Cereal Monogamy

[Wombat]

If Sustain was developed in Australia and it seems to be better for you, I wonder why it isn't available in North America, the nutrioin crazed society that we are, it sounds like something I would like.

MarkB

I really couldn't hazard a guess. Given Australia's extraordinary success at recent Olympics and the central role of the AIS in achieving that success, I should have thought that other countries would be studying their methods. Sustain contains many different grains as well as nuts and dried fruits so the energy release is gradual and continuous for several hours. I'm not sure how good it would be for people who aren't physically active or living high-stress lives.

[susnfx]

Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds (or the generic equivalent carried by one store where I shop). Like Carol, I've eaten the same breakfast every day for years - cereal and orange juice (apple juice if we're out of OJ but I try not to be out of OJ).

(It's a Christmas Day tradition for us now to eat breakfast out. Then, and only then, do I go all out and eat eggs, sausage, hash browns, the required large OJ and a large Diet Coke.)

Susan

[The Weekenders]

Too many carbs. Most cereal is delicious but should be reclassified as dessert topping, not a basic food. I do eat Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal once or twice a week for purported lower cholesterol effects,tho, so I am now a mono,yes. I put in walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, splash of 1/2+1/2 and maple syrup from Canuckia. I am still fat but cholesterol went down 40 pts. in six months.

[bradhurley]

I totally agree that most cereal is too sweet. I have a serious sweet tooth but can't stand sweetened cereal for some reason. Nature-Os were the last good-tasting unsweetened cereal I could find before I stopped eating cereal for breakfast (living with a French woman, I now eat the standard French breakfast of coffee and toast with butter and jam).

Nutri-Grain cereals used to be unsweetend, but then they added sugar to boost sales. It backfired on them. A lot of people, myself included, wrote angry letters to complain and eventually they went back to the old recipe (they sent me a coupon for a few free boxes in response to my letter). But they stopped making it altogether a few years later....I guess most people really do want sweetened cereal.

[Charlene]

As a kid it was either Frosted Flakes, Alpha Bits, or Sugar Smacks. No milk - I don't like the taste of milk and I don't like soggy cereal.

Later it was either Crispy Critters or Alpha Bits. Sometimes Cheerios, but that was before they had frosted kinds so I would pour on the sugar and most of the sugar would wind up in the bottom of the bowl.

Now it's usually toast with butter and a soft-boiled egg, or toast with butter and bacon. Sometimes a packet of flavored oatmeal. To drink - Tang and hot tea with cream and sugar.

I like cereal as a snack too - either Frosted Cheerios or Alpha Bits (if I get out of my rut and shop at a different grocery store - the place I usually shop doesn't carry them). Still like Sugar Smacks or Sugar Crisp (or whatever the politically correct name for them is nowadays - we certainly can't advertise SUGAR as the main ingredient!) but they come in such big boxes and nobody else likes them, so they go stale too fast, even if I put them in Tupperware. Wish I could just buy a small box like about 6 ounces for a dollar or so.

[Walden]

I hear most people desire cereal in the morning but I'm a bit of a deviant because I desire cereal in the late evenings.

Certain 7th Day Adventists, such as Kellogg, around the turn of the century, promoted the idea of cold cereals for breakfast, as a replacement for the traditional heavy breakfasts of bacon, eggs, ham, sausage, and the like.

Is that what they promoted it for? <evil grin>

(If you don't get this joke, do a bit of research of Kellogg and you'll be amazed to find out what eating cold cereal for breakfast was suppossed to "cure." )

--James

Among other things, they claimed it decreased certain natural urges.

[Bloomfield]

I totally agree that most cereal is too sweet. I have a serious sweet tooth but can't stand sweetened cereal for some reason. Nature-Os were the last good-tasting unsweetened cereal I could find before I stopped eating cereal for breakfast (living with a French woman, I now eat the standard French breakfast of coffee and toast with butter and jam).

Nutri-Grain cereals used to be unsweetend, but then they added sugar to boost sales. It backfired on them. A lot of people, myself included, wrote angry letters to complain and eventually they went back to the old recipe (they sent me a coupon for a few free boxes in response to my letter). But they stopped making it altogether a few years later....I guess most people really do want sweetened cereal.

Of course this brings us to the heart of the matter: making breakfast cereal is terrible waste of perfectly good grain, particularly barley, but also wheat.

It is true, however, that Americans seem to prefer sweeter beers than Europeans (or the rest of the world?). Had a very intersting discussion about that once with a very good brewer when I complained to him that his wheat beer was all right, but would be much better if it weren't so sweet.

[amar]

walden!! you eat kelloggs, you know it, you know it!! don't deny it!!

[david robertson]

Porridge !!!!!!!

[MarkB]

Elijah's Manna! Yummm! Would you buy and eat that cereal?

It's a trick question that we get every once in a blue moon at the library. But Google makes it easy now.

Actually the history of cold cereal has its foundation in the Christian Science Church and its original founder Mary Baker Eddy. She taught the members of the church that they should not eat meat. She became worried about the nutrition of the church members after they became vegetarians. So she ask one of the scientists who was a member of the church to see if he could not come up with some dietary supplement from wheat that would help them with nutrition. He did so and they called it "ELIJAH'S MANNA". It became very popular in the church very quickly. Eventually the scientist a Mister POST asked Mary Baker Eddy if she would let him market the product to the public. She gave permission he started what was then called POST GRAPE NUTS.

A cereal triva game here:

http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz.cfm?q ... 77&origin=

I scored 7 out 15

MarkB

[Doug_Tipple]

In the morning I like Uncle Sam cereal (a good buy at Walmart), which is unsweetened wheat flakes and whole flax seeds. I add 2 heaping tablespoons of oat bran and 2 tablespoons of ground flax meal + sliced bananas and soy milk.

I also like dry cereal as a snack in the evening. I don't get quite as compulsive with cereal as I do with peanuts, popcorn, corn chips, or other salty snacks.

[fearfaoin]

Variety is the milk of life.

I once had a coworker from India who said that what surprised him most about America
was the breadth of choice we have. His prime example was going to an auto parts store
and seeing 3 different brands of windshield wiper fluid. I didn't understand why this
shocked him.

Anyway, seems to me... to not take advantage of this Democracy that is Breakfast would
be against the American Lay of Wife.

[gonzo914]

Anybody else here remember Sugar Jets -- little round pellets of oats frosted with enough sugar to keep a kid hyperactive all weekend.



(I had one of those decoder glasses.)

The best part about Sugar Jets was the inch and a half of sugar powder in the bottom of the box. The last bowl from the box left a delicious sludge in the bottom of the bowl.

Sadly, Sugar Jets are gone now, but much the same effect can be had by dumping about half a cup of sugar into your bowl of Cheerios, although, alas, I am now limited to using Splenda.

[Jack]

I love Cheerios, with soy milk.

I never ever put sugar in any of my cereal, but my mother literally puts two or three spoonfuls of sugar in cereals such as Fruit Loops and Fruity Pebbles. :roll:

[rebl_rn]

I don't eat a lot of cereal, but I usually eat either Grape Nuts or Smart Start. But once or twice a year, I get a craving for Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, and I have to indulge. Then I'm fine for another 6 or 12 months.

When I was a kid, my sister and I would eat Gerber baby cereal for breakfast - I was in grade school and she's 12 years older than me. But it was good!

Beth