cereal serving sizes

[babyprrr]

First let me apologize if this post is a bit confusing.

I gave up eating cereal ages ago for a number of reasons. 1. Most of the stuff I ate had too much sugar in it. and 2. despite what it said on the box about how many calories was in one portion size..I could never work out if I was eating one serving or two.

Now I'm thinking of reintroducing cereal to my diet. I've looked at the nutritionals on a few different kinds of cereal and noticed that for some, one serving = 30 g and some 40 and some 50 g and so on. Very few of them mentioned how many cups were in one serving.

Thing is I have a measuring cup at home which would be quite good for measuring out cereal but I'm unsure how many cups 30 g equals etc. I suppose I could weigh my cereal out on a scale but that just involves too much effort for 7 am in the morning!!

I guess depending on how puffed up the cereal is, 1 cup of it could equal 30/40/50 grams? Will I have to resort to measuring everything out with a scale? How do the rest of you do it?

Thank you for reading this long-winded post.

[winnie96]

Hi Babyprr ... I, too, banned cereal for awhile, with good reason as the kinds I was using all contained a lot of sugar. When I started eating cereal again (it is one of my favorite breakfasts!), I resolved to use "plain" cereals. Mostly, I do a mix of Quaker Old-Fashioned Oats and Trader Joe's Multigrain Hot Cereal (rye, barley, oats, and wheat), using one-quarter cup (dry) of each. (Both boxes say 1/2 cup is a serving). I don't bother with weighing the grams, as they are both about the same density, and using the measuring cup seems to work. I count it as 1/2 serving of each, and figure nutrition data accordingly. (I add 1 cup frozen blueberries, 4 walnut halves, 1 chopped up hard-boiled egg white, and skim milk to the cereal).

I will say that one thing I am learning with No-S is to focus on eating an amount of healthy food at each meal that will tide me over until the next, rather than obsessing about portion sizes and weights down to the nth gram. (I used to create Excel spreadsheets of grams and points that you wouldn't believe!) Now, I am using the half-cup portion because that's what keeps me satisfied until it's time for lunch. You can't entirely ignore portions, of course, but I like the new slant on how to select the amount of food that I eat.

(I have been No-S-ing for almost two months, and even though that period included a 2 week vacation with some major foodie friends, I have lost 2 pounds).

[deadweight]

babyprrr - Are you in the US? I eat a ton of cereal and have never found one that didn't give an amount in grams and cups.

However, if you do have a scale I find it much easier to just put your bowl on the scale, zero the scale, then pour the cereal in. It's actually one less step and one less dirty dish than using a measuring cup.

[Blithe Morning]

The cool thing about No S is that you don't have to worry about cups versus grams. Pour yourself a reasonable sized bowl (cereal bowl as opposed to small mixing bowl), throw some fruit on it, a little of milk and call it good. If it's hot cereal, a smidge of butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon make it that much better.

If you are ravenous by lunch time, add a little more cereal the next time you try it. If you are just hungry at lunch, then you had the right amount at breakfast. If you are still full, cut back.

[babyprrr]

babyprrr - Are you in the US? I eat a ton of cereal and have never found one that didn't give an amount in grams and cups.

However, if you do have a scale I find it much easier to just put your bowl on the scale, zero the scale, then pour the cereal in. It's actually one less step and one less dirty dish than using a measuring cup.

I'm in the UK..and for some annoying reason they don't put measurements down in cups!

[Merry]

Well that would annoy me to no end! But here's an idea for you if you do have a scale & really want to know--gather all of your favorites and measure them & pour them back in their containers, and make a list for yourself. Then you'll know & you won't have had to do it at 7 am!

But I agree about not worrying about it & just eating a reasonable bowl full, that's what I've been doing.

Merry

[gratefuldeb67]

I'd say the only kind of cereal you would be at all concerned about the serving size might be if you eat granola.. That is actually very caloric because it's not puffed with air..
But it's good too..
I try to avoid cereal except hot cereal, because I eat it in the middle of the night!
Somehow the having to make it hot, seems to deter me

[ThomsonsPier]

I'm in the UK..and for some annoying reason they don't put measurements down in cups!

To further confuse you, we used to use them and a UK cup is a different size to a US cup. Everything is done by weight now, as a lot of people don't seem to be able to grasp the concept that the same volume of two substances can weigh different quantities.

I generally just use a sensibly sized bowl and learn what the right amount of cereal looks like when I pour it in.

[reinhard]

I measure in "bowls."

Does the job for me.

Cutting sugarly cereal like granola with plenty of bulky fresh fruit and unsweetened cereal is another good, painless tactic. Pour the unproblematically "healthy" stuff first, then top off with the sweet stuff. Your bowl will look shockingly full way before it actually becomes a problem.

Reinhard