Thursday, June 23, 2011

Nutrition and Breakfast Choices (and Another Giveaway!)


Today I'm going to talk about...you guessed it...cereal!  (Meriah, stop laughing!!)  Yay!  Actually, there will be one more post on this topic and one more giveaway after this one, probably in a week or two.  I've thoroughly enjoyed some of the thoughtful and funny responses I've gotten from you all in the previous cereal posts, so keep them coming!

A recent study showed of DC parents showed that nutrition really doesn't count for anything unless kids are actually eating it.  I can hand Samantha green beans until the cows come home, but if she doesn't like the taste, what's the point of offering up something nutritious?  Same with cereal.  Taste is certainly important.  There is such a huge variety of cereal flavor options available, you really can't go wrong.  Even the pre-sweetened cereals deliver a low calorie count and high nutrient content.  Samantha likes cereal.  Just not with milk.  And I'm okay with that.  She still loves to drink milk.

I really don't think I need to say too much about the taste of cereal - personally, I think it's all good!  And even with the unsweetened variety, I tend to add a bit of sugar.  With each teaspoon of sugar containing @30 calories, I don't think it's too much of a transgression...  So I'll give you some factoids about whole grain content.  From the http://www.cerealbenefits.com/ website:  "Every General Mills Big G cereal contains at least 8 grams of whole grain per serving, and more than 20 General Mills cereals deliver 16 grams or more (at least 48 grams recommended daily)."

This graphic blew me away, especially since this is what I have been eating for the last few days.  Check out these amazing daily percent values - 60% of the folic acid recommendation for children under 4!!  Samantha has a predisposition towards low iron and low zinc, and this totally addresses that, too.  The list goes on and on...


The cereal and gift pack I received and which one of my commenters will receive was provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.  Please leave a comment below and tell me (see, gotta make you work for this!!) what some of the easy ways are to help you ensure that your child gets the necessary nutrients like Vitamin D, calcium, iron, folate and zinc in the foods that they eat.  Alternately, what are some tips you can share some with your fellow parents in the blogosphere to help ensure your children take advantage of the nutritional benefits of cereal?

A random commenter, to be selected on Monday, will receive the super-cool cereal dispenser shown at the top of this post!  I would have photographed my own, but Steve opened the box before I got home from work on the day it arrived and filled it with Goldfish.  Didn't think the sponsors would appreciate that too much...

14 comments:

Education: Exploring Online Learning said...

That is the coolest giveaway ever, because I'm pretty sure Honey Nut Cheerios is a food group.

Um, I give Ellie vitamin D. No cereal yet, but I imagine when she gets a little bigger, she'll be eating Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast every day just like my husband and I... the big question will be soy or regular milk!

Stephanie said...

Em loves cereal too! I think we as a family have consumed thousands of bowls of Honey Nut Cheerios. we also go through gallons of honey. We probably use way to much, but I love it when all the cheerios stick together, and then when you get to the bottom of the bowl and there is just some milk left it's all sweet and mixed with the honey. Yum!!

This has nothing to do with the type of comment you wanted, but for some reason felt the need to share the way I like my Cheerios. LOL

Unknown said...

I love your love of cereal!! still looking for the fruity cheerios! what I do to make cereal healthier...I crush up cereal and mix in Greek Yogurt...this helps Maddie with texture, chewing, self feeding and swallowing...I also read about dipping a banana any fruit in chocolate and then using crushed chocolate for a fun topping alt...and I am making that snack for my daycare kiddos...but that is all I got! need to check back for all the FAB! ideas...smiles

Crazy Beautiful Love said...

Once had a doctor tell my friend the same thing. That most of the time kids will eat nutritious stuff it just may not be what we think of...like cereal, pbj, bread, etc.
Luckily Em eats everything, esp cereal. She was fusing at me this morning for being out. We are all a little iron short in this family so PLUS to the cereal.

One question: Where can I get a dispenser? Where do they sell them? I was going to go buy a pet food one for Em and gold fish...so sick of "I want a snack" all the time!

Please don't count my comment since I already won. I will send some people your way though. :)
-erin

Runningmama said...

Instead of offering my kids real cookies and other sweet things every day as a treat I have them convinced that Cookie Crisp cereal is actually a treat...it probably has more sugar than some cereals out there, but less than eating lots of real chocolate chip cookies :-) My favorite cereal is Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I ate it for dinner almost every night in college!

Anna said...

I think I already shared my idea last time you did this! Wasnt it a week or so ago???? ha ha! I find it very interesting since I have always shied away from cereal. We typically serve little G cereal with yogurt in the morning to help with digestive issues and choking. She also loves when I mix it like trail mix with raisins and peanuts for a after nap snack. Only one more cereal post..... darn.

Lacey said...

Man, my kids would eat cereal all day and night! And surprisingly, they really don't like the lucky charms and other sugary ones. They'd rather have Life or honey bunches of oats!

my family said...

well honey nut cherrios is a staple in my house. my kids eat an abundance of cereal for dinner during baseball season. easy. fast. now I know its even nutritional :)

Love ther cereal dispenser....the kids would have a field day with that....wow we may never have to eat anything other than cereal if that were in my house, lol

Heather said...

Still haven't changed my mind on loving cereal myself but the family,yep,love it.Recently I began buying the chocolate Cheerios... my older girls were freaked... said I NEVER would have done that when they were little... boys are loving them.Nutrition wise,I think I don't necessarily focus on the numbers as much as I should maybe.I seem to focus on the no additives,all natural,usually organic.Don't get me wrong,we love our sweets around here but for instance,my kids have never had white bread.Choices like that make me think that I might be on the right track,regardless of keeping track of the nutritional facts.

Okay,way longer than I wanted it to be and if I win ... I am so putting M&M's in that baby!!

Meriah said...

(wipes laughing tears from eyes), how did you KNOW I'd bust out laughing the minute I read your intro?!!! You are psychic!

Thanks so much for the hearty morning chuckle.

I'm starting to feel like a bad mommy!! I'm laughing again, but I'm sort of serious. I try really hard to feed the kids variety and colour but I really don't go beyond that. It kind of stresses me out and that makes me sleepy and can't have that.

But let me tell you something: I went out and BOUGHT CHEERIOS the other day. BECAUSE OF YOU!!!!

TWO BOXES, EVEN!!!

krlr said...

Actually please DON'T enter me in the contest - GM will be happy to hear we go thru Cheerios too fast to be switching containers around, even the big costco-sized box. I'm still sad I didn't win the milk pitcher because even though we go thru milk just as fast, I could have used it for margaritas!

Becca said...

Krlr...I should still enter you in the drawing because the dispenser works GREAT for other stuff (like M&Ms, Goldfish, other dry, snacky stuff!) :-)

Heather said...

My boys absolutely love cereal especially the flavored Cheerios. I bet even my youngest, the picky eater, would eat more if I put it in a dispenser like this

Renee said...

My kids love cereal. Welsey and Lydia eat it with milk for breakfast but baby Josiah just finger feeds himself dry cereal. One thing about the third baby - he has tried a lot of different cereal and seems to like it all. I have even given him strawberry frosted mini wheats. I would have thought that was way too much sugar when the oldest was a baby. LOL.


Lydia has been really into having dry cereal (any kind almost) with raisins added to it for snack time. I think raisins ruin cereal and most things.