Day 72- 7 Worst Supermarket Breakfasts

My friend sent me over an article from Men's Health, talking about the 7 worst supermarket breakfasts. As many of you are aware, Men's Health always features a "Eat This, Not that," article in every issue, which was basically what this article was doing as well. To make the "Eat This" options even healthier I have added my own opinions to each of the 7 worst supermarket breakfasts. Plus as you may already know, I am pretty adamant about the importance of eating breakfast in the morning, and more importantly the types of food that you choose to eat for breakfast.

Article written by David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding

Eat This, Not That

#7: WORST HOT CEREAL
Nature's Path Organic Instant Hot Oatmeal, Apple Cinnamon (1 packet)
210 calories
2.5 g fat (0 g saturated)
14 g sugar

Nature's Path attributes its sweetness to "organic evaporated cane juice." Translation: sugar. Each packet in the box contains as much sugar as a scoop of Edy's Espresso Chip ice cream. We commend the 4 grams of fiber, but you shouldn't have to take in a dessert's load of candy sweetness to get it. Switch to Kashi GoLean Instant Hot Cereal instead. You get more fiber (7 grams), and you cut your sugar load by more than half. Or try my suggestion, and try Bob's Red Mill, Mighty Tasty GF Hot Cereal, which contains no sugar, is gluten free, and contains the same amount of calories as the Kashi GoLean.

Eat This Instead!
Kashi GoLean Instant Hot Cereal, Truly Vanilla (1 packet)
150 calories
2 g fat
6 g sugar

An Even Healthier Option:

Bob's Red Mill, Mighty Tasty Gluten-free Hot Cereal (1/4 cup)

150 Calories

1.5 g fat (0 g saturated)

5 g fiber 0 g sugars

#6: WORST BREAKFAST MEAT
Banquet Brown ‘N Serve Maple Sausage Links (3 links)
210 calories
19 g fat (6 g saturated)
520 mg sodium

This truly is the weakest link. Three measly logs of sausage aren't are going to do much for your appetite, but they are going to stuff your belly with 19 grams of animal fat. Add that to your daily breakfast and you'll gain 22 pounds in a year. Switch to the turkey version and you'll cut your calories by nearly half, plus take in less fat, saturated fat, and sodium. Or try my suggestion and go with Applegate farms chicken and turkey sausage, which provides all organic and natural meat and ingredients. All meat is antibiotic and nitrate free, and is minimally processed.

Eat This Instead!
Banquet Brown ‘N Serve Turkey Sausage Links (3 links)
110 calories
7 g fat (2 g saturated)
390 mg sodium

An Even Healthier Option:

Applegate Farms, Andouille Chicken & Turkey Sausage (1 link, 85 g)

120 Calories

6 g fat (2 g saturated)

#5: WORST CEREAL
General Mills Oatmeal Crisp Hearty Raisin (1 cup)
240 calories
2.5 g fat (0.5 saturated)
20 g sugar

Oatmeal Crisp . . . it certainly sounds healthy, right? But upon closer inspection, this may actually be the most deceptive item on this entire list. It offers no frosting or marshmallows, yet it still manages to pack in more sugar than either Lucky Charms or Frosted Flakes. For a good bowl, look no further than Kashi’s GoLean, which meets the same nutritional standard as Kashi's oatmeal. Each bowl comes with 13 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber—exceptional numbers by cereal standards. This was a hard one for me to find, since there are really not any healthy cold cereal options out there. Most have way to much added sugar, or if you are gluten-free they contain gluten, or soy or some other kind of ingredient that I don't recommend. So the closest I could get was Bob's Red Mill again, but this time the Honey Almond granola. It does contain more fat and calories, but I think the list of ingredients is a lot healthier than I saw for Kashi's GoLean, and remember not all calories are created equal!

Eat This Instead!
Kashi GoLean (1 cup)
140 calories
1 g fat (0 g saturated)
6 g sugar

An Even Healthier Option:

Bob's Red Mill, Honey Almond Granola (1/2 cup)

230 calories

7 g fat

7 g sugar

#4: WORST WAFFLE
Nature's Path Homestyle Frozen Waffles (2 waffles)
270 calories
10 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
5 g sugar
2 g fiber

When it comes to frozen waffles, it's what you serve on top and on the side that typically makes it a healthy breakfast. Think fruit, eggs, or ham, all of which make supreme waffle pairings. With that in mind, you don't want to burn up too many calories on the waffles alone. Nature's Path makes some decent options, but this isn't one of them. It's loaded down with dubious ingredients like soybean oil and potato starch. The better option is Van’s Lite Waffles. They cut the calories by nearly half and offer three times as much hunger-fighting fiber. Or try my suggestion and go with a waffle mix, although you will have to mix it yourself and pour it into the waffle machine, (what an extra 10 minutes max?). This way you can enjoy your waffles without having to eat all the extra ingredients that go into the product just so it can save you a few extra minutes.

Eat This Instead!
Van’s Natural Foods Lite Waffles (2 waffles)
140 calories
2 g fat
4 g sugar
6 g fiber

An Even Healthier Option:

Bob's Red Mill Buckwheat Pancake/waffle mix (as long as you aren't gluten-free if so check out Trader Joe's gluten-free option). 3, 4" pancakes

140 Calories

1g fat

2g sugar

6g fiber

#3: WORST TOASTER PASTRY
Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts, Frosted Chocolate Chip flavor (2 pastries)
420 calories
12 g fat (4 g saturated)
34 g sugar

Since when has it been acceptable to eat chocolate-frosted pastries at breakfast? And yet, Pop-Tarts keeps coming out with new dessert-like options, destined to further inflame America's flab crises. Kellog's tries to claim that one serving is one pastry, yet there are two in each pack. That's more than 400 dessert-like calories before you start the day. Essentially you end up with zero fiber, a negligible amount of protein, and more sugar than you'd find in a Snickers bar. Special K’s Fruit Crisps provide you with the same ease and convenience, but for less than a quarter of the calories of a Pop-Tart. Another breakfast item that I would suggest skipping all together, but if you rely on the convenience that these boxed sugar bars provide and you aren't gluten free, then I'm going to suggest Amy's Kitchen Organic Toaster Pops. I would prefer consuming something with more protein and less sugar early in the morning, but for this category there it is. Although it has more sugar and calories than the special k, the ingredients list is much shorter and does not contain all the artificial flavors and additives.

Eat This Instead!
Special K Fruit Crisps Blueberry flavor (2 crisps)
100 calories
2 g fat (1 g saturated)
7 g sugar

An Even Healthier Option:

Amy's Kitchen Organic Apple Toaster Pops (2.11oz)

160 Calories

3.5 g Fat

10g Sugar

#2: WORST BREAKFAST SANDWICH
Jimmy Dean’s Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches (1 sandwich)
440 calories
31 g fat (11 g saturated, 3 g trans)
850 mg sodium

This is an instance where you'd be better off ordering your breakfast sandwich from a drive-thru window. In fact, Jimmy Dean’s Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit packs in as much fat as 2.5 McDonald’s Egg McMuffin sandwiches! But equally bad here is that glut of trans fat smooshed into this biscuit. Many food processors have begun scaling back the dangerous trans fats. We advise Jimmy to do the same. In the case of pre-made breakfast sandwiches, I think this is one that you are going to have to make yourself. But is it really that hard to fry an egg and toast an english muffin? If it is, I suggest you hard boil a few eggs the night before and make an egg salad so that in the morning you can just spread the mixture on the english muffin. Tada, now you have a healthier breakfast sandwich!

Eat This Instead!
Jimmy Dean D-Lights Canadian Bacon Honey Wheat Muffin
230 calories
4.5 g fat (3 g saturated)
760 mg sodium

Sorry, no healthy options for healthy frozen breakfast sandwiches!

#1: WORST BREAKFAST BOWL
Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls: Pancakes and Syrup and Sausage Links (1 bowl)
710 calories
34 g fat (12 g saturated)
35 g sugar
1,000 mg sodium

It should come as no surprise that the top two breakfast offenders come from the king of sausage. This bowl surpasses the other items on this list in every category: calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium. You would have to bike roughly 17 miles to burn off just one of these breakfasts. Most of Jimmy Dean's breakfast can at least back their calories with a substantial amount of protein, but this bowl has a paltry 12 grams. The Smart Ones breakfast below manages to squeeze in 15 grams, and it does it with 500 fewer calories! I'm just not a fan of frozen eggs that you heat up in the microwave, call me crazy. The only breakfast bowl that I could think of that I would want to eat in the morning is an acai bowl, which I know is on a totally different page than these eggs in plastic container things. Although the acai bowl has WAY more calories and sugar, it does have more health benefits. I would also suggest substituting some of the fruit for protein, mixing in almond butter, chopped nuts, etc.

Eat This Instead!

Smart Ones Morning Express Cheesy Scramble with Hashbrowns (1 package)
210 calories
9 g fat (4 g saturated)
1 g sugar
510 mg sodium

Acai bowl from Juice it up (16 oz)

690 Calories

19g fat

80g sugar

Pura Vida!

Alica Ryan, NTP