Breakfast Cereals for a Sweet Tooth

| January 12, 2013 | 41 Comments

Boy eating cerealWe know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If your grandma was anything like mine, if she had her way, we and our children would be sitting down to a nice, hot breakfast of eggs, toast, fruit, bacon and orange juice every day. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have time for that and in many families, cold cereal is the breakfast of choice, particularly on weekdays. While my kids will eat the healthier of the cereals most of the time, sometimes they (or I!) want something special. Here are some good bets to try if you’re looking for a somewhat healthy “unhealthy” breakfast cereal:

  • Mini Wheats Little Bites Chocolate  My kids love Frosted Mini Wheats, but these take the sweetness a step further, because they’re made with cocoa-flavored shreds of wheat. These may be one of the better bets if your kids want a chocolatey cereal, because each serving packs in 6 grams of fiber and only 2 grams of fat. You could even give these to your kids as an afternoon snack, with or without milk.
  • Special K Cinnamon Pecan  Special K is often thought of as a “grown up” cereal, but the Cinnamon Pecan variety is pretty sweet and kid-friendly! It lives up to its reputation as being a healthy option for breakfast, as this flavor contains only 7 grams of sugar and 3 grams of fiber.
  • Cheerios  Your kids probably already eat the plain variety, which are tasty to all kids, from toddlers to teens, but the flavored varieties are almost as healthy. Cheerios, whether they’re honey nut or apple cinnamon, have vitamin D added, and are a good source of whole grains, iron and protein.
  • Kix  This cereal isn’t sparkly, colorful or sugar-coated, but it provides just enough sweetness to make it appealing to kids. It has 3 grams of fiber and an impressively low 3 grams of sugar.
  • Life  Do you remember the commercials for Life cereal? Only Mikey would try it, because “Mikey will eat everything!” Life is another one that doesn’t look like a kid cereal, but kids tend to love it because it’s just sweet enough to taste great. It contains 6 grams of sugar and 2 grams of fiber.

When looking for a relatively healthy sweet cereal, you want to choose one with 3 or 4 grams of fiber, if possible, and not too many sugar grams. Also, check the calorie and fat count. Serve cereal with skim or low-fat milk and fruit if possible to get your kids’ day off to the best start possible!

What are your favorite breakfast cereals?

Comments (41)

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  1. cole mckinnon says:

    I love sweet cereals and I am 56 years old, LOL.

  2. Julie Wood says:

    I really like the Special K Cinnamon Pecan cereal and I like Cheerios. My son also will eat these two cereals with me, and he even loves oatmeal!

  3. Jane Ritz says:

    I love sweet cereals as well. I think if we start from start sweetening with a little honey, that’s better. Being a former teacher, what sad is the kids that come without eating breakfast day after day. It was heartbreaking.

  4. Cassandra D says:

    I am happy to say that I really don’t like sweet cereals – I’m still stuck on Cheerios, original

  5. Dora J Crow says:

    Growing up we weren’t allowed to eat sweet cereals. The cereals we always had in our cupboard? Cornflakes. Cheerios. Grape nuts. AND to top it off- remember the olde timey huge shredded wheat kind? The ones that wouldn’t fit into your cereal bowl? You had to break them up to a gazillion pcs them cover them entirely in sugar to even take a spoon of them? Ugh. Then they get so disgustingly soggy you want to vomit? OMG. We got to have RAISIN BRAN when we wanted sweet cereal! Really, mama? RAISIN BRAN? I’d rather just go to school on empty stomach. Blech. (I do totally love ALL chex cereal & mini frosted wheats now that I am old-lol)

  6. Chrystal D says:

    I love the multi-grain cheerios myself! They’re just sweet enough for me!

  7. rebeka deleon says:

    i def. have a sweet tooth and i think a healthy cereal is a great alternative to a lot of other things you could eat.

  8. Ashley N. says:

    I love frosted flakes and mini wheats as long as its not too sweet!

  9. Stephanie from CT says:

    kix and cheeerios. they are my staples. plus, my family likes special k,

  10. Amy Green says:

    I love the General Mills monster cereals-it’s too bad now they only sell them at Halloween.

  11. Bashir Ahmed says:

    I love frosted flakes and mini wheats as long as its not too sweet! Thanks.

  12. Jennifer Mae Hiles says:

    Love the flavored mini wheats! Also love Kix and Life! I haven’t had the Special K Cinnamon Pecan but it sounds delicious. I enjoy a bowl of cereal in the evening occasionally and def. less calories then what my other choices would be!

  13. Briana Kennedy says:

    Great read! My family loves cereal!

  14. Deb Dorrington says:

    Even at my age I love sweet cereals especially the Special K with Cinnamon Pecans. I didn’t realize Kix was a sweet cereal so I will be checking it out..lol

  15. Debra Gibbs says:

    I love the Multi grain cheerios they have a sweet about them but not sugar…

  16. Mitzi says:

    The article is awesome! At my house a box of cereal is eatten everyday. Love it 🙂

  17. pamela resendiz says:

    i heat my mini wheats and milk up in the micro wave for a healthy hot cereal

  18. michelle warner says:

    i love my sweet cereals like capn crunch mmm, i try to eat the good stuff, and i make my kids eat the good stuff, i let them cheat ever once in awhile though

  19. Rama says:

    I think the best Cereal is Honey Nut Cheerios!!! 🙂 plain and sweet!!!!

  20. Nicole Becker says:

    My favorite cereal is Capn Crunch with Crunch berries!!

  21. Lanie says:

    Mmm I love these cereals. I have been eating Life Cereal since I was a kid. I love them. I also got the Special K chocolate and strawberries. Its pretty good! 🙂

  22. Jeanine says:

    This is a really informative article- thanks for sharing it!

  23. Marissa says:

    I love cereal. I personally love some of the ones you listed such as Kix. I think Kix is the only sweet & healthy ones. All of the other cereal I love are either plain healthy or just sweet. I don’t think cheerios are sweet – just healthy & still good.

  24. Holly Trudeau says:

    Thanks for sharing, It’s so hard to find somewhat healthy cereals that kids don’t find repulsive lol.

  25. Jo-Ann Brightman says:

    I love Cheerios and you forgot to mention the Chocolate Cheerios.

  26. Christina Kelbel says:

    thanks for posting, my roomate loves sweet cereals.

  27. vickie marks allbright says:

    everyone in our home loves cereal all diffrent kinds ty for this review

  28. Lucy Lopez says:

    Life is one of my kids favorite cereal. Thanks for sharing.

  29. Chrissy Mac Sanders says:

    I like to give my son rice crispies. He loves them without sugar unless he wants a little sweetness then I give him cheerios or frosted flakes.

  30. Stephanie Larison says:

    I’m the one with the cereal sweet tooth in the house! Lol, my daughter prefers plain Cheerios…not even the kind with the honey nut stuff on it. Makes me feel bad, while I’m over there eating a bowl full of cocoa puffs. :\

  31. Carla Bonesteel says:

    I wouldn’t eat any of these when I was a kid…My mom used to try to get me to eat non-sugary cereal, but it never worked out for her…HONEYCOMBS!!

  32. Tammy S says:

    I am lucky my kids don’t really care for sweet cereals that much. The favorites in our house are Cheerios and Frosted Mini Wheats.

  33. Thanks for the tips! I am still glad that my 2-year old boy is not a picky eater and is not more into sweets. He loves fried eggplants or tuna omelette.

  34. Kimberly R. says:

    even I am a fan of sweet cereals and usually to worried about which type to choose.

  35. Kayce says:

    I never tried sweet cereals yet… I think I’m gonna try the Mini Wheats Little Bites Chocolate and Cheerios for my daughter too. Thanks for sharing!

  36. deena vanbergen says:

    Both cereals sound great to me!

  37. tami s says:

    I like that my kids can have sweetness but in a healthy way. These cereals taste good so that my kids will eat them

  38. LAMusing says:

    I have a sweet tooth myself – that special K cinnamon pecan sounds yummy!

  39. Nicole Becker says:

    Capn Crunch with Crunch Berries are my favorite cereal unfortunately!!

  40. db0 says:

    I love frosted flakes 🙂

  41. Jeanine says:

    My 2 faves are multi grain Cheerios and cinnamon Life!

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