"Breakfast, the most important meal of the day", this is what we've been told for as long as I can remember. This is quite true if you just think about the basic idea behind breakfast. You wake up in the morning , or late afternoon for those of you in your teens and early twenties. Your body has been working hard while you slept all night, regenerating cells, healing what needed healed, digesting the meals from the day prior. For most, this is the longest period of time spent without taking in nourishment, so it stands to reason that come daybreak your stomach has been drained of it's treasures leaving you feeling hungry. Additionally the first meal of the day will set the pace for the rest of the day. Not eating at all can leave you feeling sluggish and unresponsive as you are in need of nutritive fuel, for some, like myself, this can lead to an almost guaranteed migraine by lunchtime. Calories are important as they supply the raw energy needed to get the job done, whatever that job may be. However, not just any calories, but ones with real value, calories laden with vitamins, minerals, protein, carbs (bite me Dr. Adkins!), fiber and the like. So yes, I would concur that breakfast is quite important.
This brings me to my big question, why is it so difficult to find a "breakfast" food that is actually worth while? The mere mention of the word breakfast brings to most minds the cereal bowl, that classic milk and spoon associated morning table staple. At one time I'm sure that this was not so bad a thing, I'm sure that somewhere in the world this is still a healthy and nutritious way to start the day, but not here folks. Make no mistake, the vast majority of breakfast cereals adorning supermarket shelves (even the natural and organic ones) are an empty promise of healthful morning options. A long time ago I became a label reader (lactose intolerance will do that to you), I began to realize that what I had always been lead to believe were good foods were really just another spin-doctored facade put in place to steal my money and deliver little in return. First of all, out of those 75 + "options" in the cereal isle, there exists only a few grains; corn (of course), wheat, rice and oats. You may get lucky and find some flax seed or sesame but they are likely mixed in with one of the big four. Second, most of them are highly refined, even the ones with purported "whole grain" goodness are so far processed that they offer little whole grain benefit. Next is of course the all mighty sugar content. If you read most of the cereal boxes, the second ingredient is usually sugar followed by high fructose corn syrup (surprise!), this little fact tends to go unnoticed in part I believe due to the Nutrition Facts method of misinformation. The serving size is usually posted first in American terms such as 1 cup, while the specifics are listed in metrics which few of us understand even though it makes more logical sense. Example, 1 cup serving size contains 19 grams of sugars, oh that doesn't sound too bad, right? In this case 1 cup is equal to 59 grams, thus 19 grams of sugar is equal to roughly one third of the total weight, so for every three spoonfuls of cereal, one of them is solid sugar. What cereal is this you ask? Raisin Bran. Yeah, check out the name, Raisins= healthy, Bran= healthy, and yet one third of it is sugars, in fact, it only has six ingredients, aside from all the added vitamins, and two of them are sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Now you can just imagine what our favorite cereals like Cap'n Crunch, Golden Crisp (Formerly known as "Sugar" Crisp) and golden grahams contain. Just in case you are an oatmeal or granola fan I checked them out too, the flavored oatmeal such as Quaker instant is between 1/3 and 1/2 sugar, Their Natural Granola clocks in at about 1/3 sugar as well.
The bad part is that these companies are still trying to blow sunshine up your ass with their clever marketing like my recent favorite; Kellogg's Fruit Loops now has Fiber! Awesome! Now I have some help pushing all that sugary goodness through my colon! I'm pretty sure that if I at a tree and crapped it out I could advertise that it had fiber, I still don't think people would want to eat it, maybe if I took a tip from the cereal companies and added a 1/2 cup of sugar to each turd, then maybe I could sell some, I mean it's working for them isn't it?
I won't lie, I love cereal, always have and why shouldn't I? I mean after all the companies have designed it to appeal to my basic desires -sweet is good. I still enjoy sitting down in the evening with a cup of fruit loops or corn pops and snacking away but I'm not starting my day off with it and I'm not deluding myself into believing that it's doing anything for me other than appeasing my sweet tooth and pushing me towards obesity and diabetes but at least I'm honest with myself.
Enjoy your little indulgences, but please don't lie to yourself about what you're eating and don't let the corporations fool you into thinking that crap is more than just crap unless of course you enjoy a steaming pile of excrement and wood chips. Bon appetite!
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