To my surprise, even the healthiest families still serve sugar cereal for breakfast. My family learned this mistake very early on when my oldest daughter, who is now 15, was a toddler.
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| http://www.ewg.org/report/sugar_in_childrens_cereals |
My husband loves sugar cereal and wanted to share this with his oldest daughter as a special treat on Saturday mornings. Despite my warnings, he insisted. It took only 3 or 4 Saturdays before he stopped. After breakfast on Saturdays, my daughter turned into a monster. At first we were thinking it was just typical toddler behavior - but then I suggested that we try eliminating the sugar cereal. She was a different child, and that was the end of that tradition.
To this day and 2 more kids later, IF we have sugar cereal in the house, it is eaten as a special dessert. Food with that much sugar does not deserve a place at the breakfast table.
In case you need more data to persuade you to stop serving sugar cereal:
The Environmental Working Group's "10 Worst Children's Cereals," based on percent sugar by weight:
1) Kellogg's Honey Smacks -- 55.6 percent
2) Post Golden Crisp -- 51.9 percent
3) Kellogg's Froot Loops Marshmallow -- 48.3 percent
4) Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch's OOPS! All Berries -- 46.9 percent
5) Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch Original -- 44.4 percent
6) Quaker Oats Oh!s -- 44.4 percent
7) Kellogg's Smorz -- 43.3 percent
8) Kellogg's Apple Jacks -- 42.9 percent
9) Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries -- 42.3 percent
10) Kellogg's Froot Loops Original -- 41.4 percent
