by Dawn Clear

Created on: July 18, 2009   Last Updated: July 20, 2009

You turn on the television and see commercials telling you what brand of cereal you should sit down and serve your family for breakfast in the morning. You flip through your favorite magazine and see countless ads showing you products that are just right for your perfect health or the ones that will put a smile on your child's face. How do you choose a breakfast cereal when there are so many to select from?

There are many people that go into the grocery store and when they get to the cereal isle they want to avoid it. Is it because you can usually find a frantic mother pushing a basket down the isle in one of those carts that are cleverly disguised as a car to help entertain their children as she shops? She has a toddler in the seat portion of the basket and two older children popping in and out of the car portion of the basket as she is dreading what scenario is about to come.

Mom, I want this one. I like the box and it has a toy in it. As one child reaches for that box of cereal the other child, with the skills of a magician, has a different box magically appear in his hands while expressing his love for this particular brand instead. I know this scene because I was the person you would try to avoid in the store.

Breakfast is important. It is hard choosing a breakfast cereal that you enjoy eating, that is healthy to the taste and is not loaded with too much sugar.What you are really worried about is giving them the right amount of nutrition. Have you seen the statistics of overweight children and teens? Do you pick taste over health? Do you choose value over cost?

For our family we are a little mixture of both but lean mostly towards the less sugar cereals. A couple of my teenage daughters have a health condition which have them on a low carbohydrate diet. You have to read the labels on the side of the boxes to get the cereals with the lowest carbs. You will be surprised to find that the brands that you think are low in carbs, such as Raisin Bran, is one of the highest. It may be time consuming at first, but once you learn to read labels, you can find which cereals are lower in sugar.

Also, if you are thinking healthy, do not forget the old fashioned favorite, oatmeal. Grabbing the instant is more convenient and comes in so many different flavors. However, it is higher in carbs than the brand that you have to cook on the stove. You can get just as creative with the old fashioned oatmeal by adding your own cinnamon and fresh fruit.

I highly recommend everyone to be a kid at heart because that is also good for the heart and soul. I also know that cereal is not just for breakfast. Imagine that you can not sleep. You head to the pantry and you stand there wondering what will satisfy that midnight craving. You pull out a box of cereal. You sit down at the counter a pour yourself a bowl of Cap'n Crunch cereal. As you sit there alone in the kitchen you find yourself playing along with the Cap'n on the back of the box as you pour yourself a second bowl.

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