How to Choose the Best Breakfast Cereal: 6 Tips for the Perfect, Healthiest Breakfast You Can Have!

Breakfast, if balanced and structured with criteria, can be the most important meal of the day: it breaks the night's fast and provides us with the right energy to carry out various daily activities, helping to make us feel full, satisfied and mentally concentrated.

For many, the first meal of the day translates into milk (or yogurt) and cereals, a food which, if not chosen appropriately, can prove counterproductive: the various types on the market are often too rich in sugars and hydrogenated fats, therefore responsible for suddenly raising blood sugar levels and make us feel the classic pit in our stomach a few hours after the meal.

What are the best breakfast cereals and how can we orient ourselves when faced with the vast offer offered by large-scale distribution? Let's find out together how to read labels, what to pay attention to, which ingredients to avoid and in what quantity to consume.

Which Cereals to Choose for Breakfast?

The best are natural cereals with no added sugar: among these, oat flakes certainly stand out (both large and baby sized, depending on the recipe you want to make). Oats are a cereal that can boast many beneficial effects: it lowers the level of bad cholesterol in the blood, thanks to the presence of beta-glucans, it has very little fat and is rich in proteins. For this reason it is also an excellent choice if you're following a weight loss diet.

The excellent nutritional profile makes it particularly suitable for athletes, children and convalescents. It also has a powerful calming effect: during periods of mental stress, it is recommended to consume it in the evening for dinner, perhaps added to a good vegetable soup, just to help you fall asleep; satiating, energetic and an excellent source of fibre, it regulates intestinal transit and combats constipation.

Oat flakes are produced by steaming the grains; these should never be consumed raw because, if not digested, they would cause swelling in the intestine. What to do then? They can be cooked in milk or water, to make creamy porridge, soaked overnight, as happens with the now famous overnight oatmeal, or toasted in the oven with the addition of dried fruit.

Although oats do not contain gluten, their use is not recommended for those with celiac disease; this is due to cases of secondary contamination (i.e. the crops or factories in which the cereal is processed could come into contact with gluten coming from ears of wheat). Allergy sufferers, therefore, can replace it with rice flakes, quinoa, millet or raw granola made with sprouted buckwheat and sweetened with dates.

Usually the classic cornflakes, the breakfast cereals so loved by the little ones at home, have a very significant quantity of sugars. It is preferable to consume muesli, a preparation made with oat flakes, raisins and dried fruit; there is however some sugar in them to give it a little flavor, but they tend to not be glazed.

The advice is to prepare it at home or, if you want to buy it, to carefully read the labels and select products with a moderate sugar content (no more than 10-15 grams out of 100), avoiding those containing vegetable oils of double origins, flavorings and preservatives.

Also watch out for granola, the delicious toasted mix made with cereals, oilseeds, dehydrated fruit and honey. It's certainly crunchier and more satisfying but it's also more sugary, experts warn.

1. Choose the Whole-Wheat Version

By law, the ingredients with which a product is made must be listed in descending order, from greatest to least, and the list must include any flavorings, colorings and additives, usually marked in bold.

In a good breakfast product the first item should always be the cereal itself, such as wheat, oats, corn, spelt, barley and so on, preferably whole and organic. Richer in fiber and precious nutrients, when compared to their refined counterparts, they are more beneficial and satiating, and also promote intestinal transit.

A portion of cereals should contain at least 4-5 grams of fiber, which can increase if we decide to add a portion of fresh fruit (100-150 grams) and a handful of oil seeds or a teaspoon of nut cream to our meal, strictly without added sugars (about 10 grams).

2. Be Careful With Added Sugars

In daily choices it is preferable to always opt for the natural version without added sugars, therefore puffed oat, rice, quinoa, rice, barley or millet flakes with which to make porridge, overnight oatmeal, baked oat (the baked version of the classic oat soup), or with which to enrich bowls of yogurt, cow's milk, coconut or soy, fresh fruit and oilseeds.

If you want to enjoy something more delicious, such as crunchy granola, always paired with milk or yogurt, the best choice is to make it at home with top quality ingredients and a reduced sugar content (in this case prefer sweetened products with banana puree, apple puree, dates, raisins or with a little agave syrup).

If you don't have time available, the rule is always to read the labels carefully: avoid cereals that contain vegetable oils, such as rapeseed, palm, seeds (only if high oleic), various sugar syrups (rice, malt…) additives and colorings. There are some decent alternatives on the market, to be consumed in the right frequencies and quantities.

The sugar content of most cereals on the market is really important, but we shouldn't demonize them for this. What to do then? You simply need to be aware of them and learn how to best balance them.

If you want to eat choco pops, for example, you can reduce the dose and combine them with a source of good fats and/or proteins, such as a whole white yogurt (and not low-fat) and almond cream, flaked coconut, something that goes to slow down the way in which those sugars flow into the blood, experts say.

3. How to Choose Cereals Based on Shape

The cereal processing technique also has its importance. The least invasive one is undoubtedly flaking, as in the case of oats: the cereal is steam cooked, crushed and then toasted and dried. This method allows you to preserve the fibers and most of the nutrients, making it rich and beneficial.

Cornflakes, on the contrary, are subjected to extrusion, then ground, heated to very high temperatures and finally pressed: they are in fact depleted of all mineral salts and vitamins, making them less beneficial and satiating. The micronutients are often added separated.

With the extrusion process there will be a greater glycemic load than the cereal which will lead to a sudden increase and a consequent – and equally sudden – lowering of blood sugar levels. This is why a breakfast based on pure corn cornflakes and milk will not provide us with the right satisfaction and mental focus, and after a few hours we will already feel a great appetite.

Puffed cereals, such as rice, quinoa, barley, have the same problem as cornflakes: they tend to be better from a nutritional point of view because they are always made with few ingredients, but still have a high glycemic index.

4. Which Cereals To Choose if You're On a Diet?

If we are following a slimming diet, the best choice remains that of natural flakes: oats, rice, barley, quinoa, preferring whole and organic ones. Since these cereals retain the external part of the grain (bran), it is best to rely on a type of agriculture that does not use pesticides.

Nutritious and rich in fibre, they guarantee prolonged satiety, energy and we will not feel the need to nibble during the rest of the day, between one break from work or study and another. The same fibers are beneficial for intestinal health and counteract possible constipation.

How Many Cereals to Eat for Breakfast and How to Combine Them?

The standard portion to be consumed for breakfast is approximately 35-40 grams, which can vary and increase based on lifestyle, sporting activity performed and diet. You can make porridge with natural flakes: just cook them in a saucepan with 100ml of water and twice as much milk (or a vegetable drink), stirring continuously until you have the desired consistency.

For a truly impeccable result, it is important to use the mignon format which, when cooked in the chosen liquid, will fall apart creating a very creamy and pleasant texture. If you have a whole pack of the larger ones in your pantry, and you rightly don't want to waste it, just blend them quickly in a kitchen blender, so as to obtain a rather coarse powder. Once ready you can garnish it with fresh fruit, oil seeds, coconut flakes or a teaspoon of nut cream, and a healthy and satisfying breakfast is ready.

Since they are already toasted in the oven, muesli and granola can be consumed as they are, combined with cow's milk, vegetable drinks without added sugars or natural whole white yogurt, and fresh fruit. If already enriched with mixed seeds and/or dried fruit, we avoid adding them: in this case the lipid component is already well compensated.