Why we need to stop calling cereal unhealthy

It’s time to debunk the myths around a breakfast item that is quite literally feeding America.

First, hello to all of my lovely new followers! Thank you Substack for choosing me as a featured publication this week. I am honored to be here with all of you and excited to continue debunking diet culture myths.

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Here at Forkful, my mission is to inspire you to break up with your diet and pick up a fork. But today, I’m actually going to inspire you to pick up a spoon. 😉

I grew up in a pro-cereal household. We always had a few classics on hand— Frosted Flakes, Rice Krispies, Reese’s Puffs, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Trix, Kix, Lucky Charms, and Honey-comb (who else remembers these!?). And yet, with so many options, I was always a Cheerios girl. I loved a big fat bowl of Cheerios with fresh-cut strawberries — it was my idea of decadence as a child. Besides Saturday morning pancakes, of course.

But like every other lovely diet culture fad, I soon came to the belief that my cereal habit was bad for me. Cereal was known as an empty calorie food that was refined and full of added sugars, and apparently one of the main reasons why I was gaining weight. So of course, I stopped eating it. It’s been over seven years since I bought a box of cereal, and come on, how sad is that!

Photo by David Hunter on Unsplash

A few weeks ago, I wrote about processed foods and how there are still plenty of nutritious options in the “center” of the store. I used to be a big believer in Michael Pollan’s advice to shop the perimeter of the grocery store, but recently I’ve gained a better understanding of those center aisles. Not only do they still have nutritious, healthy options, but they are also affordable — which is key for many Americans who find Dollar General to be their closest grocery.

Cereal is such a key part of that center — sometimes taking up an entire aisle itself — but it has received such a bad rap over the years. Even recently, I spoke with a doctor about a story I was working on, and he told me that we need to “avoid all breakfast cereals” because it is bad for our gut health. He also said a few other things that were contradictory to the latest nutrition science, so you know, take that as you will. Doctors, unfortunately, don’t get enough nutrition education in medical school — some only require a single course, which is less than 25 hours of nutrition education in their entire four years. So maybe keep that in mind the next time your doctor brings up your BMI. (Rant over.)

Anyways, saying that cereal is bad without actually looking at the facts is causing a lot of harm for plenty of Americans who find cereal to be an easy and affordable option. This was all a big lightbulb moment for me as I was sitting at the Nutrition News Update in Arizona last month, listening to a thoughtful presentation by Amy Cohn, RD, CDM, CFPP, a dietitian who works as a senior manager for nutrition and external affairs at General Mills.

Now I admit, yes, my source for today does come from General Mills. Even when I first heard they would be presenting at this conference, I was highly skeptical. Because everyone knows cereal is bad for you, right? Why would we have someone presenting about it at a nutrition conference?

However, Amy’s presentation gave me a whole new perspective on cereal, food disparities, nutrition, and feeding America. And while she is a dietitian for General Mills, I do think it’s a topic we need to discuss — because whatever you believe about cereal or not, General Mills is actually doing a lot to provide nutritious options to low-income households in America.

Cereal provides nutrition in ways you may not expect.

I recently had a disappointing interview with a researcher I highly admire (more on this another time, promise), and he said that cereal these days is nutritionally comparable to a candy bar. It was difficult for me to not roll my eyes at this, because if you actually look at the nutrition, they literally are nothing alike.

To start, the first ingredient for most cereals on the shelf is whole grains. Made with either whole-grain wheat, oats, rice, or corn, cereal does provide a serving of whole grains, which Americans actually aren’t getting enough of. In 2016, the CDC reported only 15.8% of total grains consumed were whole grains, and we know that whole grains provide a variety of nutrients for the body and even help decrease disease risk. Whole grains are a great source of fiber; Honey Nut Cheerios actually gives you 3 grams, which is the same as that packet of oatmeal you love.

General Mills also ensures that cereal can provide Americans with many of the nutrients they need — especially the top four recommended to consume more of by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Amy points to their recent research: “We looked at the five foods Americans are eating for breakfast…ready-to-eat cereal, donuts or pastries, an egg dish (like omelets or quiches), frozen breakfast (like pancakes and waffles), and bread (for toast)…when you look at the nutrition quality of ready-to-eat cereal compared to the other breakfasts, cereal is providing more vitamin D, more calcium, more fiber, and more potassium,” says Amy. “The Dietary Guidelines for Americans state every single American is likely falling short of these in their daily diets. In addition to those big four, [cereal provides] more folate, more whole grains, more vitamin B12, more iron, more vitamin B6, more magnesium, and more phosphorous.”

To put this into perspective, Reese’s Puffs (yes, really) offers 25% of your daily value (DV) of iron, thiamin, niacin, folic acid, zinc, riboflavin, and vitamins B6 and B12. It also provides 10% DV of vitamins A, D, C, and calcium. In Reese’s Puffs! And that’s all before adding the milk!

According to a General Mills survey, 90% of consumers are eating cereal with milk and another 15% are adding fruit to the bowl as well; the most popular being a banana. Both of these additions provide a ton of more nutrition to the bowl including protein and calcium from the milk, and fiber and potassium from the banana.

Cereal and added sugar…let’s discuss.

Now we can’t move forward without discussing the inevitable — added sugar. Ah, the horror!

Let’s go back to that candy bar analogy. A package of Reese’s (with two normal-sized cups) has 22 grams of sugar. A serving of Reese’s Puffs only has 9 grams. Hmm, that math isn’t the same. Maybe another cereal is like a candy bar?

Okay, let’s go to a really “bad” one: Lucky Charms! That only has 12 grams of sugar in it per serving. Yes, with the marshmallows. And a normal-sized Snickers bar has 28 grams.

Huh, that math still isn’t adding up — not to mention the high number of nutrients and low amount of saturated fat within each bowl of cereal, both of which are not true about candy.

Now I’m not shaming candy (we love a treat!) but I just need to debunk the myth that cereal and candy are nutritionally the same.

Plus, this is a great time to point out how we need to be careful about choosing what is “good” and what is “bad” when it comes to sugar in food. A great example of this is drinking chocolate milk. Studies actually show that drinking a glass of chocolate milk can benefit workout recovery, and is surprisingly spoken of positively in the wellness space. And yet, an average glass of chocolate milk has 24 grams of sugar in it.

So where do we draw the line? Nine to 12 grams of sugar in a bowl of cereal is still beneath the added sugar daily limit for the American Heart Association and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. So if cereal is affordable for people and an easy way to get nutrition to your children in the morning, why are we so quick to bag on it?

Cereal is helping to feed America.

Like many grocery products right now, the prices in your cereal aisle may look a little different due to inflation. However, when you think about the affordability of cereal, it’s actually astonishing. Right now in New York City, I can buy a box of cereal for around $5 and a gallon of cow’s milk for $3. With this, I can actually get around 12 to 16 servings (depending on the cereal box size) — which means I’m only paying $0.50 to $0.67 a breakfast.

“When you think of underserved Americans who don’t have access to the same resources that say you or I do, what does ‘healthy’ look like for them?” Amy asks. “It looks different, and I think as a dietitian and as a mom, I want to course correct that narrative about ‘this is good food’ or ‘this is bad food.’ Food doesn’t have a moral value, and health can look different for different people, and that is perfectly okay.”

As we’ve come to learn, cereal can be a healthy option for many — and the data even shows. In March 2022, General Mills published a study in Frontiers in Nutrition that looked at the percentage difference between those who eat cereal and don’t eat cereal across three different family household income demographics in America (measured by the poverty-to-income ratio). Evaluating those four big nutrients — fiber, vitamin D, potassium, and calcium — along with other under-consumed nutrients, researchers found that those who ate cereal had a higher nutrient intake overall. In particular, the research showed households with lower income saw a major nutritional benefit toward meeting their daily needs by eating cereal compared to households that consume other breakfast products.

It’s part of the reason why General Mills works tirelessly to help feed Americans through programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Women Infants and Children (WIC), as well as assisting schools with breakfasts and lunches, and other child and adult care programs.

“People who don’t have to lean on these programs don’t realize that cereal is a part of every one of those programs because of its nutrient density, and they exist to help households that are living with a lower income,” says Amy.

Food is fuel and its pleasure.

When I started to really struggle with my weight, my father used to tell me I need to think of my food as fuel instead of turning to it for pleasure. While he was trying to be helpful, he, unfortunately, was feeding the diet culture machine — this belief that we need to look at our food as a mere aspect of survival, rather than actually enjoying what’s in front of us. Our culture associates pleasure and sin together, and our thoughts around food get all mixed up in it.

The thing is, food should be both! Yes, it is so important for the function and the longevity of our physical bodies to eat nutritious foods. But pleasure and enjoyment are also key for our mental health, and yes, even for our longevity.

“Nutrition isn’t nutritious if it’s not eaten,” Amy says. “I think we get so serious about nutrition that we forget that food is meant to be enjoyed. I can just tell you that working for General Mills for the last 15 years that consumers do not compromise on taste. Food has to taste good, otherwise, they don’t get the good nutrition that food provides. That goes for cereal, and many, many other food categories.”

Eating cereal is a part of both fuel and pleasure. Yes, it has some sugar, but so do a lot of other breakfast foods and snacks. But cereal also provides nutrition and attracts other nutritious foods — like protein-rich milk and yogurt, and fiber-rich fruits.

So if a bowl of cereal in the morning fills you and brings you joy, I mean, what’s stopping you? Diet culture? Are we really going to let the rest of the world dictate what we put in our bowls?

I’ll answer that — no, I refuse. So here’s a picture of me, buying two boxes of cereal for the first time in way too long. And you bet your butt I’m eating Cheerios with strawberries this morning.

Grab a fork straw!

In my interview with Amy, she shared a smoothie recipe that actually uses Cheerios. So, you know me, had to try it — because we love a smoothie. I mean, Cheerios is made from oats. And we love oats! The wellness industry especially loves everything oats and oat milk right now. So why wouldn’t it work in a smoothie, right?

Here’s a link to Amy’s smoothie recipe. I decided to add some peanut butter to mine, because why not! She also has a chocolate peanut butter smoothie recipe and even a Cheerios peanut butter quesadilla — I haven’t tried it myself, but I’m thinking don’t knock it until you try it.

Okay, that was a lot. I hope I didn’t scare off my new followers. But I am now cereal passionate. And I really look forward to debunking even more diet culture myths together.

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I want to make a note that while General Mills was a source for this story, this essay is in no way sponsored by them. I simply used them as a way to get another perspective on this topic out in the open. I do not publish sponsored posts through Substack and rely on paid subscriptions to fund my work. If you have questions, feel free to email me.