Check out my progress on Cereal Wars
At one time in my life, the basis of my diet was cereal. Take one look inside the Yoder household pantry, and you’d find at least 10 different boxes of cereal. I wasn’t nearly as discriminating back then, so you’d likely find everything from French Toast Crunch to Cheerios to Honey Smacks.
These days, I’ve managed to diminish my stock to five or six boxes, and the varieties I’ve chosen as my favorites are much more healthful. In fact, upon opening by cabinet today, I was struck by the abundance of health claims on their packaging.
Can you guess which claim goes with which cereal?
Apparently every cereal producer nowadays is attempting to put some nutritious spin on its product. Fiber One is obviously all about convincing Americans to get their daily 28-35 grams. Kashi GoLean aims to assist consumers in achieving weight loss with its high-fiber and high-protein products. Kashi Heart to Heart claims to aid in controlling blood pressure, due to its low sodium content and inclusion of vitamins E and C as well as various tea extracts.
With so many competing claims, a walk down the cereal aisle has now become a much more complex journey.
What do you look for when choosing a cereal?
After all that talk of cereal, I’m kinda craving a bowl of it right now…but here’s what I did eat today.
The pumpkin festivities continued this morning with a bowl of pumpkin-banana oat bran topped with—what else?—pumpkin seeds.
For lunch, I concocted a new egg salad recipe, using hard boiled egg whites, hummus, cucumber, and dill weed. ‘Twas quite a tasty combination.
Once home, I was ready to eat my arm, but I refrained and patiently prepared a roasted acorn squash. As for the stuffing, I combined apples, onions, & white beans with my favorite herbs.
Alright, I am a tad pooped, my friends. Off to relax. Good night!
Filed under: Meals
Caroline Yoder, dietitian-to-be and all-around foodie.
My family used to have 10 cereals at a time too! I don’t eat much cereal anymore, but when I go home and visit, there normally is at least three or four different kinds of Cheerios in the pantry!
I used to get a lot of Kashi Go-Lean and Go-Lean crunch but I stopped after I realized there’s a ton of added sugar in them that I didn’t really need. That and the packaging is quite a waste and I’m super anal about everything so I stick to oats.
Most of the cereals now are loaded with sugar or have some kind of vitamins sprayed on them to gain the ability to slap a health claim on the box. If I get cereal (which is VERY rare) I aim for something with little or no added sugar and whole grains with fiber that’s natural not added from inulin that doesn’t provide me with the phytochemicals from the natural sources.
May I ask how your roast your squash halves? I only seem to get that nice browning and total crispy goodness on the outsides when I slice it into “fries.” Your squash bowl looks lovely and good enough to eat the skin (which I aim for because I like it) and whenever I roast halves either the inside is too stringy and not moist or the outer skin is bleh.
Sorry for the long comment, just leaving my two cents and asking for advice.
Your cereal display looks like the one on ‘Seinfeld’
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1285&bih=687&gbv=2&q=seinfeld+cereal&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw
I love for taste and natural ingredients. PB panda puffs are a staple
I used to be a cereal junky too
Now I rarely eat it..I know! But I always have at least a box of Quakers puffed rice or wheat. I like to mix it into my bars or put it on top of yogurt. I like cereals with no HFCS and less added sugar. Your tomatoes at lunch look so fresh and I am craving more squash. Stuffed squash is such a tasty filling meal
I grew up eating cereal every day. I still eat it (usually Cheerios or Puffins), but not as much. Some of the health claims on cereal boxes are getting pretty ridiculous these days. My favorite is how cocoa puffs are now whole grain, ha.
I’ve been eating so much squash lately, I’m surprised I haven’t turned into one yet! I love the stuffing you made for yours. As for the cereal, I was never too keen on it when I was younger.. well actually until about two years ago when I encountered my boyfriend’s pantry, stocked with, literally, at least thirty boxes of cereal. Now I’m somewhat of a cereal junkie myself, but I do try to limit it to 5 boxes at a time!
I literally lived off cereal as a child and young student, Clusters, Frosties, Cheerios, Cookie Crisp, not the most healthy but ho well! nowadays i like spelt flakes, oatibix, still ike cheerios and fruit n’ fibre
i like cereal to be wholegrain and not flavoured, like chocolate flavoured stuff, 
I see beans on that squash and I like it
Cereal is getting pretty crazy these days. I usually watch for <10 g sugar and at least 5 g fiber. Your acorn squash looks delish!
i get soo overwhelemed by the cereal isle. the labels are alluring, the ingredients are shocking and my taste buds are indecisive!
right now ive got fiber one honey clusters. but im switching off to kashis autumn harvest for fall! yay
ohhhh i am LOVING the looks of that acorn squash! i love the mix of apples, onions and beans all together. what spices did you mix in with it?
and cereal! oh how i love thee! i think my two biggest things i look at when choosing a cereal are: the ingredients list and if it tastes good. i usually pay no attention to those labels!!!
***and by labels, i mean nutritional claims.
I had an egg sandwich yesterday too
yum yum. I don’t even read nutrition claims anymore, I just buy what has the least amount of ingredients and sugar, preferably high fiber. I use to eat a lot more cereal than I do now, I might have it once every 2 or 3 weeks.. I just prefer oats for breakfast instead, unless I have no time then cereal it is!
I still eat cereal every morning before work. Honey Nut Cheerios or sometimes some Chex. I try to work in Kashi now and then.
That some good looking acorn squash…. Yum fall food.
i love all cereal! not picky. i like how you pointed out the claims.