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 different cereal products:
Oats
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)
Whole Wheat Pasta, dry
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
Whole Wheat Bread
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
Buckwheat Groats
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
Bran Flakes
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!)
Rye Bread
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.
I hope you learned something new today, but if not, remember that revision is also important. Feel free to comment your thoughts down below! 💭
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
-Jasmin ❤
Hi @jasmink! Interesting post and useful information! I think this table will help to make a more correct diet for vegetarians, and for all people in general! :)
Thank you)
Hi @dponbl4, nice to hear from you again! I'm super glad you liked this! :)
Interesting post @jasmink when people try to add protein to breakfast so many times the answer is eggs or yogurt or meat
So true! However, it's good to know there are plenty of other options as well. :)
Awesome! You and my husband are on the same wave length today… he posted about protein comparisons of milk. Very cool! I love when you bring the knowledge @jamink :)
Thank you @puravidaville! What a nice coincidence, I'll go check out his post asap! :)
Thanks for the heads up @puravidaville.
@jasmink, how many times are we gonna prove that ‘great minds’ thing?!
Great post! Thanks for sharing, I hope you don’t mind but I’m gonna follow you now, don’t worry I’m not a stalker! You may think I’m a stalker but the only thing that’s really going on is I sometimes leave really long response!
(This is a short one)
How many people are still in the dark about the importance of carbdobydrates too??
Happy Friday!
Thanks @dandays, I'm glad to see you here more! No worries about long responses, I love reading those!
I know, it's shocking. It's not uncommon to hear people still saying things as "carbs are making you fat", "carbs are bad for you" and some people even thing that all carbs have the same effect in your body as white sugar... We have a lot of misconceptions to get rid of, so let's keep on writing about these things and hope that the things we say will affect people's lives! :)
Happy Weekend!
Very interesting 👍 It's great that you can get so much protein through cereals 🙂
Thanks @marthastardust, I couldn't agree more with you! 😊