Bad cereal?
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Topic: Bad cereal?
Posted By: Bizzy
Subject: Bad cereal?
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 9:39am
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In light of the cereal thread am now wondering what you all consider a "bad" cereal!?
I personally draw the line at Fruit Loops - that coloured stuff is a no go breakfast food for me! ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:09am
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for me, anything with more than 20% sugar is junk...cocoa pops, honey puffs, fruit loops,
can also include anything with a cartoon animal of some description on the front. Kids get cocoa pops at Dad's. IN saying that, when Lewis makes porridge he adds copious amounts of butter and brown sugar - mmm, possibly not so healthy |
Posted By: kellie
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:38am
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I think most of them are bad, except for weetbix and porridge. I will let DS have some of the nice ones for a treat when he is older though.
I really like All Bran, but it probally has a lot of sugar. |
Posted By: SMoody
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:44am
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For us we mostly have weetbix, Oats then just started them on maltabella porridge (a SA thing) and they have other South African porridges. And then muesli for Daddy and McKayla has that now and then with fruit. And I think once or twice a year I get nutrigrain or something like that.
I dont really do anything that I consider air cereals or suger coated, artificial coloring so called breakfast foods. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: HuntersMama
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:48am
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I only eat weetbix and porridge (well I will when I can eat wheat again!). DH likes light and tasty and is also pretty keen on piling on the sugar. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: kiwi2
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 11:48am
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I personally don't mind a bit of sugar. As long as it isn't over the top. I think a natural thing like honey or sugar isn't as bad as the food colouring and fake stuff. But we keep it pretty simple. We don't have biscuits in the house so a bit of sugar on a cereal isn't a problem here.
But then again I was a lot fussier when my oldest was little. My oldest is 13 then 9 then 4 so I think as they get older you chose your battles and realise it isn't the end of the world if they get a little bad stuff. I remember going to a 2 year old birthday party where there was healthy stuff down for the kids and all the bad stuff up high for the adults. Talk about double standards lol. I am guilty of it myself though. Sorry slightly off topic. |
Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 2:00pm
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I only buy porridge, weetbix and ricebubbles (which they have - if they have - with no sugar with fruit and a bit of yoghurt)
I never have put sugar on top of cereals for them - although their dad has it, they never ask. If they don't know any better, they don't ask! As a rule of thumb, I try not to buy anything that has over 10 g sugar per 100g but that gets relaxed a bit depending on what it is - yoghurt, mother nature fruit bars etc.. Not that they don't get anything with sugar/salt/fat lol, but I try to have only "good choices" available., And nothing with artifical sweetner in it, so no lite yogurt here. Sorry off track. Like Liz, nothing with a "cartoon" on it, and like others have said, anything "coloured" is a no go too. They have their whole lives to eat sh*t, I want to give them good grounding first and breakfast IS the most important meal of the day. ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 5:12pm
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I like the flavoured porridge sachets with fruit in them.
I also like the hubbards range of muselis and cereals they're more for me though. All Bran has too much fibre for children. Otherwise we only have weetbix I add sultanas to mine as I like something sweet. Havn't had to buy children cereals as yet, however they'd most likely fit into the weetbix for the whole family category. Easier on our shopping budget as much as being a healthy option. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 6:00pm
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weetbix in our house is so not economical. the kids want too much milk on it and because they eat so slowly all the milk gets absorbed and they want more! ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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Posted By: Flutterby
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 6:48pm
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For me a good cereal is anything without sugar or very little sugar in it. Such as porridge, weetbix, cornflakes.
But in saying that I do buy others if I have a craving for them. Though I will only give DS some as a special treat once in a while or let him finish of mine. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: kiwi2
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 7:16pm
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Bizzy - I put hot water on the weetbix first to be all absorbed and then put the cold milk over and you end up using less. We used to have hot milk on ours as kids but I am too lazy to boil milk in the morning so to get the warm feeling of my childhood weetbix I do this. It also uses way less milk.
Further to my earlier post and the other cereal thread we are just weetbix, cornflakes and ricies with the odd nutrigrain. We do cereal of choice in the school hols or if we are going on a trip within reason. Fruit loops are always a no go though and I could count cocopops etc on one hand and not get even half way. |
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 7:35pm
We buy weetbix, rice bubbles, corn flakes and porridge. Daniel has rice bubbles with bananas every morning but no sugar. its what he asks for. He actually gets quite angry if theres no bananas or you are slow about getting the banana out and chopped up for him 
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Posted By: kiwikid
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 8:24pm
Mmmmm CocoPops yum yum! "Its just like a chocolate milkshake only crunchy"... well if that doesnt scream unsuitable breakfast food I dont know what does LOL. DH and I used to have them as a weekend treat, in fact DH used to use a mixing bowl cos the regular cereal bowls were too small  thank goodness he grew out of that! Would never consider giving it to DS. I will admit to giving him Cheerio's tho, they are no doubt full of sugar but only once a week but TBH DS would probably be just as happy with Ricies, I will get them next time! Staples are Weetbix and Shreaded Wheat with warm milk, no sugar and he absolutely inhales it!
Porridge makes me gag so havent even considered making it for DS ever, maybe I should try those sachets and see if he likes it  ------------- 
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Posted By: TheKelly
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 8:32pm
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I like weetbix,ricies, cornflakes ,porridge and I have sugar on all of them.I hate fruit on cereal,or yohgurt on cereal ------------- 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Delli
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 8:44pm
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What do I consider a bad cereal?
I don't think any of them are bad as such. Just that there are some you can eat whenever you want and some you should only have as a treat. We usually have porridge for breakfast every morning with yoghurt and fruit on it. Cooked breakfasts on the weekend (when we can be bothered ).
I've never had Fruit Loops - don't appeal to me at all! But I have been known to engage in the very occasional (it's so expensive!) bowl of Coco Pops - however this seems to be an after dinner snack rather than breakfast! Jude has never had any Coco Pops - just as he doesn't get our after dinner chocolate either We are too selfish to share 
One of my gripes though, is with Nutrigrain - which is marketed as supposedly a really healthy cereal. In actual fact, it has almost as much sugar in it and no more iron in it than Coco Pops. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 8:47pm
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The only time I've had coco pops is when they've come in one of those variety packs that someone has given me or have had on holidays.
kiwi2 I heat my milk in the microwave for my weetbix. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: Red
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 8:48pm
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There really aren't alot of cereals that aren't c&*p! Even Weetbix, cornflakes are all highly processed. That doesn't mean I don't eat them though. I do usually try and go for a muesli. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 9:26pm
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we call bananas on porridge "monkey breakfast". the kids love it. I squirt a bit of runny honey on it as well.
weetbix with the All blacks on it is a huge hit in our house. jake wants to be an all black and figures that you can only do that if you eat weetbix every day. so far, i haven't burst his bubble. WOAH - just looked up nutritional values of cocoa pops - cause i don't think someone's assertion that nutrigrain has no more iron that them and found out LCM bars have 78% sugar!!!!!. 87% is sugar, fat and salt.....in a bar form. gross. never again! |
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 9:31pm
I didn't believe you with this so looked it up - YIP same amount of iron! I am quite amazed. cocoa pops has 25% more sugar though. But nutrigrain has 10g m ore salt. very interesting! |
Delli wrote:Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 9:54pm
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Nutrigrain is one of the worst!
"bad" cereals to me are ones with colours and ones with sugar coating etc DH and I love milo cereal, but the kids dont have it. ------------- |
Posted By: freckle
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:01pm
we all normally have toast... but sometimes porridge or weetbix... and when it's on spesh I buy cocoa pops cos I love em but my youngest doesn't even like them she'd way rather have porridge... we do have brown sugar on our porridge though  ------------- mum to 3 lovely girls :D |
Posted By: Delli
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:05pm
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Mmmm brown sugar on porridge. But it's good though isn't it, because it's brown sugar not white sugar? It's just like brown bread being better than white bread right? (Just kidding BTW) ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: freckle
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:09pm
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hahaha Delli!! if only eh... I love those flavoured porridge sachets too which I'm sure are loaded with sugar... ------------- mum to 3 lovely girls :D |
Posted By: kiwi2
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:29pm
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I think with the whole sugar thing it is about chosing how it fits in in your daily food plan. We don't have sugar in many other things so a teaspoon of sugar on a cereal such as cornflakes or ricies isn't going to break the sugar bank in our family. There are no bikkes or other crap. All other sugar is from fruit and bread.
With those porridge sachets (forgive me if I am wrong) I have stayed away from as I figured you would have to have other nasties in there to make it instant. I haven't actually looked at the box so I am pulling that out of my perceptions and thin air. What are in them? |
Posted By: freckle
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:39pm
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We don't have any in the house at the moment but here's the lsit of ingredients for the honey one off the website... Uncle Tobys Oats, Sugar, Milk Powder, Maize Maltodextrin, Corn Syrup Solids, Dried Honey (2.4%). It's a much more expensive way to have porridge... ------------- mum to 3 lovely girls :D |
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:43pm
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Well I just had a look in the cupboard and we have bugs in mud, coco O's, nutra grain, rice bubbles, cornflakes, weetbix, special k and berry berry good. Half of those are "considered'" bad cereals but my kids eat them with no extra sugar so I don't really care too much. Their diet is varied and they are healthy ish. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: Delli
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:46pm
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My normal porridge is almost instant (add milk or hot water, stir, zap in microwave for a few mins) - I'm not sure how you could make porridge more instant
I think it's in the sachets for convenience (no measuring the porridge but you still have to add milk or water) and also some extra dried fruits or honey flavourings. I'm pretty sure they do have more sugar and preservatives than normal porridge but the preservatives they add aren't to make them more instant  ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: lil_lease
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 11:02pm
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Breakfast here is either toast, weetbix or porridge. Sometimes I'll just have a couple of pieces of fruit if that's all I feel like. On the odd (special) occasion there will be something like scrambled eggs or an omelette.
Not looking too bad
Then again, I usually have a mug of hot milo (made mostly with hot water) with my breakfast lol. That's something like 46% sugar though I dont add any extra sugar (DF does though, 2 teaspoons per cup!!!)
Things like Nutrigrain and Cocoapops are treats for us and usually snack foods rather than breakfast cereals. I dont like the thought of fruit loops (or the taste actually) so they're never in the pantry. ------------- Antony, gone but never forgotten 2-4-2010 
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Posted By: Snappy
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 11:28pm
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We eat Porridge with greek yogurt and cinnamon here, or weetbix with water and milk, and toast. Or even smoothies and eggs on toast. None of the other packaged stuff though! Although I think even weetbix might be processed?! ------------- Mummy to two beauties... Formerly Kaiz. |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 8:35am
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Apparently Weetbix can be quite bad if you suffer from eczema, something to do with it being very processed and because of the chemical sprays used to control the bugs that love it too. ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 9:37am
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Can I come to your house for breakfast its like a smorgasboard of cereals. Yum! ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 9:42am
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We have the porridge sachets with sultanas, dried apple and cinnamon mostly for convenience. yeah I could make it myself mostly I can't be bothered. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: kiwi2
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 10:05am
Well that doesn't sound too bad then. I may look at some of them next time I am in the supermarket. Corn syrup is getting a bad rap in the US but I haven't looked into it so can't really comment. That is what I love about forums. You can end up getting little tips and tricks to make life easier. |
Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 10:33am
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I use those sachets too, what I like about them is that they are a "correct" serving size, so easy if you are weight watching. They go slightly over my sugar % "rule" , but have 2.7g of fibre, which is more tahn 2 slices of molenberg bread, and I have them with yoghurt (I have apple, sultana and honey flavour sachets but any yog) but with yoghurt and milk its only about 5 WW "points" and the yoghurt gives it a protien boost so keeps me full till lunchtimeish
They are dear but I like the serve size convenience, makes it easy to keep track. ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 10:46am
Sure ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 12:05pm
Brown sugar on porridge is a must  (well in this house anyways!!)------------- |
Posted By: kiwisj
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 12:57pm
Ours too. Except poor old Callum doesn't get any!! I LOVE Froot Loops   However, Callum has never eaten them and doesn't know what they are. DH and I also LOVE Coco Pops but we eat them too quickly so I only buy them once every couple of months or so. I'm not sure about the Froot Loops sold in NZ but the ones here have no artificial colouring/flavours, they're all "natural" ... they aren't quite as fluorescent looking as the ones I used to eat as a student that's for sure.
We have Just Right, Special K, Weetbix and porridge in the cupboard at the moment. We probably eat porridge 2-3 times a week, cereal once or twice and fruit and yoghurt or a cooked breakfast (eggs, mushroooms or beans on toast) the rest of the time. It's often our only meal all together so I try and mix it up quite a bit. On "cereal days" C gets Weetbix and milk and if he's really lucky he gets a wee handful of dry Just Right or Special K which he thinks is a HUGE treat ------------- SJ Callum - Dec 2008 Daniel - Oct 2010 |
Posted By: .Mel
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 2:47pm
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We have Coco Pops (Homebrand variety), Porridge and Weetbix..
I must admit that my younger kids prefer toast and the Coco pops are for me and DH.. and we do add extra sugar ------------- Mr Mellow (16) Miss Attitude (8) Destructa Kid (3) 
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Posted By: SMoody
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 3:21pm
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Just a tip for those making porridge (oats) or those using the instant ones. To make your own instant ones use the normal oats. Put in a blender and just blend it a bit. Then put it away in packets (that you can reuse) or just in a air tight container. Now use it as instant. Works great with milk rather instead of water (that is why they put powder milk in) and then put your fresh flavours in like cut up apple or that.
This way it is a lot healthier and really there is no difference in the time. That is what it is. Oats just blended so it doesnt take so long to cook. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: newmum
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 3:57pm
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I make Bircher Muesli in the evenings for me and Dh to have the next morning and the kids get porridge, weetbix or cornflakes.
Porridge with fruit, raisins and maple syrup (a wee bit), weetbix & cornflakes with fruit and or yoghurt.
Edited to add: Or they have toast if they want ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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