Cereal goodness
The breakfast staple can be a great way to start the day, but be wary of store-bought ones
OTHERS :
“Hobbes: What’s that cereal you’re eating?
Calvin: It’s my new favourite, “Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs". Have a taste.
Hobbes: Thank you. (clutching throat) MFFPBTH!!!!! S-Sw-Sw SWEET!!!!!!!!!
Calvin: Actually, they’re kinda bland till you scoop sugar on ’em.
What’s not to love in packaged breakfast cereals? They’re sweet, salty, crunchy and they make an instant breakfast. There’s also the added bonus of feeling all virtuous about having started the day with a healthy, low-fat, iron-rich, calcium-rich breakfast.
Or so television commercials would have us believe. Nothing beats the convenience of a commercially packaged breakfast cereal—but are they really healthy?
Most of these cereals are marketed to children and busy professionals. A quick glance at the nutritional labels on the popular cereal brands in India (Note: I went through the data for its brands on the Kellogg’s India website) show that they have anywhere between 8.2-34.5g sugar per 100g and 0.4-0.65g of sodium per serving. Just so that you can get an idea, 100ml of Amul ice cream has 8g of added sugar and a large portion of branded French fries has around 0.35g of sodium.
Too much sugar in the daily diet is a known cause of tooth decay in children. Foods with high sugar tend to be lower in vitamins and minerals and take the place of more nutritious foods. It is a known fact that sugar-rich foods are loaded with unnecessary calories, leading to childhood obesity.
Eating a high dose of sugar has been known to suppress immunity—i.e., reduce the ability of white blood cells to fight bacteria. Some children and adults show deterioration in behaviour, shorter attention spans and poorer learning abilities in proportion to the amount of refined sugars consumed.
A diet rich in refined sugars sends the blood sugar to a peak, which in turn triggers the release of insulin. The insulin immediately transfers the sugars into the cells, leading to a sudden drop in blood sugar. This leads to a craving for more sugar and fatty foods, paving the path to overeating and obesity.
But not everything about breakfast cereals is bad.
Healthy mornings
A study published in March in Obesity Facts concluded that “regular consumption of breakfast cereals results in a lower BMI (body-mass index) and a reduced likelihood of being overweight in children and adolescents". Then again, a lot depends on the composition of the breakfast cereal; there is a mind-boggling variety in the market. Plain, unflavoured to artificial fruit-flavoured, chocolate-coated, organic, multigrain flakes with no sugar—the choice is endless.
Eating a good breakfast cereal has its health benefits—not only is it good for the heart, but eating wholegrain fibre brings about a feeling of satiety and helps maintain regular bowel movement and regulate blood sugar levels. Plus, you get calcium from skimmed milk and a serving of fruit. Breakfast cereals are also fortified with essential vitamins, iron and calcium, helping you tick those boxes first thing in the morning.
Pick the right one
So how does one choose a healthy breakfast cereal? The boxes claim high fibre, zero cholesterol, low fat and so on, but the real killers are the sugar and sodium, and there is no way to understand that but to read the fine print—the nutrition label on the side panel of the box. It will usually show the split of nutrients for 100g and a 30g serving.
If you have a food weighing scale, you’ll realize that 30g of cereal is much less that what an adult usually serves himself. If the label says 10g of sugar per 30g serving, that means your breakfast cereal is over 30% sugar. So this one can be low-fat, high-fibre, iron-rich, etc., but it basically means your breakfast is one-third sugar and that’s not good for you.
Even if the box claims “wholegrain", you won’t know how much of it is wholegrain unless you read the label—if the first two-three ingredients don’t mention wholewheat or wholegrain oats, it means the cereal just has a sprinkling of wholegrains and is mostly refined.
There is, of course, a way of avoiding store-bought cereals altogether—just make your own healthy, nutritious mix. They are simple to make, don’t require much time and they store well.
Homemade granola
Makes 10 cups
Ingredients
6 cups rolled oats (old-fashioned oats)
1 cup unsweetened cornflakes or wheat flakes
1 cup almonds, slivered
Half a cup sunflower seeds
Half a cup pumpkin seeds
A quarter-cup sesame seeds
1 cup dried coconut slivers (optional)
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
One-and-a-half cups homemade apple sauce
Half a cup honey or maple syrup
1 cup chopped dried fruit mix, such as chopped dates, raisins, dried figs, and apricots (to be mixed later)
Method
To make the apple sauce: Halve three medium-sized apples and place them in a vessel in a pressure cooker containing two cups water. Pressure-cook for three whistles or 5 minutes on low heat. Remove when cool, peel the skin and remove core/seeds, mash with a fork or in a small mixer.
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, mix all the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, coating them well.
Transfer the mix to a baking tray in three-four batches depending on the size of the tray and oven, making a half-inch layer. Bake for 30-40 minutes, rotating the tray midway. The granola should turn golden brown and not burn. Remove, break into chunks, mix the dried fruit and save in airtight containers on cooling.
Indian ‘dalia’ with dried fruits
Makes roughly 1.2kg of dry mix, which can be refrigerated and used over a month.
Ingredients
1kg dalia (broken wheat)
Half a cup sesame seeds
100g flax-seed meal
Half a cup dried dates, chopped
Half a cup raisins
1 cup toasted almonds, slivered
2 tablespoons clarified butter (ghee)
Sauté all the ingredients in 2 tablespoons ghee, cool and store in a Ziploc bag in the fridge.
Method
To prepare, use a quarter-cup of mix per person, pressure-cook with half a cup of water and a piece of jaggery (gur). Add half a cup of milk while serving. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, soak one portion with double the water and refrigerate overnight. Microwave for 3 minutes the following morning and add milk to the cooked porridge.
Foxtail millet ‘poha’
Foxtail millet is called kakum in Hindi, kaon in Bengali, kang in Gujarati/Marathi, navane in Kannada, tenai in Tamil and korra in Telugu. These millets can be pressure-cooked with twice the quantity of water for 2-3 minutes and refrigerated/frozen and used to make porridge, upma, idli or any other breakfast dish. A good way to eat wholegrain, they are rich in fibre and iron.
(Serves 2)
Ingredients
Half a cup foxtail millet (dry)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Half a teaspoon mustard seeds
Half a teaspoon cumin seeds
2 sprigs curry leaves
2 green chillies, slit lengthwise
A handful of peanuts
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
A quarter-teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt to taste, lemon juice, fresh coconut
Method
Temper mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, green chillies and peanuts in hot oil. Sauté sliced onions till soft, add turmeric powder, salt, cooked and separated millets, lemon juice and toss well. Garnish with some fresh coconut and serve hot.
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5 Things to remember while choosing a breakfast cereal off the shelf
® Wholegrain mentioned in the nutrition panel.
® At least 3g fibre per serving.
® As little sugar as possible—discard anything that has over 7g sugar per serving, or has artificial sugar like aspartame.
® Not more than 250 calories.
® Stay away from those that have fake fruits (mostly sugars and dyes), which only increase the sugar and sodium content. Check that it has no hydrogenated fats or trans fats.
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