Usually when people make the switch to a healthier lifestyle they go for the cupboards and throw out the cereal. Cereal can actually be healthy and full of health benefits. Before you go and throw it all away flip the box over and read the label. Try to find cereal that is full of fiber, minerals, vitamins, whole grains and fewer calories. Make sure to always measure your cereal and eat it in proportions. Cereal can be a disaster if you just poor it strait in the bowl, most likely you will fill it to the top tripling the serving. If you want to make it even more healthy you can add fresh fruits!

In my bowl I used Special K Red Berries, it’s 110 calories for one cup and with the 1/2 banana slices comes to 179 calories. Staying between 0-4g of fat in cereal is the range to shoot for, as long as the fat is coming from healthy fats. The cereal has 27g of carbohydrates, my carbohydrate goal for cereal is to stay under 30g. It is not very high in protein but most cereals aren’t. It has 2g, if you are trying to shoot for a high protein fix adding yogurt will help. It has 4g of Dietary fiber. I try to shoot for 3g and up, Fiber One has a huge serving of fiber in their cereals. You can also add a serving of benefiber to double for fiber intake. My cereal has 9g of sugars, I always make sure not to go over 11g, the fruit I add has enough sugars.

The next step into making sure your cereal is healthy is what you add to it! Most people will add milk or yogurt. Some days when I am trying to get a quick protein fix I will add a non fat Greek yogurt. I make sure the yogurt I choose is low carbohydrates and low sugar. When it comes to milk I usually use Soy Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk. It is only 35 calories and full of calcium. If your strictly a milk person the best choice is skim.

Cereal can be a healthy quick fix especially if you are in a hurry, it can also really help out your budget goals. Don’t get the wrong idea about cereal, just do your research and find out which ones are the most healthy!

*This post was originally published on Taralynn’s website, Simply Taralynn. For more from Taralynn visit www.simplytaralynn.com.