Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

What are your parental views on sugar cereal? Do you/will you buy it?

I never had it growing up and have never bought it for my kids - or at least I didnt think I did. Kix, Honey Nut Cheerios, yes but not other stuff. God knows they have a better choice of healthier non sugar cereals than I did as a kid. My DH did buy Fruity Pebbles (!!) for my son when he took him camping a few weeks ago and although I was against it, I didnt get involved since my DH was going to be the one dealing with the sugar high. I was actually quite disappointed to see that Cheerios "sold out" and made Fruity Cheerios, which taste just like Fruit Loops. Not sure how the sugar compares but the Fruity Cheerios werent without a decent amount of sugar, I checked the box. Then I saw that Honey Nut Cheerios, which I never considered a sugar cereal and have purchased, has a few grams more sugar than the Fruity Cheerios...so at this point, the FC are a better alternative to the HNC's but taste sweeter and look more artificial. Anyone think that the supposed "healthier" cereals full of raisins and cinnamon coating are the same as getting Apple Jacks, Cocoa Puffs, Captain Crunch, etc.?

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

cereals are so hard to pick a low sugar one!!I pick up box after box of cereal in the store and walk up and down the aisle to find one that has less than 24 grams. We tend to stick with Trader Joes O's which have less sugar than Cheerios. DH does buy the occassional box of Frosted Flakes or Lucky Charms but he usually eats 1/2 the box so I only deal with the rest of it.

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

I usually go for the Oatmeal Raisin Crisp cereal, Kiks or occassionally a sugar cereal like Honey Nut Cheerios or Quisp.

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

I swear I am in the cereal aisle for a 1/2 hour just reading labels what you think is a "good" cereal is not always the case.

In fact right now we have 3 cereals in the house and I just compared their content. I am surprised that the newest one I got EnviroKids Organic Orangutan-O's which I thought was the lowest in sugar is not and is also the lowest fiber content

Kix Sugar 3g Fiber 3g
Puffins Sugar 6g Fiber 6g
EKOO's Sugar 9g Fiber 2g

I'm gonna check out Trader Joe's brand, but plain old Cheerios still does good at Sugar 1g and Fiber 3g.

I will usually sacrifice a couple grams of sugar if it is loaded with fiber.

Another one my son liked that I think Kelloggs recently discontinued was Tiger Power cereal. From what I remember it was low on sugar and high on fiber.

He also likes granola, so lots of times I put plain cheerios in a bowl with trail mix, craisins, or granola etc just to make it more interesting and he loves it.

Message edited 8/14/2006 2:41:57 AM.

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

I'm going to try to avoid sugar cereals and get the healthiest cereals possible. My husband's a big fan of healthy cereals, so I'm hoping he'll pass that to Christopher.

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

We were only allowed to have certain cereals as a kid, if theri sugar content was low enough. I know that Cinammin TOast Crunch was allowed, it barely made it. But DH could eat any cereal and he still eats that sugary crap ie. Lucky Charms, Cookie Crisp (which I actually loce too ), Fruity Pebbles, so I am not so sure that keeping them away from cereal like that is going to work.

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

We haven't hit the asking for cereal, but Chris does buy the sugary cereal. I allow it on occasion, but Gabriella prefers oatmeal over any cereal, so I don't worry about it much, now. I think we will still allow cereals on occasion, ie. a treat on Sunday morning.

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

I will not buy any sugery cereals for my son. He has regular cheerios and that is it!

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

I admit I try and give Andrew Kix, Cheerios, rice krispies, etc., however, he has had a taste of Capt'n Crunch and was begging for more the following week we were in the supermarket, walking down the cereal aisle and he spotted the capt'n Crunch. Oh boy, was that fun when I told him we weren't buying it.

I know as a kid, my parents let us have any cereal we liked, and my favorite was Fruity Pebbles We're going to stick with the better cereals for now, but every once in while for treat, I can see myself giving Andrew a bowl of a sugary cereal.

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

While I don't buy it very often a sweet cereal IMO is no big deal. As long as throughout the day they are eating healthy, I don't get all crazy over it. I buy multigrain Cheerios which have 100% of the vitamins and minerals you need and it is a litle sweet and probably high in sugar. Cookie Crisp on the other hand I will never buy...might as well dump some oreos in a bowl.

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

The new fruity Cheerios are fantastic! A great alternatice to fruit loops!

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

When both Dh and I were growing up we didn't have sugary cereals. My mom actually let my bro and I pick 1 sugary cereal of our choice once a month.

We grew up on cherios, rice krispies, life, kix, raisin bran, mini wheats, sometimes cinnamon toast crunch.

I didn't miss it growing up, my mom refused to give us sugar in am. We did were allowed sweets, just not at breakfast.

DH and I will prob give our kids the same deal. We also never drank Soda, the only time Soda was in either of our homes was during holidays/birthdays.

Now as adults, we don't drink Soda at all or eat lots of sugar.

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

Jenna has an obsession with cheerios so I am happy in that sense-although she saw me eating Lucky Charms one morning and had to have a taste of them-I have to have Lucky Charms in the house though-they are MY addiction-lol.

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

When I was growing up we weren't allowed sugary cereals very often. On the rare occasion that my mom did buy it, she would mix the box with a box of Cheerios or Rice Krispies!!!

I would like to try to avoid the high sugar cereal for my DD, buy my DH loves them! I don't know how it's going to work -- "Daddy has ______; but you can't. You have _______ instead"??? I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it goes. Maybe DH will have to stop eating cereal. Maybe I can get him to switch to the fruity cheerios.

Re: Spinoff the the soda thread: Sugar cereal

Growing up we could have any cereal we wanted. My brother and I were athletes and we would burn it off with no problems- we were that active.

As for my son, I'd like to keep those cereals as a once in a while treat.