Anyone know what breakfast cereals are ok for diabetics? (US or UK)

[Sugarmagnolia]

That's it really. Trying to help out a friend who's DH is diabetic. She's been trying to figure out what breakfast cereals are ok for him to eat and they all seem to have loads of sugar - even the so-called healthy ones. So far we've got wheatabix, corn flakes and rice crispies. Anything else? Any US ones that are any good because we could get them.

TIA!

There are some mueslis with no added sugar. Porridge is really good for blood sugars, from what I know.

nqc is right .

You could make up your own with some branflakes, rolled oats, chopped dried apricots, few nuts that kind of thing. For something "sweet" I sometimes use one of those diet shape or muller yoghurts rather than milk.

Alternatively, porridge is a good option, again with some dried fruit perhaps?

HTH

Shredded Wheat?
Corn Flakes and Rice Kripsies both have added sugar. Healthfood shops are a better bet than bigname brands.

Why not porridge, or Ready Brek?

I make my own cooked muesli, which is sweetened with a tiny bit of molasses and barley malt (and dried fruit). Very tasty.

You're right MrsBadger - Shredded Wheat are ok and corn flakes and rice crispies are not. Weird because she was the one who told me they were fine. Maybe she needs new glasses! I think I'll take her shopping and we'll check some labels together. Will also suggest we check the health food stores.

Any suggestions about American brands?

Nice thing about oats is that helps to control the sugar levels, or so I have been told

Ok I asked her again about the Shredded Wheat and she says the diabetes clinic does recommend it but on the box it says 6.3g of sugar. Can anyone help me understand this?

you're looking at the Nutrition Information, not the Ingredients.

The 6.3g of sugar in Shredded Wheat are the naturally occurring sugars in the wheat, so they'll be more complex and take longer to digest, and won't give him a sugar 'high' followed by a 'low' (which is what he wants to avoid).

Something like Corn Flakes that lists sugar in the ingredients will literally have pure white sugar sprinkled onto them during manufacturing. This is pure sucrose - a very simple sugar that gets digested very fast and results in a sugar 'high'.

I'm no expert though - the diabetes clinic should have information available on healthy eating for diabetics, or you could try here .

The other thing is, shredded wheat has more fibre and protein in it than corn flakes do. Basically, fibre, protein, and fat, all slow down the absorption of sugars, and make meals better for diabetics.

(I've read varying details on the difference between wheat sugars, which will just be two-part, and one-part sucrose, when it comes to actual absorption. But the fact that wheat sugar is in the wheat, along with fibre etc, will certainly make a difference.)

Bran flakes/all bran type of stuff would be fine.

My brother (diabetic since he was 8) used to have rice crispies and corn flakes too. Do they really have lots of added sugar?

He also used to eat shreddies a lot, which I know do have some added sugar, though not masses.

Ok, turns out the 6.3g of sugar she was referring to was the "per serving with milk". Only 1g of sugar in 100g of plain Shredded Wheat. She doesn't understand about sugar in milk and I'm trying to explain to her about lactose and how it's different than other types of sugar but I think she's just more confused than ever! Can anyone help? (BTW I have also suggested she go back to the diabetes clinic and get them to explain all this but she's a good friend so I'm trying to help)