Benefits of Cereal & Giveaway (ends July 2nd)

Growing up while I loved Popeye the Sailor cartoons I refused to eat spinach. No amount of pleading or cajoling could convince me to eat this nutritionally packed vegetable because cooked spinach looked and tasted like slimy leaves. One day in college, however, a friend served me a spinach salad for lunch and I loved it! That's when I discovered that I could enjoy vegetables raw that I despised cooked. Since making this connection I have served my family numerous veggies raw that would be left untouched cooked. Because no matter how healthy it is if it doesn't taste good, they won't eat it.

A recent study shows D.C. parents say taste is the number one thing they look for when searching for breakfast options (81 percent).

Did you know?

* Cereal is a great breakfast option because it is the number one dietary source of many key nutrients including iron, zinc and folic acid. Frequent cereal eaters tend to have better nutrient intakes.

* A typical breakfast contributes more than 30 percent of needed calcium, iron and B vitamins while delivering less than 20 percent of daily calories.

* In addition, ready-to-eat cereal is the top source of whole grain in kids´diets.

And Big G is the only leading line of kids' cereals to contain at least 8 grams of whole grain (48 grams recommended daily) and a good source of both calcium and vitamin D in every serving. In addition, cereal is an inexpensive but nutrient-dense option. On average, a bowl of cereal with milk is approximately 50 cents per serving.

For more information, go to www.cerealbenefits.com.


Giveaway: Today, General Mills is offering one Metroreader follower (Note: to enter giveaway you must publicly follow Metroreader) a Share Your Love for Cereal gift pack which includes sample size cereals and a cereal dispenser!

Mandatory First Entry: What are some easy ways you help your child get necessary nutrients like vitamin D, calcium, iron, folate and zinc into the foods they eat?

Note: You must list your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

Extra Entries: Follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.



Disclosure: To facilitate this posting I received a sample cereal pack and information from General Mills through MyBlogSpark. No compensation was received for the opinions expressed in this posting.