Mill 5 grain with flax hot cereal with some fruit and a T of PB is the perfect breakfast right now.

Old fashioned oatmeal is very good eaten cold. I just measure the oats into a bowl and pour in just enough milk to cover them, then cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight. I like to use unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but you could use skim or soy milk, too. Sometimes I'll pop the bowl in the microwave for a minute to warm it up, but it's delicious hot or cold, topped with fruit.

Ruby, this is a good question! I think we should put a comprehensive post in the suggested SBD products thread in the FAQ--I'll take care of that.

The guidelines for cereal are: 6 or more grams of fiber and 8 or less grams of sugar per serving. Hope that helps!

In the meantime, there have been several threads that have great suggestions. I've posted my favorite cereals in a couple of them, so I won't repost the lists here. Some great cereal threads:

Cereal Killer...
P2 breakfast- cold cereals
Who eats cold cereal??? (note: this is an older thread, so some of the products mentioned might be hard to find)
V-8 and Cereal?

Thanks for all the info and tips ladies !

I think some you have mentioned, we probably don't have here in Canada. One more thing for me to put on my little "wish list" for when I go to the states

I used to buy the Kashi Go Lean all the time when I was doing WW, but the store I was at yesterday didn't have any. I'll check around for it.

A few of you mentioned cereal as not something really for you. It's making me wonder too about maybe just avoiding the cereal altogether, and just having my grain in something else. Ahhhhh so many things to think about !

Cat .. I like your idea of the granola. Sounds yummy ! I've been thinking about trying the SB recipe for granola, but haven't yet.

Thanks again !

I do my oatmeal (actually mixed grains) this way these days too. I actually found that it keeps me full longer than cooked oatmeal. I think that makes sense, since I've seen data that pasta, for example, has a lower GI al dente than when overcooked. It's also chewier, so it slows me down, which also helps.

Okay, question to those that don't do the cereal thing.

Why is that? What do you do instead for breakfast.

I'm just asking because I'm really feeling a big sluggish and yawny now. Just wondered if it's the cereal.

I'm still on phase 1, but I can tell you that cereal makes my blood sugar crater and I'm starving shortly after eating it. It doesn't matter what kind it is, even very low sugar/high fiber ones do it.

Personally, I'm planning to save my grain allowances for good whole-wheat bread.

Okay, chicks, I mined the lists that are out there and added a couple recipes from our forums to make a master list of SBD-safe cereals that is a post in the SBD-Friendly Products thread in the FAQ Here's a direct link.

Ruby, you'll find some great breakfast ideas in the Breakfast Alternatives to Eggs thread.

Thanks for all the fab links, Laurie -- so helpful!!!

Thanks Laurie !