I know I’ve blogged about homemade muesli & cereal a bunch of times, but it’s because I love cereal, and after trying many different brands I’ve realized that making it myself is the healthiest option (it’s also easy, yummy & cheap). There are very few pre-made cereal options out there that pass my healthy cereal test.
Does your cereal pass the test?
Pull out the cereal boxes in your cupboard…go ahead, go get them.
Look at the nutrition label, and give yourself a gold star for each number that you say yes to:
1. The 1st ingredient is a whole grain – yes/no
2. It includes at least 4g of fiber per serving – yes/no
3. It has less than 5g of sugar per serving – yes/no (I bet you were doing pretty good up until this one weren’t you?)
What’s your score? Did you get 3 stars? Probably not.
Unless you make your own cereal it can be difficult to find a truly healthy cereal out there! Most of them have too much sugar, not enough fiber and have crazy, refined & processed ingredients in them like soy protein isolate (not good for you, but that’s a whole other topic for another day).
That being said, I recently discovered a cereal that does pass the test. The brand is called Nature’s Path Organics – Heritage Flakes (you can buy it at Costco). It sort of tastes like cardboard by itself so I would recommend jazzing it up with some nuts, seeds, dried & fresh fruit, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
BTW, I realized I’ve never given you the recipe for my homemade cereal, so here it is!
Passes the Test Homemade Cereal
Ingredients
1/3 cup rolled oats (gluten-free oats available)
1 tbsp of pumpkin or sunflower seeds
1 tbsp walnuts
1 tbsp of hemp seeds
1 tbsp of chia or ground flaxseed
1 tsp cinnamon (potent antioxidant!)
1 tbsp of dried fruit (raisins, prunes, or apricots)
½ banana sliced (or other fresh fruit of choice)
1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
Method
Combine ingredients in a bowl, stir in milk & banana and enjoy! You can eat it right away, or let it sit for 5-10 minutes if you like the oats mushy.
This is also a great on-the-go breakfast option. Pre-mix the dry ingredients the night before, and just add milk & fruit at work the next morning!
If your cereal passed the test I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment, and share the knowledge!
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