Cereals are quick and easy to prepare in the morning, so there is no excuse to not have the time to eat breakfast. A quality bowl of cereal can be very healthy for you when it is packed with all the vitamins, minerals and protein that you need all in one bowl - all the energy you need to start your day off right.
However, there are many cereals on the market these days that also contain a lot of sugar and salt, consequently not very healthy for you and not a wise choice to spend your money on so it’s important to read the ingredient label and nutrition label on the box.
What I have started doing the last couple of years is to make my own cereal. It is super quick and easy to do and can be cheaper especially when you buy the ingredients in bulk. In this way, I know what is going into my cereal and that I am getting all the vitamins, minerals and protein that I need from my morning cereal.
In the above photo cereal example, I start off with quality bran flakes cereal (bran buds cereal works well too). To this I add oats (which are incredibly healthy for you in so many ways, yet very under-appreciated), a fruit that is in season such as strawberries but you can add chopped pineapple, blueberries or any other fruit. I suggest that you slice up the pineapple the night before and store it in the refrigerator, it should stay fresh for 2 to 3 days. I top the cereal contents off with plain white yogurt because it is low in sugar (only contains natural sugar). Yogurts that contain added fruits tend to have added sugar as well and therefore high in sugar content. I use 2% milk because it is high in protein. Soy milk is next best. Almond milk is delicious but it contains very little protein, a marginal amount of protein
- 8-ounce glass (1 cup)
- 2% milk - 8 to 9 grams of protein
- Soy milk - 7 to 8 grams of protein
- Almond milk - 1 to 2 grams of protein
- Rice milk - less than 1 to 1 gram of protein
- Coconut milk - basically 0 grams of protein
Of course the protein content may vary by product brand. This is just what I have seen on product labels.
You can also add in chopped nuts like walnuts or almonds, flax seeds, chia seeds or any other healthy ingredient that you desire.
To create this cereal, it takes about 5 - 10 minutes so there is no reason to skip breakfast because of time involved and no reason not to have a healthy breakfast packed with all the essentials each and every morning.
