Thinking Outside the (Cereal) Box
Sun., September 23, 12:18 PM
Maybe this is just a mental game, or maybe I will actually solve a problem. It's definitely better than moping around.
I never cared much for cereal. I'm sure I must have eaten it — under duress, of course — but I suspect none of us kids liked it much. My mother said the best place to hide candy was in an empty cereal box.
I do remember cereal boxes, not the least because I learned to read them. I knew what thiamin and riboflavin were. The best boxes were Wheaties, “breakfast of champions,” because they had picture of famous athletes — even some women like Babe Didriksen and Patty Berg. Not so great were the Hallowe'en masks; you could cut them out and put rubber bands into them, but they didn't fit very well. One series of boxes had “spaceman helmets,” one of the dumbest promotions ever. Those stupid helmets were then worn by the characters in “Captain Video.” It was a pretty lame show to begin with, but those “helmets” were ridiculous.
Maybe it was the milk, which I already disliked; in any case, I avoided cereal and gave it up as soon as I could. While I understand that grains are the basis of any balanced diet, I would rather not eat them. The Pilgrims popped corn to eat with milk; no, thank you! Brown rice, in soup? Excellent. Oatmeal? No way! I would eat oatmeal bread or oatmeal cookies, but cooked cereal? The smell, which arouses all sorts of unpleasant memories, will sicken me all by itself. (Be aware, however, of my penance: I have to prepare it every morning for Husband, who would become ill without it.)
I never bought candied cereals for my kids, knowing that they would never eat more than one serving no matter how inviting it looked. I did try to find other ways of serving cereal. For example, I would make a dip with sour cream; if you can eat cereal with sugar and sweet cream, you can eat it with salt, spices, and sour cream. I usually bought bite-size shredded wheat to go with it, and the kids considered it a treat. Now my favorite shredded wheat is available only with sugar coating, and I'm not sure whether anyone makes it plain any more. That's okay, because I don't have kids to feed any more.
I found that crushed corn flakes were a good coating for baked chicken. Add a little pepper, a pinch of nutmeg — it is quite tasty. It's even easy to make a single portion, and I used to do that for myself when Husband wanted something different. Then, unfortunately, I discovered that a portion of chicken with corn flakes raised my blood sugar more than I wanted. I've discontinued that too.
I know I should eat more cereal; bread doesn't give you the same benefits. Most breads contain at least some all purpose flour, which makes the dough easier to handle but isn't necessarily the best source of nutrition. Almost all of the better tasting whole grain breads have added honey; you may have heard something to the contrary, but honey is not good for diabetics. Granola? It tastes good, if it is also loaded with oil and sugar. Cereal bars are about the same — except that they don't even satisfy me. NutriSystem sent me a package of cereal flakes coated with artificial sweetener — only 100 calories. That's a snack, not a meal.
So here I am, back where I started. I know I need cereal. And I need to control my blood sugar, as well as my cholesterol. Can I make an acceptable snack/small meal without messing up my metabolism?
Cheerios®! That's a cereal with two advantages: easy to eat with your fingers — we give them to babies, right? — and not overly sweetened. I carefully measure out the same portion every day — one handful — and add dried fruit, like apricots or raisins or berries. (Dried fruit is less likely to spoil before I can use it.) I easily get at least half my daily fruit/vegetable requirement that way. I accompany this with a cup of hot coffee or tea or even hot water. So far, so good. Wait until the next blood work…
