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I found myself standing and staring in the cereal aisle at a local Walmart recently. A look at the wide expanse of cereal selections was a bit overwhelming. There before me was an entire aisle filled with colorfully-packaged breakfast cereals.
I recognized many of them from my childhood, especially those packaged in the large bags rather than in boxes. The bagged cereals were often less expensive knockoffs of the Kellogg's or General Mills brands. They were an obvious choice for my wise shopper of a mother who was always looking for a bargain at the grocery store.
Childhood Saturday mornings were a special time for cartoon watching with a bowl of Captain Crunch, Frosted Flakes or Sugar Puffs to start the day. That's not to say Mom didn't push the Cheerios or Shredded Wheat in our direction.
She, too, enjoyed cereal. She introduced me to non-sugary Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat and even the dreaded Grape Nuts.
Funny, as I looked over the current selection of cereals, I could not find one box of puffed cereals that weren't sugar coated. In fact, most of the cereals I checked out contained more carbohydrates than this buyer was comfortable consuming at this stage of my life.
There are very few lower-sugar varieties from which to choose today. Even Cheerios now offers flavored varieties, but they often add to the carb count. I prefer to sweeten my Cheerios with a sliced banana or some fresh strawberries. I think my mom would be proud.
That's not to say there aren't times that a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios hasn't passed my lips. But I haven't been brave enough to dig into the Lucky Charms or Tony the Tiger's Frosted Flakes that my grandkids enjoy.
Sometimes a hot bowl of cereal such as oatmeal is my go-to breakfast and sometimes even a lazy dinner.
But I have to admit one weakness when it comes to the hot varieties. I have rediscovered CoCo Wheats.
Yes, I have found a way to incorporate chocolate into my cereal bowl and yes, it's not the best choice for health concerns. It's not the worst either.
One serving of CoCo Wheats has 24 grams of carbs while the same amount of Rice Chex has 34 grams of carbs. Go figure.
While I don't recognize the Saturday morning cartoons any longer, I do know that the cereal makers have managed to survive the war on carbs. I just hope I can. ... Those CoCo Krispies look awfully tempting.
Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.