Featherweight Promises, Puffed Oats Boxed Cereal vs. Stalwart Rolled Oats

Alison Bailey Vercruysse
Nov 9, 2024
4 min read

Updated: May 27

Featherweight Promises, Puffed Oats Boxed Cereal vs. Stalwart Rolled Oats

I owe my mother’s life to an Irish doctor that people in the late 70s thought was a bit of a quack. When most people found freedom in boxed cereals and packaged baked goods at grocery stores, those could literally kill my mom. The preservatives and colored dyes used to make the breakfast items seem fresh could trigger an asthma attack that closed up her airways and caused her to suffocate.

The situation got so dire for my mother; the asthma triggers were so acute that my mother lived in a hermetically sealed white trailer in our Farmers Branch, Texas driveway until she could regain her strength and find a path to heal. The path included organic food, no packaged or hyper-processed food, and discovering baking from traditional recipes before the advent of packaged food.

One of the baked goods she made was granola. The smell of oats, honey, and caramel wafted through the house and had my brothers, sisters, and me drooling. It barely lasted until morning.

Walking down a cereal aisle today seems like a football field long with an array of featherweight, colorful boxes. Standing much taller on the shelf than a pouch of granola, a cereal box weighs 20-25% less.

Pulverizing the Nutrient Density of Oats

Glycemic Load and Sugar Grams/Serving of Rolled Oats vs. Puffed O's Cereals

Your eyes may be drawn in by how much-puffed cereal you can eat. In fact, you have to eat gobs more to get any nutritional value. Conventionally harvested oats from brown fields are gathered and taken to factories where monstrous machines pulverize the oats into a powder. Modified corn starch, white sugar, salt, preservative Tripotassium Phosphate (a poison and cleaning agent) and vitamins/minerals compose the remainder of the ingredient panel. Once mixed, dough is formed, baked, puffed, and shaped before being loaded into a plastic bag and box to protect the “O” shapes.

Due to the ultra-processing, the modest amount of sugar grams per serving for the original O’s lands high on the glycemic index. Depending on the flavor, it ranges from 74 to 83. (the max is 100). The coated puffed oats quickly increase sugar levels in your body. Eating the cereal causes your insulin levels to spike. Then your sugars crash, signaling your body that you are hungry again. Comparatively, the glycemic load of rolled oats is considered low at 55.

Eating puffed oats coated in white sugar fails to give your mouth much to munch on. It can dissolve and sit on your teeth where you must brush it off before the residue forms cavities.

A monotonous white bland food, the boxed cereals also train our palates at a young age to crave a singular note - sugar or salt. The precursor to the ubiquitous kids menu in the United States of french fries, pasta, and chicken fingers, the singular flavor and texture of the puffed oats can deprive us long term of eating whole foods where the true nutrition lies. The dentists and doctors get more work too.

Around the world, rolled oats continue to be a healthy and popular option - a good source of protein, fiber, and antioxidants in addition to many other health benefits1.

Why Prioritize Organic Oats vs Conventional?

In the growth of conventional oats, pesticides and herbicides are often used. Glyphosate found in Roundup, which some say can interfere with the immune system, hormones, and gut health2. Chlormequat linked in animal studies to infertility3. Currently, Chlormequat is illegal for use on food crops in the United States. The EPA has allowed it in imported oats.

Alternatives to Boxed Cereals

Granola contains whole grain rolled oats, nuts, and seeds picked off the tree or gathered from the field. Choose an organic granola, lower in sugar, five grams/serving or less. For best results, bake your granola. Once a month, spend the 15 minutes of prep and the 20-25 minutes to bake it. For a couple of granola recipes on my website, go to AlisonVery.com.

Simple Overnight Oats Recipe with Chia, GF

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To make oat breakfast options - granola, oatmeal, muesli, or many overnight oats, I recommend using Sprouted Oats from One Degree Foods. Sprouted oats have activated enzymes breaking down starches and proteins into simpler forms for digestion. I buy them at Whole Foods or New Seasons here in Portland. The company has a robust Where to Buy feature on their website.

In 15 minutes, you can have oatmeal without slaving over the stove. One Degree Organic Sprouted Rolled Oats has an easy recipe on the package. Add nuts, a scoop of yogurt, and fruit on top or some sauteed apples with cinnamon for more flavor and nutrition.

For added health benefits, raw oats are rich in beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that may help lower blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.4

With many options to vary your morning routine, oats do the heavy lifting for a quick homemade breakfast. Packaged granola with lower added sugars remains a better choice than boxed cereals. If we choose not to be slaves to “fortified” foods at an early age, ditching boxed cereal in favor of oats mixed with other whole foods boosts variety at the breakfast table and establishes a better relationship with whole foods for years to come.