Which of these breakfast cereals is the healthiest?

The lowest in fat? The one with the least sugar? The one with the fewest calories? The one that comes in a fancy pouch? The most expensive one?

Instinct, the traffic light info, calories and protein content – there are so many ways to judge the “healthiness” of these products, depending on what our own priorities are.

And what about portion size – how many of us would just have the recommended 40g?

If you felt the urge (as I do!), you could delve further into the Nutritional Information to consider fibre, saturated/unsaturated fat, salt or how many different types of sugars are listed in the ingredients…. that might make the shopping take ages, but it can be an interesting read at the breakfast table.

It’s super important for us not to make assumptions about how healthy or not these foods are (if that is a consideration in the first place), but to look a bit more closely at the small print on the back of the box. Clever marketing, certain buzz words and “natural” colours can have much more of an effect on our choices than we might think.

So, which is “best”? In case you’re wondering, the porridge oats came out very well (and were also the cheapest), with the Crunchy Nut Granola at the other end of the scale. Of course, it’s easy to alter the nutritional value of the porridge by piling on the golden syrup, but that said, we can also enhance it by adding some berries and seeds. With the granola, a tablespoon with some lovely Greek yoghurt and some chopped apple takes it to another level.

There’s a place for all of these foods, it’s just a question of matching them to your own needs.