Are you CEREAL?

Cereal aside, I need to be serious and confess that I LOVE cereal and I eat it every night. Mr. Chicken Fried Steak, aka my hubby, has actually named my coveted little bowl of yumminess.  He calls it Angi’s nightly sleeping pill!!!  I cannot express to you how much I look forward to the cold, crunchy, sweet little bowl of delight!  It’s my “end of day” special treat for being an amazing mom, pumped up fitness professional,  encourager extraordinaire, playboy bunny for Mr. Chicken Fry, masterful maid, house manager and laundry specialist!  Ummm, yes I just made several justifications for my coveted bowl of cereal…there are worse things…right??

I have had a MAJOR cereal problem since I was a little girl.  To this day, my pantry houses at least 15 boxes of cereal on a bad week!  I’m totally cereal, I’m just like Jerry Seinfeld.  Tricks, Fruit Loops, Coco Pebbles, Frosted Mini Wheats, Cinnamon Life, Special K with Berries, Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms, and Apple Cinnamon Cheerios just to name a few!  I’m also Coocoo for Coco Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Kashi Crunch and Cracklin Oat Bran!  I have been known to mix and munch to my hearts content grabbing a handful here and there. But my infamous last bowl contains cold skim milk and is the perfect night-cap because it’s filling!  

→CEREAL has developed a serious reputation←

The stigma of the colorful cartooned boxes of breakfast have NOT been positive over the last 5 years.  The sugar and carbohydrate content can kill a diet UNLESS the consumer abides by the black and white writing on the side of the box!  The nutrition label is key.  Most cereals have a  3/4 cup serving size and whoever really eats 3/4 cup of cereal or for goodness sake even 1 cup?  Heck no, most of us get a JETHRO bowl and pour until that sucker is full to the rim!  Almost no room for milk…am I right? Most cereals are processed and high in sugar and if you quadruple the serving size you could be eating up to 600 calories a bowl. 

However, cereal can be a healthy way to satisfy a sweet tooth . It allows me a “healthy” choice without a ton of guilt. Most people eat cereal in the morning and are likely to burn off their breakfast before lunch. So say you have a double serving and have 300 calories it’s really not that bad considering cereal also contains decent nutritional value.

Unless you stuff down a ton of donuts, pancakes or biscuits and gravy, breakfast is like a FREE meal because you burn it up!  With that being said, if you are not working out you should be cautious of the sugary cereals especially if you don’t use skim milk.  Most boxes assume you will choose the healthiest option which is skim milk. For my moms out there who think their child needs the vitamins from 2% or whole milk, do me a favor and compare for yourself the nutrients between skim and 2%. You will find they are the exact same. The only thing missing is the extra fat and sugar!  

My go to nightly cereal is hands down Special K with Red Berries.  COST CO usually sells a double box! It’s like a light beam shoots down from heaven onto to the box and I hear a choir of angels singing hallelujah hallelujah.  There is something about the middle of the box that I’m most attracted to.  I’m not a soggy cereal eater and the middle of the box bowl contains the perfect mixture of flakes, berries and crunch!!!  It makes me so happy and sleepy. (lol)    

What’s your favorite cereal?  Are you a dry cereal or a cereal with milk kind of kid? 

I want to hear from all of my fellow serious cereal eaters!