Anyhoo, crunchy floors are just one reason I'm breaking up with breakfast cereal. Here's some more:
1. It's expensive. Even with coupons.
2. The boys polish off a box in one breakfast.
3. My shopping cart has no room left for vital nutrients after we pass the cereal isle.
4. Someone always finishes the "good" cereal stirring up word wars, whining and those self-pity "Woe is me, I'm going to starve, no one loves me" fits.
5. The more I read and research, the more I'm convinced that we need to cross cereal off of our shopping list permanently.
Now, I know it's yummy. Trust me, I've been known polish off a bowl of the stuff at any given time of day. Not only is it yummy, it's also easy to fix. The kids can serve themselves, it's fast and it's simple.
I have no illusions of this being an easy change in our household. No siree Bob. This break-up might even evoke the shedding of a few tears. But, just like dating, there's other fish in the sea....or in our case other food in the fridge.
Medical research continues to show that a whole-foods, (primarily) plant based diet is essential for optimal health. Such research clearly makes (most) cereals bad guys, since cereal is one of the most highly processed foods we can eat. Haven't you ever wondered how they take a grain of wheat, corn or oats and turn it into something puffed, colored and coated with every flavor imaginable?? A whole foods diet implies that the food you eat most closely resembles the food in it's origin as a whole. You don't open up a colorful box of crispiness and pour out a bunch of wheat berries and corn kernels, now do ya??
My plan is to slowly phase the cereal out of the pantry. What will take it's place?? Most likely, oatmeal, homemade granola, smoothies, homemade whole-grain pancakes/waffles, eggs and Ezekiel toast. There are also a great number of suggestions on Pinterest and on this webpage.
If you are interested in reading more about why cereal might not be the wisest breakfast choice, check out these links:
What do you think??? Have you made the switch?? If so, how did it go?? Do you have any suggestions?? Please leave a comment ~ We'd love to hear from you!!
During the summer, cereal mainly remains on the shelf. We enjoy a wide variety of healthy meals. Unfortunately, once school starts and the kids have to be out the door by 6:30, it all goes down the toilet. Occasionally I'll get up early to make something, and I always have hard-boiled eggs available, and they always have fruit with their cereal, but still, it is cereal most days. Ugh. Good luck with your break-up! May the children love the changes and give you little to no grief.
ReplyDeleteWe stopped cereal almost a year ago and it made a huge difference in the boys' behavior, especially my oldest. I did not really notice how the artificial junk in the cereal affected his behehavior until I allowed cereal while we were on vacation this summer and then continued it after we got home because we were out of the house early for swim lessons. The days he ate cereal, he had poor impulse control and he would get angry very quickly. He would get more wild. He had cereal for about a month before I finally realized what was causing the outbursts(And, truthfully, my husband and I talked about wether he needes counseling . . . it was that bad). Once cereal was eliminated, he was back to his old self. We still have half eaten boxes in the pantry that I refuse to give the boys.
ReplyDeleteI have completely sworn off cereal!