Cheerios good or bad for you??

Let me walk you through my thinking.  I'm 7 months out from RNY.  I am down to my goal weight (alittle below it actually).  I am adding more carbs and all my tests are normal.  I eat plain Cheerios with a mixture of nuts and fruit and other cereals.  I get all my protein and veggies and vitamins in also.  But I am wondering, since Cheerios are good for my heart and cholestrol could they be bad for my absorbtion of what is needed so much in my body?  When I eat Cherrios, is it like useing a large amount of a lipid reducer, and could it be taking away what I need to be absorbing?  Thoughts...I'll post this on both the Main Forum and the Men's Forum...Brian in Turlock, CA

I don't personally think Cheerios are all that healthy ... There is virtually no fiber in them, so they are obviously very processed.  Having said that, I don't think that it's the worst choice you can make either.  Personally, I choose Kashi cereals b/c they are very high in fiber (the ones I use are 9 or 10g of fiber per cup of cereal) and fairly high in protein (13g of protein per cup for Kashi Good Friends). If you like Cheerios, go for it.  If you want more nutritional bang for the buck, you might want to try something else.   Annette

Well, I just looked up the nutrition of Cheerios and was surprised that they have 3g of fiber ... Not great, but not as bad as I had thought. Annette

Brian - CONGRATS on being at goal! I'm not sure what a lipid reducer does - but if it's give you diarreaha (sp??) then yes - Cheerios can do that! If you're not used to higher fiber, your body may react to the higher fiber content in Cheerios.  However, Cheerios shouldn't negatively affect absorption. BTW - I'm not a doc, just my thoughts!

At goal, wow, congratulations!!    I stay away from cereal, but then I'm not at goal ... yet!

Like Annette, I eat the Kashi cereals.  If you really like cheerios, you should try the protein o's they sell at kaysnaturals.com.  The honey almond ones taste like honey nut cherrios.  They have 10g protein in a one ounce serving.  You can't oder the cereal online.  But, you can email them and they'll email you back an order form you can call in or fax.  They also have protein chips that are pretty yummy.

It would be simplistic to call Cheerios good or bad.  They are a relatively low sugar, low fat food.  The hype about lowering cholesterol that the company advertises has to do with the soluble fiber in oats.  Eating soluble fiber can produce a modest reduction in total cholesterol.  It really isn't a giant difference and eating more doesn't have some kind of power to suck the nutrients out of your body.  You want to look at the calories you are taking in and are you meeting your nutritional requirements.  If you are not taking in excessive calories, then cherrios are a pretty innocuous snack.

Hi Brian, I eat Honey Nut Cheerios every so often.  (once or twice a week) I have no problem with it.  I eat it dry as a snack. and I love it. Koukla 338/179