Cereal Lovers Rejoice: General Mills Slashes Sugar!

CORRECTION: General Mills hasn't  lowered sugar to single digit grams just yet. (No wonder I couldn't taste the difference!) Stay tuned. I'm still interested to see if I can still satisfy my sweet tooth with a nice bowl of cereal!

I am a cereal lover. Maybe the term "lover" isn't quite strong enough. I could eat cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of my life. General Mills recently announced that their much loved cereals are now lower in sugar. Say what?! You mean, I can eat something sweet and not feel all that guilty?

When General Mills sent me coupons to try the new lower sugar cereal, I surely picked the most sugar-filled, sweetest tasting cereals I could find! I really wanted to put them to the test. I'm a sweets-freak. To me, cereal is like eating cookies and cake for breakfast- without the added guilt/fat/cavities. I selected Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Reese's Puffs, and Frosted Cheerios (hey, we're testing sweetness here, people).

I thought for sure, the Cinnamon Toast Crunch would be the true test- after all, there's "real cinnamon and sugar in every bite!" The final verdict on all three cereals was NO DIFFERENCE! I'm so excited! Now, for just 10 grams of sugar per serving, I can enjoy my Cinnamon Toast Crunch and not feel guilty for giving it to my little one!

You know they don't just say "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" for nothing. Did you know that ready-to-eat cereal eaters consume less fat, less cholesterol and more fiber than non-cereal eaters? Cereals also deliver important vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients, making cereal a top source of key nutrients in children’s diets.


Other cereal benefits:

• Ready-to-eat cereals, including presweetened cereals, account for only 5% of sugar in children’s diets.
• Ready-to-eat cereal is the No. 1 source of whole grains in a child’s diet today.
• More frequent cereal eaters tend to have healthier body weights and lower Body Mass Index measures.

Studies also demonstrate the benefits of eating breakfast. A 1998 study showed that children who eat breakfast tend to perform better at school. Compared to children who skip breakfast, children who eat breakfast score higher on tests, are less likely to miss class or be tardy, have fewer reported discipline problems, and make fewer trips to the office.

Right now if you visit here you will find a $1 off coupon for one of four General Mills cereals. Breakfast is important, wake up from good grains and sweet flavors, not a sugar high!

Consumer Reports: Best Baby Products Book Winner

Congratulations, Mary! You're our lucky winner. Be sure to email me with your shipping information to claim your prize!

It's the Little Things

As a mom there are so many milestones we look forward to. Much like the way we used to imagine our weddings, we now imagine our babies taking their first steps and saying words. These huge developmental monuments are so important, but now that we're going through this whole "raising a child" thing, there are other moments that make life so much sweeter as a Mom.

Josh lifted up my shirt the other day while I was slouched on the couch. Lifted just enough to see my yucky mommy tummy and said "ooohhhhhhh." Of course, my initial thought was "what's that supposed to mean?!" But then I remembered he's just a baby and wouldn't know the difference... I still made it a point to inform him that his gigantic self did that!

My son took his diaper off for the first time. Luckily there wasn't any poop in it!

Went into the bedroom one morning to get him up and thought he got into a chocolate bar. But how would he do that if he's in his crib? This diaper had poop in it. A lot of poop. It was everywhere... gross...

Somehow this little person who's only been alive for 12 months has studied his parents so closely that today he went over to the remote, picked it up, aimed it up at the TV (it sits on our mantle) and clicks! When the channel changed he said "OOOOOooooooooo!" Typical male...

He amazes me. My new favorite thing is watching him stack. He likes to stack his blocks, his cups, anything that will stack. It's so cute! Another new thing is taking the back "chair" part off his little Mickey Mouse car and trying to put it back on. There are two pegs he has to get into relatively small holes. He pulls it out, puts it back in, pulls it out, all over again.

And the babbling. I love the babbling. It's almost like he's speaking another language that sounds remotely familiar. (perhaps because I've spoken that language before?) He says things and it sounds like he's saying something that totally makes sense but he's not. He comes into a room and says, "Hi guys!" Or drops something and picks it up saying, "I got it." I always reply back because I want him to keep on talkin'!

I love the millions of little moments that make motherhood one big milestone.