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Feb. 15th, 2010 02:04 amTweets copied by twittinesis.com
Feb. 15th, 2010
Which Cereal is Lowest in Calories?
Feb. 15th, 2010 01:40 pmSo, what with my trying to lose weight, I've been looking for the lowest-calorie option for Things That Go Crunch (That Aren't Celery). Chips, in pretty much any form, are out- the oil they're fried in loads 'em up with calories. Rice cakes... hate the taste of the plain ones, the flavored ones don't save any calories at all, and I end up hungrier after eating them than before anyway. Popcorn seemed like a good option- I eat the lite-butter variety anyway, since I can't stand it absolutely plain- but at somewhere vaguely around 300 calories per microwaved bag, I'd still like something better.
So I had Wheat Chex (my favorite of the Chexes) on the shelf, and I thought, Well, this is healthy, right? Probably low-calorie, since it's made out of what tastes like chaff anyhow. I looked at the nutrition info box...
One serving, 3/4 of a cup, 160 calories.
WOW.
I compared it with the Corn and Rice Chex my grandmother bought to make mix out of. Serving size on both is larger- one full cup- but calories are 120 for Corn, 100 for Rice.
WTF?
And then, last week, I did some spot-checking on the shelves at Wal-Mart.
Shredded Wheat- 180 calories for two biscuits.
Quaker Oatmeal Squares - 210 calories.
Fruit Loops- 120 calories.
Cookie Crisp- 110 calories.
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?
So, I'm starting a project- and I need help from as many of you as I can get (in the USA, anyhow- I'm not likely to go to, say, Cologne in Germany for breakfast food). You see, I can't afford to buy one of every major cereal in Wal-Mart or HEB or wherever, and the stores look dimly indeed at someone who enters the store with notepad and pen in hand, examining boxes and writing things down.
What I'm asking is this: go to wherever you keep whatever name-brand cereal you have and look at the nutrition box. The info I need for this project is the cereal name, the serving size in cups (usually 1/2, 3/4 or 1 cup), the serving size weight in grams (g), and the calorie count for that size. NOTE: the calorie count WITHOUT milk. Not only is this project focused on the cereal alone, but I eat my cereal dry anyway.
What I'm going to do with that information is put it into Excel, then adjust it twice.
First, I'm going to change the serving size to something more resembling how much cereal actually gets eaten at one time. The small styrofoam bowls we use here are 12 oz., or 1 1/2 cups, and that will be my adjusted serving size by volume.
Then, I'll adjust the serving weight to a uniform standard- either 40g or 50g, depending on how the numbers come in- and see which cereal has the highest or lowest calorie count by mass.
I'll publish results on LJ in the form of a link to an Excel spreadsheet, once I've got enough cereal info to make it worth posting.
Here's the boxes I have in the house right now. (Sadly, the Wheat Chex box was emptied and thrown out last week.)
CORN CHEX - serving size 1 cup, serving weight 31g, 120 calories
RICE CHEX - serving size 1 cup, serving weight 27g, 100 calories
HONEY NUT CHEERIOS* - serving size 3/4 cup, serving weight 30g, 120 calories
CAP'N CRUNCH - serving size 3/4 cup, serving weight 27g, 110 calories
* generic knockoff- would prefer updated data
So- your assistance, please? (And if this exploration of deceptive serving sizes and gaming the nutrition disclosure laws intrigues you, pass the word!)
So I had Wheat Chex (my favorite of the Chexes) on the shelf, and I thought, Well, this is healthy, right? Probably low-calorie, since it's made out of what tastes like chaff anyhow. I looked at the nutrition info box...
One serving, 3/4 of a cup, 160 calories.
WOW.
I compared it with the Corn and Rice Chex my grandmother bought to make mix out of. Serving size on both is larger- one full cup- but calories are 120 for Corn, 100 for Rice.
WTF?
And then, last week, I did some spot-checking on the shelves at Wal-Mart.
Shredded Wheat- 180 calories for two biscuits.
Quaker Oatmeal Squares - 210 calories.
Fruit Loops- 120 calories.
Cookie Crisp- 110 calories.
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?
So, I'm starting a project- and I need help from as many of you as I can get (in the USA, anyhow- I'm not likely to go to, say, Cologne in Germany for breakfast food). You see, I can't afford to buy one of every major cereal in Wal-Mart or HEB or wherever, and the stores look dimly indeed at someone who enters the store with notepad and pen in hand, examining boxes and writing things down.
What I'm asking is this: go to wherever you keep whatever name-brand cereal you have and look at the nutrition box. The info I need for this project is the cereal name, the serving size in cups (usually 1/2, 3/4 or 1 cup), the serving size weight in grams (g), and the calorie count for that size. NOTE: the calorie count WITHOUT milk. Not only is this project focused on the cereal alone, but I eat my cereal dry anyway.
What I'm going to do with that information is put it into Excel, then adjust it twice.
First, I'm going to change the serving size to something more resembling how much cereal actually gets eaten at one time. The small styrofoam bowls we use here are 12 oz., or 1 1/2 cups, and that will be my adjusted serving size by volume.
Then, I'll adjust the serving weight to a uniform standard- either 40g or 50g, depending on how the numbers come in- and see which cereal has the highest or lowest calorie count by mass.
I'll publish results on LJ in the form of a link to an Excel spreadsheet, once I've got enough cereal info to make it worth posting.
Here's the boxes I have in the house right now. (Sadly, the Wheat Chex box was emptied and thrown out last week.)
CORN CHEX - serving size 1 cup, serving weight 31g, 120 calories
RICE CHEX - serving size 1 cup, serving weight 27g, 100 calories
HONEY NUT CHEERIOS* - serving size 3/4 cup, serving weight 30g, 120 calories
CAP'N CRUNCH - serving size 3/4 cup, serving weight 27g, 110 calories
* generic knockoff- would prefer updated data
So- your assistance, please? (And if this exploration of deceptive serving sizes and gaming the nutrition disclosure laws intrigues you, pass the word!)
Which Cereal is Lowest in Calories?
Feb. 15th, 2010 01:40 pmSo, what with my trying to lose weight, I've been looking for the lowest-calorie option for Things That Go Crunch (That Aren't Celery). Chips, in pretty much any form, are out- the oil they're fried in loads 'em up with calories. Rice cakes... hate the taste of the plain ones, the flavored ones don't save any calories at all, and I end up hungrier after eating them than before anyway. Popcorn seemed like a good option- I eat the lite-butter variety anyway, since I can't stand it absolutely plain- but at somewhere vaguely around 300 calories per microwaved bag, I'd still like something better.
So I had Wheat Chex (my favorite of the Chexes) on the shelf, and I thought, Well, this is healthy, right? Probably low-calorie, since it's made out of what tastes like chaff anyhow. I looked at the nutrition info box...
One serving, 3/4 of a cup, 160 calories.
WOW.
I compared it with the Corn and Rice Chex my grandmother bought to make mix out of. Serving size on both is larger- one full cup- but calories are 120 for Corn, 100 for Rice.
WTF?
And then, last week, I did some spot-checking on the shelves at Wal-Mart.
Shredded Wheat- 180 calories for two biscuits.
Quaker Oatmeal Squares - 210 calories.
Fruit Loops- 120 calories.
Cookie Crisp- 110 calories.
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?
So, I'm starting a project- and I need help from as many of you as I can get (in the USA, anyhow- I'm not likely to go to, say, Cologne in Germany for breakfast food). You see, I can't afford to buy one of every major cereal in Wal-Mart or HEB or wherever, and the stores look dimly indeed at someone who enters the store with notepad and pen in hand, examining boxes and writing things down.
What I'm asking is this: go to wherever you keep whatever name-brand cereal you have and look at the nutrition box. The info I need for this project is the cereal name, the serving size in cups (usually 1/2, 3/4 or 1 cup), the serving size weight in grams (g), and the calorie count for that size. NOTE: the calorie count WITHOUT milk. Not only is this project focused on the cereal alone, but I eat my cereal dry anyway.
What I'm going to do with that information is put it into Excel, then adjust it twice.
First, I'm going to change the serving size to something more resembling how much cereal actually gets eaten at one time. The small styrofoam bowls we use here are 12 oz., or 1 1/2 cups, and that will be my adjusted serving size by volume.
Then, I'll adjust the serving weight to a uniform standard- either 40g or 50g, depending on how the numbers come in- and see which cereal has the highest or lowest calorie count by mass.
I'll publish results on LJ in the form of a link to an Excel spreadsheet, once I've got enough cereal info to make it worth posting.
Here's the boxes I have in the house right now. (Sadly, the Wheat Chex box was emptied and thrown out last week.)
CORN CHEX - serving size 1 cup, serving weight 31g, 120 calories
RICE CHEX - serving size 1 cup, serving weight 27g, 100 calories
HONEY NUT CHEERIOS* - serving size 3/4 cup, serving weight 30g, 120 calories
CAP'N CRUNCH - serving size 3/4 cup, serving weight 27g, 110 calories
* generic knockoff- would prefer updated data
So- your assistance, please? (And if this exploration of deceptive serving sizes and gaming the nutrition disclosure laws intrigues you, pass the word!)
So I had Wheat Chex (my favorite of the Chexes) on the shelf, and I thought, Well, this is healthy, right? Probably low-calorie, since it's made out of what tastes like chaff anyhow. I looked at the nutrition info box...
One serving, 3/4 of a cup, 160 calories.
WOW.
I compared it with the Corn and Rice Chex my grandmother bought to make mix out of. Serving size on both is larger- one full cup- but calories are 120 for Corn, 100 for Rice.
WTF?
And then, last week, I did some spot-checking on the shelves at Wal-Mart.
Shredded Wheat- 180 calories for two biscuits.
Quaker Oatmeal Squares - 210 calories.
Fruit Loops- 120 calories.
Cookie Crisp- 110 calories.
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?
So, I'm starting a project- and I need help from as many of you as I can get (in the USA, anyhow- I'm not likely to go to, say, Cologne in Germany for breakfast food). You see, I can't afford to buy one of every major cereal in Wal-Mart or HEB or wherever, and the stores look dimly indeed at someone who enters the store with notepad and pen in hand, examining boxes and writing things down.
What I'm asking is this: go to wherever you keep whatever name-brand cereal you have and look at the nutrition box. The info I need for this project is the cereal name, the serving size in cups (usually 1/2, 3/4 or 1 cup), the serving size weight in grams (g), and the calorie count for that size. NOTE: the calorie count WITHOUT milk. Not only is this project focused on the cereal alone, but I eat my cereal dry anyway.
What I'm going to do with that information is put it into Excel, then adjust it twice.
First, I'm going to change the serving size to something more resembling how much cereal actually gets eaten at one time. The small styrofoam bowls we use here are 12 oz., or 1 1/2 cups, and that will be my adjusted serving size by volume.
Then, I'll adjust the serving weight to a uniform standard- either 40g or 50g, depending on how the numbers come in- and see which cereal has the highest or lowest calorie count by mass.
I'll publish results on LJ in the form of a link to an Excel spreadsheet, once I've got enough cereal info to make it worth posting.
Here's the boxes I have in the house right now. (Sadly, the Wheat Chex box was emptied and thrown out last week.)
CORN CHEX - serving size 1 cup, serving weight 31g, 120 calories
RICE CHEX - serving size 1 cup, serving weight 27g, 100 calories
HONEY NUT CHEERIOS* - serving size 3/4 cup, serving weight 30g, 120 calories
CAP'N CRUNCH - serving size 3/4 cup, serving weight 27g, 110 calories
* generic knockoff- would prefer updated data
So- your assistance, please? (And if this exploration of deceptive serving sizes and gaming the nutrition disclosure laws intrigues you, pass the word!)
Cereal project update
Feb. 15th, 2010 10:22 pmThanks to one of the links in comments, I've got a good run through Kellogg's and General Mills cereals. Another link might, or might not, give me the rest- the only place serving volume is given is in a drop-down menu, and I'm not at all certain I trust it.
Anyway, what I've got so far is here:
http://www.wlpcomics.com/lj/cerealstudy.xls
What I'm finding is, at least of the Kellogg's and General Mills cereal lines, the calorie density per gram isn't too far off a uniform set- 40g runs an average of about 160 calories, with only a couple of exceptions. The lowball winner in what I've got so far on this is a tie between Fiber One and Mueslix- the latter of which I haven't seen on a store shelf around here in quite some time.
But, again, we don't eat cereal by weight, we eat it by volume- and that means some cereals you'd think were healthy turn out to be, when you fill up the bowl, quite the calorie bombs.
The big loser so far, in a 12 oz. bowl, is Wheat Chex- 320 calories per bowl. WHAM! Raisin Bran and Raisin Bran Crunch- each at 285 calories per bowl. SOCKO!
The lowball five cereals so far on calories per bowl are:
#5: (tie) Multi Grain Chex and Multi Grain Cheerios, each at 165 calories/bowl, 153 calories/40g. (NOT at all fond of Cheerios in any form, though I'll eat Honey Nut; haven't tried Multi Grain Chex that I can recall.)
#4: Froot Loops, 165 calories/bowl, 137.5 calories per 40g. (Hm. Need to look around and see if there's a Reduced Sugar sold in the local stores.)
#3: Rice Chex, 150 calories/bowl, 148 calories per 40g. (Rather like them, but prefer Wheat Chex, alas.)
#2: Kellogg's Corn Flakes, 150 calories/bowl, 143 calories per 40g. (Blech.)
#1: Kix, at only 132 calories per bowl and a calorie density of 146 2/3 per 40g of cereal. (I kind of like this, but the rough corn puffs abrade the roof of my mouth, so I don't eat them much. Same problem with Trix.)
Thanks for your help so far, and please keep forwarding me info if you have it. Quaker (including Capn' Crunch side brands) and Post are the main companies I'm still looking for. Not much interested in Malt-o-Meal, which last I looked is generic bulk knockoffs of the brand name stuff.
Anyway, what I've got so far is here:
http://www.wlpcomics.com/lj/cerealstudy.xls
What I'm finding is, at least of the Kellogg's and General Mills cereal lines, the calorie density per gram isn't too far off a uniform set- 40g runs an average of about 160 calories, with only a couple of exceptions. The lowball winner in what I've got so far on this is a tie between Fiber One and Mueslix- the latter of which I haven't seen on a store shelf around here in quite some time.
But, again, we don't eat cereal by weight, we eat it by volume- and that means some cereals you'd think were healthy turn out to be, when you fill up the bowl, quite the calorie bombs.
The big loser so far, in a 12 oz. bowl, is Wheat Chex- 320 calories per bowl. WHAM! Raisin Bran and Raisin Bran Crunch- each at 285 calories per bowl. SOCKO!
The lowball five cereals so far on calories per bowl are:
#5: (tie) Multi Grain Chex and Multi Grain Cheerios, each at 165 calories/bowl, 153 calories/40g. (NOT at all fond of Cheerios in any form, though I'll eat Honey Nut; haven't tried Multi Grain Chex that I can recall.)
#4: Froot Loops, 165 calories/bowl, 137.5 calories per 40g. (Hm. Need to look around and see if there's a Reduced Sugar sold in the local stores.)
#3: Rice Chex, 150 calories/bowl, 148 calories per 40g. (Rather like them, but prefer Wheat Chex, alas.)
#2: Kellogg's Corn Flakes, 150 calories/bowl, 143 calories per 40g. (Blech.)
#1: Kix, at only 132 calories per bowl and a calorie density of 146 2/3 per 40g of cereal. (I kind of like this, but the rough corn puffs abrade the roof of my mouth, so I don't eat them much. Same problem with Trix.)
Thanks for your help so far, and please keep forwarding me info if you have it. Quaker (including Capn' Crunch side brands) and Post are the main companies I'm still looking for. Not much interested in Malt-o-Meal, which last I looked is generic bulk knockoffs of the brand name stuff.
Cereal project update
Feb. 15th, 2010 10:22 pmThanks to one of the links in comments, I've got a good run through Kellogg's and General Mills cereals. Another link might, or might not, give me the rest- the only place serving volume is given is in a drop-down menu, and I'm not at all certain I trust it.
Anyway, what I've got so far is here:
http://www.wlpcomics.com/lj/cerealstudy.xls
What I'm finding is, at least of the Kellogg's and General Mills cereal lines, the calorie density per gram isn't too far off a uniform set- 40g runs an average of about 160 calories, with only a couple of exceptions. The lowball winner in what I've got so far on this is a tie between Fiber One and Mueslix- the latter of which I haven't seen on a store shelf around here in quite some time.
But, again, we don't eat cereal by weight, we eat it by volume- and that means some cereals you'd think were healthy turn out to be, when you fill up the bowl, quite the calorie bombs.
The big loser so far, in a 12 oz. bowl, is Wheat Chex- 320 calories per bowl. WHAM! Raisin Bran and Raisin Bran Crunch- each at 285 calories per bowl. SOCKO!
The lowball five cereals so far on calories per bowl are:
#5: (tie) Multi Grain Chex and Multi Grain Cheerios, each at 165 calories/bowl, 153 calories/40g. (NOT at all fond of Cheerios in any form, though I'll eat Honey Nut; haven't tried Multi Grain Chex that I can recall.)
#4: Froot Loops, 165 calories/bowl, 137.5 calories per 40g. (Hm. Need to look around and see if there's a Reduced Sugar sold in the local stores.)
#3: Rice Chex, 150 calories/bowl, 148 calories per 40g. (Rather like them, but prefer Wheat Chex, alas.)
#2: Kellogg's Corn Flakes, 150 calories/bowl, 143 calories per 40g. (Blech.)
#1: Kix, at only 132 calories per bowl and a calorie density of 146 2/3 per 40g of cereal. (I kind of like this, but the rough corn puffs abrade the roof of my mouth, so I don't eat them much. Same problem with Trix.)
Thanks for your help so far, and please keep forwarding me info if you have it. Quaker (including Capn' Crunch side brands) and Post are the main companies I'm still looking for. Not much interested in Malt-o-Meal, which last I looked is generic bulk knockoffs of the brand name stuff.
Anyway, what I've got so far is here:
http://www.wlpcomics.com/lj/cerealstudy.xls
What I'm finding is, at least of the Kellogg's and General Mills cereal lines, the calorie density per gram isn't too far off a uniform set- 40g runs an average of about 160 calories, with only a couple of exceptions. The lowball winner in what I've got so far on this is a tie between Fiber One and Mueslix- the latter of which I haven't seen on a store shelf around here in quite some time.
But, again, we don't eat cereal by weight, we eat it by volume- and that means some cereals you'd think were healthy turn out to be, when you fill up the bowl, quite the calorie bombs.
The big loser so far, in a 12 oz. bowl, is Wheat Chex- 320 calories per bowl. WHAM! Raisin Bran and Raisin Bran Crunch- each at 285 calories per bowl. SOCKO!
The lowball five cereals so far on calories per bowl are:
#5: (tie) Multi Grain Chex and Multi Grain Cheerios, each at 165 calories/bowl, 153 calories/40g. (NOT at all fond of Cheerios in any form, though I'll eat Honey Nut; haven't tried Multi Grain Chex that I can recall.)
#4: Froot Loops, 165 calories/bowl, 137.5 calories per 40g. (Hm. Need to look around and see if there's a Reduced Sugar sold in the local stores.)
#3: Rice Chex, 150 calories/bowl, 148 calories per 40g. (Rather like them, but prefer Wheat Chex, alas.)
#2: Kellogg's Corn Flakes, 150 calories/bowl, 143 calories per 40g. (Blech.)
#1: Kix, at only 132 calories per bowl and a calorie density of 146 2/3 per 40g of cereal. (I kind of like this, but the rough corn puffs abrade the roof of my mouth, so I don't eat them much. Same problem with Trix.)
Thanks for your help so far, and please keep forwarding me info if you have it. Quaker (including Capn' Crunch side brands) and Post are the main companies I'm still looking for. Not much interested in Malt-o-Meal, which last I looked is generic bulk knockoffs of the brand name stuff.