Box Readers

Sitting on the floor of Safeway might seems a bit, um, odd? But that’s exactly what we did yesterday when hitting the inevitable sugar-cereals-versus-healthy cereals weekly debate. I’d just had it altogether with the constant arguing over food. I sat down on the ground and had the kids bring me a box of Cheerios. I showed them the nutrition labels (again) and pointed out that Cheerios was going to be the sugar threshold of cereals in the house.

I invited the kids to bring over boxes of cereal they were interested in. Cocoa Krispies (afterall, they must be *just like* Rice Krispies but with cocoa?), both Rice and Corn Chex,  Kix and Trix. They brought Cinnamon Life and Golden Grahams. They brought Fruity Cheerios and Raisin Bran. Soon we were all heckling at the boxes: “Kix, you silly people isn’t for kids, it’s for a sug-ar high!,” says my daughter. Corn Chex and Rice Chex have vastly different nutritional values (rice is better). Some “healthy” cereals were low in fat and carbs but slamming high in sodium. The big kicker was SmartStart which for being smart is pretty dang stupid. The cereal that boasts anti-oxidants and a nice and healthy label is heaped full of sugar. One of my favorite sites, Nutrition Data demonstrates just how UNhealthy SmartStart is: two stars for weight loss, but four stars for weight gain; a heaping 43 grams of carbs (14 g sugar) and almost 300 g of sodium. It has almost double the sugar of Fruity Cheerios (a FruitLoops competitor). What is smart about this? Huh? I’m renaming it StupidStart.

I gave the kids a choice: they could pick a cereal with little to no nutritional value and high sugar content (ie: StupidStart) and it would count as their treat for the day, or, they could pick one of the healthier alternatives *and* get to go to Powells to fill the treat drawer. I know that in the end, the intake of sugar is the same, but I wanted to make the choices clear. I’d rather the kids know what they are eating than assume that all cereals are created equal. They both picked out healthier cereals and proudly walked around the store, each with a box of cereal: Rice Chex and Special K.

The actual nutrition wasn’t the point, it was the lesson about understanding our food and how to understand our food and how to make choices of food. Of all the ways kids are influenced by food choices, our seem to make the right decisions by choice. Nutrition labels are a great way to demonstrate choices. I’m proud of theirs.