"DON"T" Pour a little sugar on it.

 Today I am headed over to Weight Watchers to sign up (again) for the program that helped me lose 20 pounds last year. The Holidays were a lot of fun and I sure did enjoy many great meals and treats but a few of those lost pounds came back as a result.

During my first try at the WW program I learned a lot about portion control and food content. I also had an awakening regarding the added sugar in our processed foods. As a result I have become an avid label reader and my choices in the supermarket have changed dramaticaly. Especially in the cereal aisle.

So here's a helpful tip for breakfast eaters that I almost guarantee will help you lose weight. Choose a different cereal. Let me explain.

I have always been a cereal guy for my first meal of the day. In the past few years I began eating a "healthy" grain, nuts and dried fruit cereal. It was advertised as having fantastic benefits with fiber and other nutritional value so I am thinking that this is really good for me. After attending one of my WW sessions where we discussed the adverse effects of sugars in our food,  I went home and checked the sugar content on my " healthy" cereal - 13 grams of added sugar. Woa!

My next step was to find the cereal with zero added sugar so I decided to read every box in the cereal aisle at my neighborhood Kroger. Out of all the selections I found 2 that have zero grams added sugar - Original Fiber One and good old plain Shredded Wheat. There were also some with only one gram like old favorite Cherrios ( no honey or flavors ). Check out some of these other numbers:

Post Great Grains - 13 grams

Frosted Mini Wheats - 12 grams

Cocoa Krispies - 15 grams  ( plain Rice Krispies = 4 grams )

All Bran - 6 grams

Craklin Oat Bran - 15 grams

Fruit Loops - 14 grams

Honey Smacks - 15 grams

Even the very popular Special K has 4 grams of added sugar. For those folks who are always on the run and are apt to grab something to go, Strawberry Pop Tarts have a whopping 16 grams. Even Granola bars will have 8 - 14 grams depending on the brand.

If the taste of plain cereals just doesn't do it for you I suggest adding fresh fruit like strawberries, blueberries or bananas. Dried fruit is not a good option as it it almost pure sugar. Stay away from the raisins and dried cranberries.

My new daily breakfast is a bowl of Fiber One or Cherrios and skim milk. I usually add some cut up fresh strawberries and I am good to go. I can honestly say this has made a big difference in my quest to keep the pounds off and the waistline slimmer. I went from a 38 to a 34 in my jeans size in about 4 months. If you can do nothing else for your health this year and you are a cereal eater, make this change and you'll lose a few pounds too.     

Sometime in the future I will write about sodium content. Very interesting for anyone with heart concerns.