Do you send your kids off to school with a bowl of cereal, skim milk and a banana? This type of a breakfast is setting them up for array of issues, not just weight problems. Even so called "healthy" cereals such as SMART START will create a lot of problems (I use to eat this thinking it was a great "diet" food...which was also why I was so overweight). Let's look at the math... If you consume 1 cup of Smart Start cereal with 1 cup of skim milk and banana sliced on top, that is: 472 calories, 105 carbs, 4g fiber. This becomes 25.25 tsp of sugar in you blood. Do you know what a "normal" blood sugar is? It is 1 tsp of sugar! No wonder our kids are diagnosed with ADHD and attention issues. It is hard to focus when our blood sugar is so high. AND what goes up, crashes down. So low blood sugar also happens, which causes brain fog and shakiness...I remember these days, no one wanted to be around me just before lunch because my blood sugar was too low and I was cranky!
One of my favorite cereals as a teenager was Cocoa Pebbles. Checking the ingredients, yeah, it is "gluten free," BUT it contains trans-fats (click HERE to learn more on trans-fat and weight gain). It also contains food dye which is known to cause attention disorders and cancer. Cereal in general, no matter if it is labeled as a "whole grain" or not, is just a big sugar bomb.
Ingredients in POST Cocoa Pebbles: Rice, Sugar, Polydextrose, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Coconut and Palm Kernel Oils)Cocoa (Processed with Alkali)Salt, Caramel Color, Artificial and Natural Flavor, BHA, Vitamins and Minerals: Niacinamide, Reduced Iron, Zinc Oxide (Source of Zinc)Vitamin B6, Vitamin A Palmitate, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamins B1)Folic Acid, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D.
1/2 cup vanilla whey or egg white protein
3/4 cup peanut flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup coconut oil OR NATURAL almond/peanut butter*
4 TBS Just Like Sugar (or erythritol)
1 tsp stevia glycerite
2 TBS water (just enough to hold dough together)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a medium bowl, stir together the whey, nut flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in the peanut butter using a pastry blender or your fingers until the butter lumps are smaller than peas. Stir in the water and sweetener to form a stiff dough. On parchment paper (lightly greased), roll the dough out to 1/8 inch in thickness. Cut into small diamond shapes with a pizza cutter. Place parchment onto cookie sheets. Bake for 7-10 minutes in the preheated oven, until edges are lightly browned (I broke up pieces and baked another 3 minutes to crisp up the pieces). Remove from oven to cool. Makes 4 servings.
***You could also use coconut oil in place of the peanut butter. This would allow you to store longer since coconut oil is shelf stable and doesn't need to be refrigerated.
Serve with Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk! YUM
NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (1 cup with 1 cup milk)
POST Cocoa Pebbles with 1 cup skim milk = 240 calories, 42 carbs, 3g fiber
"Healthified" Pebbles with 1 cup almond milk = 220 calories, 8.8 carbs, 4.6g fiber
1 serving of "Healthified" Cereal = 197 calories, 7.8 carbs, 3.6 g fiber
