Make your cereal work for you during National Nutrition month

March is National Nutrition Month and a great time to focus on some aspects of a healthy diet. Because breakfast is truly the most important meal of the day, it makes sense to spend some time looking at one of the common foods consumed by people in the United States: cereal.

Buying healthy cereal may seem easy; avoid the colorful boxes with cartoon characters and stick to the ones featuring nuts, fruits and whole grain labels. Though that is a valid general rule to follow, there are many ways “healthy” cereals can be unhealthy, and it all has to do with the amount of ingredients like salt, sugar and refined grains.

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“Labels and marketing promises on boxes can be confusing. It’s best to go cereal shopping with a plan,” Kathy McManus, director of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in a statement.

McManus makes the following recommendations for making sure you leave the store with the healthiest cereal option available:

• Not all grains are made equal: Just because a box has the word “grains” on it doesn’t mean it should automatically be considered healthy. When buying cereal, it is important to look for corn, whole wheat, or brown rice grain not refined grain. According to McManus, refined grain can cause spikes in blood sugar.
• Watch the sugar: Ideally, a serving of cereal should have no more than 5 grams of sugar; however, this can be a challenge. The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research organization, found that 92 percent of cold cereals in the United States come preloaded with added sugars. This is an example of the importance of reading nutrition labels on cereal before purchasing.
• Get that fiber: Dietary fiber is one of the great benefits to choosing the right cereal. According to the Mayo Clinic, fiber helps the body maintain a healthy weight and can lower the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Men and women need between 20 to 40 grams of fiber a day, and McManus recommends a cereal serving should have at least 5 or more grams of fiber.
• Watch out for sodium: Salt probably isn’t something you think is in a cereal, but salt is in almost every commercial food product in one form or another. Though salt, or sodium, is an essential mineral needed by the body, the American Heart Association cautions that too much salt can result in excess fluid in the body and an increase in blood pressure that can damage vessels and cardiac muscle. The Association recommends adults take in no more than 1500 mg of salt a day, but some cereals have as much as 300 mg per serving. A healthy cereal should have no more than 200 mg per serving.
  

  Avoid cereal with cartoon labels as a general rule. (Shutterstock)

• Watch the calories: Calories tend to be one of the first things people check on a nutrition label, but companies can be tricky when they post their health facts. A healthy cereal should have no more than 150 calories per serving; but make sure to see just how large the company considers a serving to be. Many cereal boxes label a serving as one measuring cup–a much smaller portion than most people pour into a bowl. In order to keep a cereal healthy, serving sizes must be adhered to.

Daunted by how difficult it may be to find a healthy cereal? Whatever you do, don’t use it as an excuse to skip breakfast. During National Nutrition Month researchers clearly stress that eating breakfast is beneficial to the body in a number of ways, kick starting metabolism and improving cognitive function throughout the day. People who eat breakfast have lower rates of chronic diseases and are more likely to achieve a healthy weight.

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If you’re note a cereal person, McManus recommends any combination of lean protein, whole grains and fresh fruit. One example, she indicated, would be an egg-white omelet prepared in small amount of healthy oil (canola, olive) with spinach, mushrooms, and onions, along with one slice of whole-grain toast and a fresh orange.