Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 07:19 AM
Kim, the blogger from Living Domestically, was thrilled to win Tuesday’s hot cereal giveaway. When she wrote me to claim her prize, she also told me, “I spent 45 minutes in the cereal aisle at King Soopers this weekend comparing NuVal scores between the ‘healthy’ stuff and the high sugar name brand stuff. I’m definitely trying to trade up when I can!” Yes, Kim. NuVal scores are addictive. Once you see them in your store, you really get into them and you want to learn more. For the record, NuVal scores are intended to help make your shopping trip quick and easy. But for real foodies, like Kim, there may be times when one might spend 45 minutes in an aisle looking at scores. They’re fascinating!
I can see why Kim would spend so much time in the cold cereal aisle. There are a ton of NuVal scores there. We’re worked incredibly hard to get all those cereals scored. Cold cereals range in score from 2 to 96 and the average score is a 27. Why only a 27? The pull towards lower scores is attributed to the many sugary children’s cereals on the market.
So, what drives cereal scores up or down? The dietitians at NuVal have this to say:
- Many people are on the look-out for sugar in their breakfast creal, but they usually don’t notice the hidden amounts of sodium
- Whole grains and fiber drive scores up. Sources include bran, whole oats, whole wheat, bulgur wheat, brown rice, kamut, millet, and buckwheat. Some products add flaxseed, a source of omega-3 fatty acids, which boosts their score
- Lower scoring products contain partially hydrogenated oils, a source of trans fat
Cereal is one of those products that I’m always learning more about. For example, recently, my husband picked up a box of raisin bran and brought it h0me. My kids are hooked! They love it! They want it for breakfast, they want it after school, they even bring it in a baggie in their backpack for snack. I was thinking, “Great! My kids love raisin bran. This must get a great score.” Then, I checked it out in our NuVal database. Raisin Bran is well, it’s about average.
- Nature’s Path Raisin Bran: NuVal score of 32
- General Mills Raisin Bran: NuVal score of 29
- Fiber One Raisin Bran: NuVal score of 29
- Kellogg’s Raisin Bran: NuVal score of 27
I asked the NuVal dietitians about raisin bran and this is what they had to say:
Varieties of raisin bran are often thought to be extremely healthy, especially with “bran” in the name. However, most people don’t realize that not only are the raisins coated in sugar, but also the cereal is laden with salt. Typically, most raisin bran cereals contain about 19 grams of sugar and 350 mg of sodium per serving.
Now, this post is a Score Lowdown. And that means I just give y’all some NuVal scores because that’s what you came here for today, right? Well, here they are: the good, the average, and the ugly.
In the 90s
- Post Shredded Wheat: NuVal score of 91
- Bear Naked Fit: NuVal score of 91
- Kashi 7 Whole Grain Puffs: NuV al score of 91
- Bob’s Red Mill Muesli: NuVal score of 91
In the 50s
- Uncle Sam Original 100% Whole Grain Flakes: NuVal score of 59
- Special K Protein Plus: NuVal score of 53
- Fiber One Original: NuVal score of 51
In the 30s
- Kashi Heart to Heart: NuVal score of 38
- General Mills Cheerios: NuVal score of 37
- Kashi Go Lean Crunch: NuVal score of 36
Under 15
- Annie’s Cocoa & Vanilla Bunnies: NuVal score of 11
- Kashi Strawberry Fields: NuVal score of 11
- Cap’n Crunch: NuVal score of 10
Interesting, isn’t it? Can you see why Kim spent so much time checking out the scores in King Sooper’s cereal aisle in Colorado?
Question of the Day
What’s your favorite breakfast cereal?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Cereal
Tags: Cheerios, Cold Cereal, Kashi, raisin bran
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 07:22 AM
I had a pretty rough week last week. On Wednesday morning, I woke up and I could not turn over to switch off my alarm clock. I couldn’t turn my head at all. Yup, I was in a neck spasm. Big Time. This happens to me, oh about once every two years. It’s not pretty.
Thankfully, with help from my doctor, my chiropractor, a deep tissue massage, muscle relaxers, stretches, rest, heat, and ice, I now have a little more range of motion. But it was very slow going for a couple of days. And it meant that some of the things that I normally would have control over were no longer in my control.
For example, my husband gallantly jumped in and offered to do a late night run to Kohl’s for a birthday gift, wrapping paper, a blanket for our bed and some Christmas gifts for our son (we realized that our daughter has more and we need to even the playing field). These are things that normally go on my To Do List, not his. So how did he do?
- Birthday Gift: 2 thumbs up (a radio controlled Jeep for an 8 year old) with gift receipt – Perfect
- Wrapping Paper: 1 thumb up, 1 thumb down (kind of ugly, perhaps he likes paper that is reminiscent of a 1975 Christmas?)
- Blanket For Our Bed: 2 thumbs down (we’ve had off-white bedding for 13 years, and he buys a grey blanket? It’s being returned)
- Christmas Gift For Our Son: 2 thumbs up (same radio controlled Jeep as mentioned above) – Score!
Believe me, if I had to do something on my husband’s To Do List because he was injured (like Snow Blow the driveway), it would be a disaster.
Next, my daughter decided to help Injured Mommy by choosing her own clothes so that I wouldn’t have to bend over and crane my neck to look in her drawers. Actually, she probably saw this as a fabulous opportunity to choose her own outfit. “Forget the muted and matching Gymboree clothes that Mommy picks out,” she thought. “Pink, sparkles and glitter can all be mine!”
She also chose to wear her sparkliest shoes to school.
Because I wasn’t moving so fast, I was late in getting snacks together for school. When I went to transfer lunches and snacks to Eileen, as I was leaving for work, we realized that I had not yet packed snacks. Not to worry – my daughter was willing to jump right in! She chose her own snack. And do you know what she chose? A baggie of mixed cereal.
In her mix was:
- Regular Cheerios: NuVal score of 37
- Shredded Wheat: NuVal score of 91
- Honeynut Cheerios: NuVal score of 27
That’s right, she chose to add Shredded Wheat to her mix. Not Frosted Shredded Wheat, but the plain kind. The kind that scores a 91 on the NuVal scale! I was so happy, I almost gave myself whiplash again!! Because, this, to me, is the ultimate goal of parenting: to raise children who make good choices on their own. I don’t want to sneak good nutrition into my kids food. I want them to learn to love it, come to appreciate good, nourishing food, and choose it for themselves.
As for my husband, I did not complain about the grey blanket. Fortunately, he saw the error of his ways once he got it home. “Wow! In the store, this looked kind of like that green color that you like so much.” And as for the wrapping paper, I know that my husband’s childhood Christmases took on more of a traditional, Currier and Ives feel. The paper he chose reminds me of his German Grandmother (Oma) who lived in rural Vermont, whereas my grandmother wore leopard, took ballet and read Vogue like it was the Bible. My grandmother worked in the floral and decorating business, so every gift was wrapped in chic gold or silver papers. Our “Christmas Upbringing” is different. So, maybe I’ll use the paper my husband bought to wrap his gifts this Christmas. After all, it’s what he chose.
Question of the Day
What Choice does your spouse/partner/child make that surprises you?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Christmas
Tags: Cheerios, Choices, Christmas, Honey Nut Cheerios, Shredded Wheat
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 06:53 AM
Indeed, this is Breaking News. General Mills Cheerios, which previously received a NuVal score of 34, now get a 37! While a three point difference might not seem like much to some, it is a great step in the right direction for children’s cereal. Cheerios has been the shining star of the Cereals that Kids Will Eat Without Complaint. No other children’s cereal got quite such a high score – with one exception: Cinnamon Toast Crunch with 75% Reduced Sugar gets a score of 40. However, I have yet to find that cereal in any of my local supermarkets. So, Cheerios has been the most-quoted children’s cereal.
This score change is a big deal to us at NuVal. We have score changes all the time because manufacturers change their recipes and we re-score their products so that consumers have up-to-date information right there on the store shelf. However, there is not an employee at NuVal who can’t rattle that Cheerios score off the tip of their tongue. We use the Cheerios example all the time when explaining how the system works. This means that this week I will be making changes in lots of our educational and promotional materials. Find 34 and replace with 37!
So, why did Cheerios get a better score? Because the smart folks at General Mills reduced the amount of sodium in their product. Those are the kind of steps that we at NuVal are hoping the food manufacturers will make: reduce the bad stuff, increase the good stuff and make more nutritious food products. You can read more about the less salty Cheerios in this blogpost from one of my favorite blogs, Fooducate. Hooray for General Mills for making this change.
Now, I am off to get working on editing all those presentations. I should start my day with a bowl of Cheerios!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Cereal for Kids, Cheerios, Fooducate
