Are you a cereal lover? Last night, I was part of an excellent event at 18 Reasons hosted by Attune Foods. They are a phenomenal company here in San Francisco that focuses on using whole, simple ingredients. Total cereal dorks! It was cool to hear the history of cereal in this country as well as the story of their company, in particular Uncle Sam Cereal which dates back to 1908. They still use the original recipe! All of their products are non-GMO certified, they have a large gluten free program to support digestive health and are teaching people to be more connected to their food.
So…this company makes a lot of cereal…but is cereal good for you? To be honest, I don’t even know what the word “cereal” means anymore since so many cereal products on the market are laden with sugar and over-processed ingredients that they are basically junk food.
I encourage you to know what you are eating. When you are about to take a bite of food, consider asking yourself two questions:
What am I eating? More specifically, what nutrients am I eating? Is there a carbohydrate present? Am I eating a protein? Is there fat in this? Remember, every time you eat you are ideally getting a balanced plate to keep your body satiated and provide it with what it needs.
What is this made of? What are the ingredients? While sometimes ignorance can be bliss, I do not think we can apply that food anymore.
So, should everyone start eating cereal? Not necessarily. What I love about Attune cereals is that each product usually has less than five ingredients and they use high quality ingredients. Whole, simple foods. I especially love Uncle Sam because it is a high fiber option that has only 1g of added sugar per serving (from barley malt). A cereal that is good for you and not junk food!
Also, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Whether you start it with Uncle Sam or something else, get some protein and carbohydrate in you within an hour of waking to rev up your metabolism, get you out of the stress response and fueled for success!
There is no perfect food, there is not one food you need and there is no one perfect breakfast for everyone. What I can say is that if you start to notice the ingredients and nutrients, you will start to figure out how make nutrition for you.
So…what did you have for breakfast today?