I’m a big fan of Dr. Travis Stork, host of “The Doctors” so I’m glad to be able to share a little bit of information with you to help you learn how to recognize whole grain products when shopping, especially for cereal. Thus allowing you to make the healthiest choices for you and your family.
According to Dr. Travis Stork, emergency room physician and host of “The Doctors,” identifying whole grain products can be challenging. Shoppers can look for nutritional cues on the front of the box, but they need to read the ingredient list to know if they are getting enough whole grain. Ingredient lists detail ingredients in order of prevalence, and if the words “whole grain” are followed by a grain like wheat or oats, it means the food contains more whole grain than any other single ingredient.
Check the picture to the left to learn how to determine if your cereals have whole grain as a first ingredient.
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Good news. Now every cereal with the white check has more whole grain than any other single ingredient with the same great taste. You will see “whole grain” as a part of the first ingredient on the ingredient list, indicating that whole grain is the first and most prevalent ingredient.
Include More Whole Grain In Your Diet With These Easy Tips
With all the health messages facing grocery store shoppers, it can be confusing to translate what appears on food labels into nutritional needs, and hard to determine which foods have a meaningful amount of whole grain. Dr. Stork has some additional recommendations to help you include whole grain easily into your diet. They include:
- Start Early! The Dietary Guidelines recommend people get at least 48 grams of whole grain in their daily diets. Get a jump-start on the day’s nutrition by incorporating whole grain into your morning routine. For instance, when choosing cereal make sure whole grain is listed as the first ingredient. One easy choice is cereal with the white check, which have more whole grain than any other single ingredient.
- Make Simple Swaps. Choose whole grain versions of the foods you love. Great options include whole wheat pasta and whole wheat bread or even whole grain crackers. Also, try different types of whole grain. Use brown rice instead of white rice as a side dish at dinner or popcorn, which is a whole grain, for a snack.
- Don’t Judge a Food by Its Cover. The front of food packages provide good nutritional cues, but don’t forget to read the ingredients and check the nutrition label and side labels for additional health information. Cereals with the white check even include the amount of whole grain per serving on packaging.
Play “Fast Lane For Whole Grain” and Enter to Win Free Cereal
To help with choosing products with whole grain, General Mills developed “Fast Lane for Whole Grain,” an online educational game. Consumers can navigate virtual grocery store aisles and identify products that have whole grain as the first ingredient, with the option to enter a sweepstakes to win one of each of the 50 cereals with the white check.
Make a commitment to add more whole grain to your diet by simply pouring a bowl of cereal with the white check including Cheerios®, Lucky Charms®, Cinnamon Toast Crunch®, Honey Nut Cheerios® and Total®.
For more information on the importance of whole grain and a chance to enter the “Fast Lane for Whole Grain” sweepstakes, visit www.WholeGrainNation.com.
Enter to win 5 free boxes of your favorite General Mills Big G cereals right now on First-Time-Mommy. “Read more” or scroll down to enter
Prize: 5 boxes of cereal (as seen below)
I am using Rafflecopter to run this giveaway. If you have ANY questions, problems or comments leave a comment in the blog section and I will email you back (only I can see your email).
2 step process for entering to win!! Leave a blog comment (Telling us out of the cereals above, which is your favorite.) & then fill out the Rafflecopter form!
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Good Luck!
Disclosure: The prize pack, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark
Lucky Charms
I love Lucky Charms
My fave is Lucky Charms!
MY FAVORITE BiG G CEREAL IS HONEY NUT CHEERIOS 🙂
shebebes@yahoo.com
I love Lucky Charms
I like honey nut cheerios! thanks!
Golden Grahams is my favorite!
My favorite is Cinnamon Toast Crunch!
Cheerios – loved them since I was a kid and now my kids love them too
Lucky Charms!
Thanks for the chance.
mogrill12@gmail.com
Berry Berry Kix
Honey Nut Cheerios
Cheerios ALL the way!!!
Cinnamon Toast Crunch!!
Cheerios with Mixed Berries
cheerios
Total
Cinnamon Toast Crunch!
I looooove lucky charms!
Honey Nut Cheerios are my favorite!
I love the Multi-Grain Cheerios.
alittlepieceofheaven777(at)yahoo(dot)com
Lucky Charms!
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Lucky Charms!
Honey nuts whole grain!!
Honey nut cheerios whole grain. Love them!
Honey Nut Cheerios
Cheerios 🙂
Cinnamon Toast Crunch………
Honey Nut cheerios all the way!
I have tried Chocolate Cheerios and they were good. But Honey Nut Cheerios are my fav.
i love lucky charms
honey nut cheerios!
honey nut cheerios is my favorite
We are huge fans of cheerios around here!
Honey Nut cheerios!
Honey Nut Cheerios!
My favorite is Cinnamon Toast Crunch
I love Lucky Charms
vmkids3 at msn dot com
I’m 23, diabetic, and have tachycardia. I’ve found that Honey Nut Cheerios help keep my heart rate and cholesterol in the normal level range!
cinnamon toast crunch
Honey Nut Cheerios is my favorite!
I love honey nut cheerios. Thanks for the giveaway.
My favorite is Honey Nut Cheerios. Thanks for sharing!
I really love Cheerios, like out of a bag or something instead of in milk
My son loves cheerios!
I love Lucky Charms!
My favorite is cinnamon toast crunch
Apple cinnamon Cheerios!
I love to snack on Honey Nut Cheerios!!!!