A while back I visited my sister and her boyfriend’s brother was also there (not that important). However, he was reading the nutrition label of rice krispies and asked “how there’s so much protein in breakfast cereal?” This sentence made me think about how people see protein in a diet. It’s still not uncommon to think that the only dietary protein sources are meat and dairy products, that’s what we’ve been taught from early on. Therefore, today we’ll bust some myths and check the protein content of some common cereal products.
Protein content in 100 grams: 14 grams
Protein per serving (approx. ½ cup dry, 50g): 7 grams
Ideas how to use: oatmeal, overnight oats, granola, baking (instead of regular flour)
Protein content in 100 grams: 14 grams
Protein per serving (approx. ⅔ cup dry, 80g): 11.2 grams
Ideas how to use: with pasta sauce, macaroni casserole, pasta salad
Protein content in 100 grams: 12 grams
Protein per serving (slice, 30g): 3.6 grams
Ideas how to serve: with peanut butter or (vegan) butter, sandwiches
Protein content in 100 grams: 12 grams
Protein per serving (½ cup dry, 80g): 9.6 grams
Ideas how to use: side dish, porridge, granola
Protein content in 100 grams: 11 grams
Protein per serving (1 cup, 40g): 4.4 grams
Ideas how to serve: with (plant) milk, dry (I’ve always loved to snack cereal dry!)
Protein content in 100 grams: 10 grams
Protein per serving (slice, 30g): 3 grams
Ideas how to serve: avocado toast, with (vegan) butter, as hamburger buns
Surprising, right? These were some staple cereal products for many of us. The reason why I want to show you the protein content in cereal products instead of the grains themselves, is that we most likely rather eat bread than only the grains, or plain flour.
Even if this post was supposed to be about protein, I have two more things I want to address. 1. Whole grain cereal products are high in fiber, and therefore consuming them regularly is beneficial to our health (find here more about fiber). 2. Sometimes cereal products are high in sodium or salt, so please read the nutrition label before purchasing anything. Most of us are eating way too much salt on a daily basis, so seek low-salt products. With breads, try to find products with less than 0.9 grams of salt (= 0.36 g sodium) per 100 grams, and with breakfast cereal, try to find products with less than 1.1 grams of salt (= 0.44 g sodium) per 100 grams.
-Jasmin ❤
