Friday, February 19, 2021

Toaster Pastry vs. Hot Cereal

      There's a childhood treat in my breakfast bowl this morning: a hot cereal that isn't oatmeal.  Let us call it Cream of A Grain Used In Bread.

     I take mine with sugar, as much as a couple of teaspoons, and whil enjoying it, I wondered: is this any better for me than what we'd better call a Toaster Pastry?

     4.2 grams of sugar in a teaspoon -- let's say I went wild, and there are 9 grams of sugar in my cereal.

     Tabular charts aren't so easy in a hurry in Blogger, so this will be a bit rough:
     Cream of A Grain, one cup:
     133 calories
     4 grams of protein
     1 gram of fiber
     0.5 grams of fat
     No sodium unless you add a pinch of salt to the water, which I don't.
     9 grams of sugar, because I have a sweet tooth

     Toaster Pastry, two:
     420 calories
     2 grams of protein
     about 1 gram of fiber
     16 grams of fat
     380 grams of sodium
     24 grams of sugar

     Last time I looked, the dieticians and doctors were still arguing about dietary fats (and the French were still confounding them), but none of 'em thought a high salt intake or more calories than you needed was a good idea.  Likewise, less sugar is better -- and the hot cereal was plenty sweet enough for me.  Porridge wins!

     Makes me happy that I like the stuff.  Not because it makes me feel all virtuous, or even, really, because it is healthy (unless you're avoiding carbohydrates).  Nope, because it's tasty and warm on a cold morning, and reminds me of good childhood memories.

*  *  *

     On the other hand, perhaps I need to look into those OTC mental-alertness pills: while looking up nutritional information, I picked up the box of Cream of Weeds, tipped it to see the label and wandered from the kitchen to the office, reading it and unknowingly leaving a trail of processed grain as I walked.  Turned back, felt the gritty crunch underfoot and realized I had quite a mess to sweep up.  Words may have been said.

     It could be worse -- the mathematician Hilbert once asked a colleague if his wife was as cheap as Hilbert's.

     His colleague was taken aback.  "What on earth do you mean?"

     "Only this morning," Hilbert told him, "and quite by accident, I discovered my wife does not serve me an egg for breakfast.  I have no idea how long this has been going on."

     I should maybe do less with numbers at breakfast time.

8 comments:

John Peddie (Toronto) said...

Somnambulism wins...and so much less stressful.

Glenn Kelley said...

Regarding the Cream of Wheat,You may be a little light on the sugar for my taste.

Good comparison of the the basic nutrition . My only quibble is that people think of fat as a bad thing, if you call it energy it's a good thing.

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

"Words may have been said."

Mmm. Those words.

Roberta X said...

Most Americans consume far more fat than our bodies can make use of.

CMac said...

Cream of Wheat, Cream of Rice, Oatmeal, but the one I miss from childhood is one that has only ever had limited distribution, Cream of the West. My Mom had family send it down to Denver when we were kids, but now it's available on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Cream-West-Natural-Whole-Grain-Original/dp/B01BMXRDXK

Mark Matis said...

Forget that awful stuff. Go for Maypo instead!!!

Antibubba said...

I've added a few items for memory and cognition improvement, and I've noticed improvements. That isn't to say it isn't a placebo effect, but if it is, I'll still take it for the price.

fillyjonk said...

I go with oatmeal most mornings because it's easy to bung a bowl of it in the microwave (or, you can do it "overnight style" if you think to combine the oats and milk in the fridge overnight).

I usually put a smallish handful of high-cacao chocolate chips in. I calculated it out and those add less sugar than adding an acceptable-to-me amount of either brown sugar, maple syrup, or even molasses.

I could eat it plain but mornings these days are enough of a hairshirt already