nosh magazine (issue 2) | Page 5

TIP 2 TIP Look for wholegrain 3 TIP 4 Be moderate with sugars I don’t want a sugary cereal but I don’t mind a little sweetness. So I follow a general rule summarised from many criteria over the years e.g. Choice, Heart Foundation Tick, which says to choose a cereal 15 per cent sugars or less, or 25 per cent sugars or less if the cereal has dried fruit such as sultanas, raisins, dried apple or dried apricots (e.g. Sultana Bran, Just Right, Fibre Plus, muesli) as these contribute their own sweetness. The content of sugars varies from a tiny one per cent for oats, Vita Brits or Weeties to almost a hefty 40 per cent in Frosties, Froot Loops or Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes. Added sugar in cereals is such a festering sore that I plan to write a separate post on it. Note: “sugars” includes both added AND natural. The food label isn’t helpful here! N Go easy on sodium (salt) Ideally you want as little sodium as possible. Technically a low-salt cereal must have less than 120mg per 100g but companies today have been gradually reducing their salt content, which is a great improvement on years past. Compare brands and buy the lowest sodium content you can. Anything under 400mg per 100g is good. Cereal Sugars % Fibre % Fat % Sodium mg per 100 g Oats, raw 0 10 9 nosh magazine Look for a cereal that contains 50 per cent whole grains or more. It’s usually splashed all over the front. The more, the better. Weet-Bix has 97 per cent whole grains while rolled oats hits the max at 100 per cent. If not, you can check the list of ingredients for clues that “Whole Grains” are present. Words like whole wheat, whole barley, oat AND brown rice are clues. My tip: go for a cereal that contains the words ‘whole ’ or ‘ wholegrain ’ in the first two ingredients. 7 Vita-Brits <1 12 2 400 Weeties 1 12 2 400 Shredded Wheat 2 13 1 10 Weet-bix 3 11 1 290 Corn Flakes 8 3 0 550 Rice Bubbles 9 1 0 550 Mini Wheats, Mixed berry 11 10 1 10 Guardian 12 22 1 215 All-Bran 14 30 3 380 Uncle Toby’s Bran Plus 14 40 5 390 Vogel’s Ultra Bran 14 26 2 320 Special K 15 3 0 490 Cheerios 16 10 3 295 Muesli* 18 11 7 28 Sustain 20 6 3 97 Barley Max Digestive 21 25 6 56 Sultana Bran 23 15 2 270 Just RIght 29 8 2 30 Crunchy Nut Flakes 32 3 3 355 Nutri-Grain 32 3 1 560 Coco Pops 37 1 0 465 Froot Loops 38 2 2 400 Frosties 41 2 0 350 All figures rounded to the nearest whole number. Source: Manufacturers’ data / Calorie King Australia online. *Manufacturers’ data: Uncle Toby’s Swiss-style Natural. CLICK HERE to read the full article online, which includes Catherine’s Cereal Label Decoder and her Top 10 picks for Healthy Breakfast Cereals. Catherine Saxelby, APD Learn more about Catherine: website | profile Catherine is an accredited nutritionist, dietitian and blogger for busy women who want to eat right and lose weight. She’s the author of “Catherine Saxelby’s Food and Nutrition Companion” and offers Fact Sheets and Product Reviews via her website. + www.n4foodandhealth.com 5