7 ways you are making your breakfast cereal unhealthy

We all incessantly worry about eating right. And most of us, when we sit down with a bowl of breakfast cereal, assume that half our job is done. It is an easy-to-fix breakfast option and is low-calorie and nutritious too. While, yes it is simple to put together, the calorie and nutrition part isn’t entirely true for all. Your low-calorie cereal may not be as healthy and wholesome as you assume. We bring you tips to give a healthy boost to your first meal of the day.

You have heard of people replacing their main meals with breakfast cereals and seeing positive results. So you too decide to stack up your house with a variety of low-calorie cereals. It’s been a little more than a week and you are not noticing results. Well, it could be because you are not mapping the portion size of your serving? If you are eating more than a bowl of cereal at one go, you are turning it into a high-calorie meal. So be wary of the portion size.

Sifting through the stacks of cereals in a supermarket, you glue your eyes on to a sugar-free cereal. But when you actually sit down to have it, do you feel the urge to add a spoonful of sugar to enhance its taste, thinking a teaspoon won’t do any harm? Well, sugar is being touted to be worse than fat. According to experts, you should not add more than 10 grams to your serving. Avoid that too if you can and add honey instead.

An ideal breakfast should be a combination of carbohydrates, protein and fat. When you are having the cereal alone, you are missing out on a very important ingredients – one of them is protein. So add a portion of almonds or chia seeds to your cereal and milk. Or even better, have your cereal with a bowl of Greek yoghurt. Not only is it rich in protein, it also has probiotic properties.

We all know how beneficial fruits are for a balanced diet. And many experts believe that adding fruits to your meal early in the morning is the best way to kickstart your metabolism. Adding fruits like blueberry, oranges, apples and more to your cereal provides you with necessary dietary fibers.

If you are having your breakfast cereal soaked in full-cream milk, you are killing the very purpose of having a light yet healthy breakfast. Milk with high fat content is difficult for your body to digest and will put your digestive system under pressure.

The whole world is waking up to the fact that whole grains are better than refined grains. Understandably so, people are opting for whole grain products over white ones. The same logic applies to cereals too. Opt for whole grain cereals to pack a healthy punch for breakfast.

Saturated fat is unhealthy but flaxeed oil or oil from some nuts offer healthy fat to your breakfast cereal. Walnuts, flaxeed and even almonds offer you necessary fat to complete your meal.

Disclaimer: This should not be considered as a substitute for Physician's advice. Please consult your treating Physician for more details.