Breakfast cereals healthy or not?
Breakfast cereals are conveniently prepared foods.
Many claim to have impressive health benefits or are marketed to meet the latest nutritional trends. But you may be wondering if these cereals are as healthy as they claim.
What is Breakfast Cereal?
Breakfast cereal is usually produced from processed cereals and has vitamins and mineral supplements. It is generally consumed with milk, yoghurt, fruits or nuts.
In general, they are as follows:
Processing: Cereals are usually made into a fine flour and baked.
Mixing: The flour is then mixed with ingredients such as sugar, cocoa and water.
Molding: Most breakfast is shaped by the brittle molding method, ie by forming at high temperature.
Drying: Then brittle.
Shaping: Finally, it can be shaped, for example in a ball, star, round or square shape.
Breakfast cereals may also be swollen, thin or chopped. They may be chocolate coated on the outside or frozen before drying.
Full of Sugar and Refined Carbohydrates
In modern nutrition, the addition of sugar may be the worst single component.
It contributes to chronic diseases and most people consume it too much.
Remarkably, much of this sugar comes from processed foods, and breakfast cereals are among the popular processed foods that have high values for sugar addition.
In fact, most cereals contain second or third sugar in the ingredients list.
Starting your day with a high sugar breakfast cereal will bounce your blood sugar and insulin levels.
After a few hours your blood sugar drops and the body asks for another high carbohydrate meal or snack. This can potentially create an over-eating cycle.
Excessive consumption of sugar may also increase the risk of type-2 diabetes , heart disease and cancer .
Misleading Health Claims
Breakfast cereals are marketed as healthy.
They have low-fat, whole-grain expressions, but the top of the list of ingredients usually includes refined grains and sugar.
A small amount of whole grains does not make these products healthy.
However, studies show that health claims are effective in convincing consumers that the product is healthy.
Usually Marketed for Children
Food producers are especially targeting children.
Companies draw attention of children by using bright colors, cartoon characters and action figures.
This makes them match the breakfast cereals and fun.
This also affects the taste preferences. Studies show that foods with popular cartoon characters are better tasted by some children.
Exposure to food marketing is seen as a risk factor for childhood obesity and other nutritional disorders.
These products also have misleading claims about health.
Although colors and cartoons make these products more attractive to children, the reason why parents take them to their children is because they think about the health benefits and make them feel good.
Choosing Healthy Types
If you are going to choose crispy for breakfast, here are some tips to choose the healthy option:
Limited Sugar
Choose a cereal with less than 5 grams of sugar per serving. Read the contents label to see the amount of sugar in the product.
Aim Abundant Fiber
Cereals containing at least 3 grams of fiber per serving are ideal. Consuming enough fiber has many health benefits.
Watch Portions
Breakfast cereals are crisp and delicious, and therefore it is easy to consume large amounts of calories. Try to measure how much you eat and look at the portion sizes on the package for guidance.
Read Table of Contents
Ignore the claims in front of the box and look at the contents list. The first two or three components are the most important because they make up the bulk of the product.
But food manufacturers use some tricks to hide the sugar in their products.
If sugar is mentioned several times under different names, that product probably has a high sugar content.
Add Some Protein
Protein is the most satisfying macronutrient. Increases satiety and reduces appetite.
This is probably due to the fact that the protein can change levels of some hormones, such as the fasting hormone ghrelin and the saturation hormone peptide YY.
Yogurt , a handful of nuts and seeds are also a good choice for extra protein.
Prefer Unprocessed Breakfast
If you're hungry in the morning, you should have breakfast. But it's best to choose full, single-ingredient foods.
Here are some good choices:
oatmeal with raisins and nuts
yogurt with nuts and slices of fruit
egg in vegetable oil
Egg is a very good breakfast choice because it is rich in protein, healthy fats and nutrients. It can also keep you full for a long time and supports weight loss.
In one study, it was found that adolescence girls who had a protein breakfast with eggs and lean red meat increased satiety. In addition, the appetite and night snack decreased.
Other studies have shown that replacing the cereal-based breakfast with eggs will keep you tighter for the next 36 hours, allowing you to lose 65% more weight.
As a result
Breakfast cereals are abundantly processed and usually have the addition of sugar and refined carbohydrates . These packages often make misleading health claims.
If you consume brittle, read the list of contents and treat health claims with suspicion. The best cereals are abundant in fiber and low in sugar.
They also have many more healthy breakfast options. Complete, one-component foods - such as oatmeal or eggs - are good choices.
Preparing a healthy full-food breakfast is not only simple, it also allows you to start the day with plenty of food.
19Axx
Kellogg's Nutri-Grain, Soft Baked Breakfast Bars, Mixed Berry, Made with Whole Grain, 10.4 oz (8 Count)