Cereal dilemma for breakfast
What is in the breakfast-time cereal packet?
Cereal packets hide a great marketing secret, in the recent UK television programme Dispatches, shown on C4, there was a fascinating look at the cereal industry and it revealed some telling statistics about our breakfasts.
The boxed cereal industry in the UK is a multi-billion pound industry. Mothers are often harrassed by their children to buy the box with the free playing cards (that was me, aged nine years old- I am so sorry Mum) and the box with the latest superhero cut out was, and perhaps still is the child's and, for a peaceful life, the parental choice too!
The
average price of a packet of cereal is about £2 for a 500g box, but
what do we get for that price tag? Many breakfast cereals can
contain a lot of sugar.
The seconds we take to choose a cereal gives us little time to understand or decipher the elaborate words on the labelling. It is worth bearing in mind that box claims can be nutritionally vague.
Boxed breakfast cereals are often extruded grains which can be a challenge to digest and I have found that the feeling of being satiated is often short-lived.
Yet the fact remains that cereals are easy to prepare for breakfast, the boxes are alluring and the millions of pounds spent on annual marketing campaigns seem to work.
But what of the alternatives to cereals at breakfast?
Porridge is an age old staple that is easy to prepare, fills tummies and, when soaked overnight in warm water with a squeeze of lemon juice (seriously it isn't that hard to do), porridge is a very nourishing way to start the day. Soaking the oats, with lemon juice, assists the breakdown of the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors, which essentially aids better digestion.
If you wish to save money this Winter, make porridge for breakfast in the morning. I have found organic porridge oats for one third of the price of the brightly, coloured, boxed cereals, the major downside is I won't get a free superhero sticker with my porridge!
Tags: cereal, breakfast, sugar, porridge
Comments
"I made a wonderful homemade granola with whole grains, honey, nuts, and my secret ingredient - maple syrup!... well, I guess that is not a secret anymore..."
"Large companies USE our children to take our money and at the same time they destroy our environment. All by simply putting a toy in a box of cereal. We let them do this! This is just one small example. We let it all happen, with our laziness, ignorance, and denial. "