5 Worst Breakfast Cereals For Your Health

As the most important meal of the day, Breakfast should be filled with healthy nutrients to kick start your energy.  With the proliferation of high-sugar breakfast cereals it’s obvious we are not heeding common sense when it comes to our diet.  Americans eat nearly 150 bowls of cereal per year. Choosing the right brands can mean the difference between smaller jeans or bursting belts. Avoid these five worst cereals for your health to start making better choices for Breakfast.

5. Apple Jacks

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. A serving of Apple Jacks per day will set you on the fast track for diabetes. This insulin inducing breakfast treat is a refined carb candy full of processed corn and wheat flour doused in sugar. It’s been stripped away of healthy ingredients like vitamins and fiber.

4. Trix

My mom always told me to never trust a rabbit. From Bugs Bunny to Roger Rabbit, there’s something sketchy about a long-eared fluffy animal.  This cereal may be colorful, but all it’s filled with is sugar and carbohydrates. There is only one gram of energy filled protein per serving here.  Even the name is sketchy – it ‘trix’ you into thinking it’s a decent breakfast.

3. Smorz

Common sense should tell you to avoid this cereal. Smorz are graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows, also known as a sugar-rush.  How do you think Kelloggs is going to emulate this snack in a cereal?  Thirteen grams of sugar per serving along with two grams of fat – in a cereal!

2. Froot Loops

A classic favorite. I was shocked to learn that my staple cereal growing up was one of the worst ever made. When the first ingredient listed on a box of food is sugar, stay away.  With so much sugar, you are liable to crash halfway to lunch and crave even more calories. 

Don’t be fooled by the ‘fruit’ in this cereal; the closest thing it has to fruit are its colors.

1. Cocoa Puffs

This General Mills concoction of chocolate and refined carbohydrates takes the cake (or I guess cereal), when it comes to unhealthy breakfast foods.  With nearly 50% sugar it’s no wonder kids are hyperactive these days. 

A serving of Cocoa Puffs has 12 grams of sugar, and 1.5 grams of fat. These empty calories come from sugar, corn syrup, cocoa, and refined wheat.

Simple carbohydrates like sugars and refined carbohydrates are unhealthy because they are digested so fast that they enter your bloodstream almost instantly as glycogen. Your body has to metabolize the sugars be secreting fat-inducing insulin. This is a double edged sword because it causes fat retention and hunger. While you are gaining weight, you crave more food!

Fortunately, there are a number of healthy cereals full of vitamins, fiber, protein, and whole grains.  Read the labels and nutrient information when purchasing your next cereal to choose a healthier brand. If you have a sweet tooth, try adding slices of fresh fruit or yogurt.