Cereals and Ads killing our kids?

Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity just released a report that states “The worst cereals are being marketed very heavily to children.” Your preschool children can see on average 642 cereal commercials in one year! Now if you look at the boxes there are saying like Now made with whole grains and healthier! But look on the back and see that they could be as high as 50% sugar by weight. Healthy? With 50% Sugar? That equals the nutritional equivalent of a glazed doughnut. For many of these cereals have 12 or more grams of sugar per serving

The Food and Drug Administration is planing to have standard to labeling. Truth in labeling. That a cereal high is sugar can not be labeled as healthily. Sad thing is the commercials and the little ones wanting the sugar filled cereal will not end. Marking it with a big check mark and labeling in healthier is just another marketing ploy. Yes it is true that the cereals are healthier than before because the sugar dropped 3½ to 3 teaspoons a serving on average. Healthier but not healthy. But it also fact that kids that eat these cereals also eat 2 bowls. That's like eating 2 glazed donuts! Those cereals that we add sugar to will equal less sugar then the cereals with sugar and they still eat less. Win win situation!

Web MD posted the following as the best cereals. They add that served with milk and a piece of fruit you have a balanced breakfast,

• Cheerios (General Mills), with just 1 gram of sugar, 3 grams of fiber, and 190 milligrams of sodium.
• Kix (General Mills), with 3 grams of sugar, 3 grams of fiber, and 210 milligrams of sodium.
• Life (Quaker Oats), with 6 grams of sugar, 2 grams of fiber, and 160 milligrams of sodium.
• Honey Nut Cheerios (General Mills), with 9 grams of sugar, 2 grams of fiber, and 190 milligrams of sodium.

You know keeping kids from sugar sweet stuff is the hardest thing to do, but some of the cereals that Web MD found as good are:

• General Mills: Cookie Crisp, Golden Grahams Honey Graham, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Trix, Reese’s Puffs.
• Kellogg: Frosted Mini-Wheats Bite Size, Frosted Flakes Gold, Frosted Flakes, Cocoa Krispies, and Frosted Flakes Reduced Sugar.
• Post: Fruity Pebbles, Honey-Comb, Cocoa Pebbles.

I was lucky my daughter doesn't like really sweet sugary cereals. She likes Cheerios dry, Frosted Mini-Wheats Bite Size, and Apha Bits dry. Two out of three isn't to bad.