If I was not a dietitian, and I had viewed numerous television advertisements telling me about how high protein foods help with satiety, and how breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I would naturally look for the breakfast option with the highest protein, right? I think so…
Now given that I am a dietitian, I figured it only be fair to help you all sift through the fiction and get straight to the facts, to hopefully make your life easier when selecting a high protein and satisfying breakfast option.
If you want a meal option to really help with satiety, you need to look out for protein content, fibre content and GI; All these factors play a role in keeping hunger at bay.
So lets look at a few of the available products that tend to promote themselves as high protein breakfast options (based on the products suggested serve size with 1/2 cup of skim milk).
Kellogs Special K- contains 10.6g of protein; 0.8g of dietary fibre; and a glycaemic index of 54.
Kellogs Nutrigrain- contains 11.2g of protein; 0.8g of dietary fibre; and a glycaemic index of 66.
Uncle Tobys Plus- Protein Plus- contains 11.9g protein; 1.8g of dietary fibre; glycaemic index not stated / tested
Protein 1st- contains 13.4g protein; 13.2g of dietary fibre; and a glycaemic index of 36.
Now the last factor I would stress on when looking for a breakfast cereal is to make sure the sodium is not too high. As a guidelines you should be looking for cereals with less than 120mg / 100g. So lets just quickly look at the cereals listed above and their sodium content per 100g:
Kellogs Special K: 536mg
Kellogs Nutrigrain: 600mg
Uncle Tobys- Plus Protein Plus: 300mg
Goodness Superfoods Protein 1st: 49mg
I think it might be worth pointing out that a breakfast of 2 whole eggs on a slice of wholegrain toast would provide someone with: 15.1g protein, 2.4g fibre, 236mg sodium (but remember, according to the heart foundation we should not be having more than 6 eggs a week to prevent a risk of raised cholesterol).
So as you can see, if you are looking for a satisfying and healthy option for breaky, why look further than the special new range from Goodness Superfoods- they are a good source of protein and fibre, with a low GI and low in sodium. Definitely has gotten the dietitians tick of approval.
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12 Responses to High protein breakfast cereals- which is the most filling?
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Thanks for writing this article! I imagine this will make people reconsider their breakfast. I laugh out loud sometimes when I watch the TV ads of some cereal manufacturers! I have no idea how they get away with the claims they make
im not saying that the claims made by food companies are false, but im not suprised that goodness superfoods cereal came out on top considering this is a goodness superfoods website so its dedicated to advertising its producuts…
Hi, thanks for your comments. As a dietitian I like to clarify the misconceptions that are out there. The cereals that were compared were those that often promote themselves as the higher protein cereals, and therefore promote satiety and help with weight loss. I think it is important, and well worth covering these types of topics, and pointing out the facts so people can make informed choices themselves.
Hi, thanks for the info. I am looking for a high protein breakfast cereal as I in my first trimester of pregnancy and am having morning sickness. High protein breakfast seems to help but I am tired of eggs. Can you advise whether any of the advice you give above would be different for a pregnant woman? I am obviously not at all interested in losing weight.
My pleasure, the above information is most certainly also applicable to you. A healthy balanced diet is important for everyone at every stage of their lifespan. The only difference being that as you move through the trimesters your energy requirements slightly increase to ensure fat is laid down for breast feeding, and therefore if you were eating too many high protein and fibre foods you may find it hard to fit in a variety of other foods and therefore miss out on important nutrients and energy. I do not think that a bowl of good cereal is going to be a problem though at any stage
I eat 4x Wheat Bix and about a cup of Uncle Toby’s Plus Protein cereal. The Wheat Bix fills me up and the Protein Lift adds taste – although they’ve just changed the ingredients after several years of pineapple and paw paw, to peach and sultanas. I don’t like sultanas, so I’ll be looking for something else. Perhaps Protein 1st is the option, although it has a very high fibre content, so I’m worried it will make me fart.
Hi Andre, Protein 1st does not contain any sultanas so it might just be the ticket for you! The high fibre content may upset your tummy initially a little bit but as your body adjusts to the new cereal but you don’t need to worry about wind long term. Just remember to stick to the 35g recommended serving size and your body should adjust in a couple of days. Hope this helps!
this stuff makes me fart real bad super loud and smelly at 5 minure intervals for the rest of the day. i think its nest that i discontinue use lol.
Hi Damien, don’t worry you’re not alone! Passing of gas is a common side effect of a high fibre diet. However as your digestive system gets used to it over time it will become less and less. You can still have the Goodness cereals but if gas is a big problem for you now, you can have smaller portions mixed with other cereals/grains you like, and gradually increase the amount to let your body adjust to the fibre. In the long run, fibre is wonderful for your health and digestive system!
Hi can you please help me with one for toddlers my twins were having wheatbix but we want to try one that is high in protein. We were thinking of eggs but think at 2.5 years of age that is probably 3 a week and can give them yogurt but we would also like a cereal option so we can vary it.
You’re a nutritionist and you still advocate that more than 6 eggs per week is bad for you? It has been proven that eggs have no cholesterol raising effect.
I ate a dozen per day for almost 18 months (bodybuilding) and my HDL was high and LDL was low. There was a guy who ate 18 eggs per day and was still in the normal range.
The bigger concern with too many yolks is iodine, as one yolk contains the RDI of iodine.
Hi Adam, eggs are indeed a very nutritious food and we do recommend them. The current advise is that moderate egg consumption does not raise cholesterol nor is linked to risk of heart disease. For that reason the current recommendation in Australia is that 6 eggs can happily be consumed a week. Since eggs are still a major source of dietary cholesterol, if you have existing high cholesterol levels it is advised that you don’t eat more than 6 a week. This advice is based on large studies of many people. We can’t use what happens to one or two individuals as evidence of what happens in all. After all there are people who have smoked all their lives and never got lung cancer – it doesn’t mean smoking is not harmful. Finally I’m not sure where you have got your data for the iodine in an egg yolk. It does depend on the iodine content of the chicken feed, but most data sources state one egg has about 13-26micrograms of iodine. The RDI for adults is 150micrograms. It would be extremely difficult to overdose on iodine from foods alone and deficiency is a far greater problem in Australia. The upper tolerable level is many times higher than the RDI. My advise therefore is to continue to eat your eggs in moderation as part of a healthy balanced diet. Please let us know if you have any other questions. Joanna