Believe it or not, but some cereals are promoted as:
- Low carb.
- Keto friendly.
- Low in carbohydrates.
And perfectly safe for a ketogenic diet. Or a low carbohydrate diet (50g maximum).
This is promoted by dieticians, certain health sites, blogs, and writers.
But what’s the truth of the matter?
Can you really eat cereal and continue snacking on this deliciously made set of grains mixed with milk, or are your days of stuffing your face with breakfast cereals over?
Let’s talk about it.
Analyzing cereal carbohydrates:
1. Cheerios
According to Livestrong’s article and the “dietician” who promoted THIS cereal, they claim it’s low in carbohydrates and perfectly healthy.
The funniest part of the article is THIS excerpt:
“While many people may have tried it, not as many may know that the carbs in Cheerios are relatively low at just 29 grams per serving. And with 4 grams of fiber per serving, the net carbs come down to 25 grams.”
In other words:
- They have no idea what they’re talking about.
- And Cheerios are not low carb in the slightest.
Not only is 29g of carbohydrates high for a serving on a low-carb diet, but when you eat cereal, you eat MORE than a serving size.
Plus, the milk you pour into the cereal racks up the carb count even higher per serving and per the amount the average person eats when eating cereal.
The fibre in cereals is also a joke compared to the fibre in fruits or vegetables, so using the net carb strategy is useless in practice.
And naive at best.
2. SURREAL Cereal
It only gets worse.
The website Your Well UK claims this:
The cocoa variety contains fewer than 32g of carbohydrates per 100g of cereal, and the cinnamon variety contains 37g of carbohydrates per 100g. Considering how good this cereal tastes, it’s very impressive to have such a low amount of carbs in each box.
So you’re out of luck if you were hoping to get a low-carb cereal, a TRULY low-carb cereal.
Why? Because 32g per serving for the cocoa and 37g per serving for the cinnamon is a joke.
That’s not low carbohydrate, especially since when you add milk to the cereal and sugar (even if it’s stevia, etc), the results will be knocking you out of ketosis.
Which is the point of pursuing a low-carbohydrate diet.
Plus, nobody eats a “serving” size of cereal, so it’s unrealistic and marketing drivel on the brand’s behalf.
3. Magic Spoon Cereal, Variety 4-Pack of Cereal
In their article “Low carb cereal brands”, Healthline claims the cereal Magic Spoon is a low-carb product.
This is false.
The carbs are 10g-15g of carbohydrates per cup, depending on which one you get. But again – no one has a cup of cereal.
A cup of cereal is tiny and far beyond realistic when eating enough of the cereal to feel satisfied if you eat it during breakfast.
And so, when measured by 100g (or 3 cups at 111g), which is closer to reality, it’s between 30g to 45g of carbohydrates per meal.
It’s almost as if the “cup” these brands use to downplay the carbs is intentional.
4. Schoolyard Snacks – Keto Cereal Low Carb, Zero Sugar
This cereal, like others, is sold as a ketogenic cereal that’s suitable for those pursuing low-carb lifestyles.
But again, how it’s measured comes across as disingenuous, misleading, and foolish.
This product has 6g of carbohydrates per 1 bag (26g). We know damn well nobody’s eating ONLY one bag of cereal (26g) for breakfast.
It doesn’t happen. Not even kids with a smaller appetite are gonna eat only 1 tiny little bag of cereal and walk away.
Bringing this back to reality again, 100g of this cereal = 24g of carbohydrates, which is the likely scenario when eating cereal that will only cause cravings if sugar is an issue for you.
Not bad for cereal, with that being said, but it’s not a true “Low carb” food as they claim.
5. Kashi GO Keto Breakfast Cereal
In this dark cocoa cereal, claimed to be keto-friendly, the same mistake and misleading information is mentioned all over again.
And sites like Healthline incorrectly promote it as “low carb” when it’s not.
1 cup contains 19g of carbs, with 10g being net carb because of fibre.
The problem is you can’t guarantee the fibre will reduce the carbs this much, given that fibre in these foods isn’t the healthiest source (fortified synthetics, etc).
Plus, nobody eats one cup only.
So double or triple the disingenuous serving size, and you’re looking more at 20 or 30g of carbohydrates for breakfast.
6. Keto Cereal by Snacks House, High Protein Low Carb Healthy Breakfast Food
1 pouch (30g) has around 9g of carbohydrates. But given that these cereal pouches are so small, you’re NOT only going to eat 1 pouch.
I mean, it’s fucking cereal. It’s a delicacy type of breakfast. You’ll likely have AT LEAST 2 or 3 pouches of this for it to fill up your cereal bowl.
So no, this is not a good keto cereal, and most sold as “keto cereal” is false advertising that the naive and foolish fall for because they’re miseducated and ignorant.
7. Grandma Crunch Strawberry flavoured
Yet another product being sold as a keto cereal, with the creator or whoever writes their descriptions claiming it’s “low carb” because a 31g serving has 6g of carbohydrates.
Again – who does this in real life? No one measures 31g of cereal before they eat it, and then eats it, and then is satisfied and walks away.
You’ll have at least 90-100g of cereal 3 times or more, bringing the true carbohydrate count to 20g (which they acknowledge in the 100g section).
It’s not the worst keto cereal out there, but realize that this Grandma Strawberry Crunch is mostly hype and marketing drivel when you measure food in realistic terms.
8. Plant-Based and Vegan Breakfast Cereal by Three Wishes
Another cereal brand that promotes itself as gluten free as well as “lower” in sugar still has too many carbs for it to count for a ketogenic diet.
These cereals have 20g on average per cup size (35g), which has to be repeated – is NOT the amount a normal person eats when having breakfast cereals.
Double or triple the amount, and you have a realistic result of 40-60g of carbohydrates in a single breakfast meal, despite the 6 or 9g of sugar and the fortified fibre BS.
In all fairness, this product isn’t promoted as keto, but the idea that cereals are low carb or can be is disingenuous and far from the reality.
9. Seven Sundays Rise and Shine Muesli Cereal
And yet another cereal that Healthline claims is low carbohydrate and keto friendly. Even the cereal itself has a “keto-friendly” label on it in red.
Well, it turns out it’s far from reality.
In a 1 cup serving size (40g), there are 28g of carbs, which is high. A normal person will eat at least 80g or 120g of this breakfast cereal.
That means the carb count is more like 56g or even higher, which is far beyond the state of ketosis (you’ll be knocked out of it).
So this cereal is also a no can do.
10. Perfect Keto Cereal
One of the most hilariously disingenuous examples on this list is THIS so called keto friendly cereal.
An article by the company called “best low carb cereals” promotes their product, and others, as being low carb when they’re not.
A 40g serving has 16g of carbohydrates, meaning it’s more like 32g of carbs in a realistic portion-sized breakfast meal for cereal.
They also mention fibre but don’t say how it’s fortified fibre, so it’s nowhere near as effective as claimed in the labelling.
Conclusion:
In the end, these cereals are the types that are supposedly lower but are still NOT keto-friendly. Where as compared to the more famous cereals, which are higher, neither one is appropriate for a keto lifestyle.
So the bottomeline is cereal is NOT low carbohydrate or keto friendly.
Thinking and believing so only proves you’re:
- Addicted.
- Craving sugar.
- Craving bullshit foods.
And you still haven’t gotten past the bridge of giving up BAD foods to improve your health.
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