Children's Breakfast Cereal

I grew up on Lucky Charms. I love that cereal. I also like Froot Loops and Trix, but have never been a Cap'n Crunch fan. What I really love about Lucky Charms are the "Marshmallows", puh-leeze, aerated sugar is all it is. Lucky Charms is a comfort food for me, and with this week being the way it has,I indulged. I hadn't even thought of Lucky Charms until after our ER visit with Jack and his croup. We went out to breakfast (what else do you do at 0630 in the morning?) and the restaurant we went to had a kid's menu and it had Lucky Charms. Jack pointed to it and said, "I want Cheerios with Lucky Farms." If it was something he wanted, and would finally eat, then I was all for it.

Later that day we went to the store to get his prescription filled. I picked up a box of Lucky Charms and a bag of Western Family's Fruity Mallows. (Think Froot Loops with Lucky Charms marshmallows, YUM!) I got home and started thinking, if I want some of this I need to plug it into my new WW calculator which calculates the points based on Fat, Carbs, Protein and Fiber (note the lack of calories). It finally hit my that this new system, even though a pain in the butt to relearn everything, might just be worth it. Instead of looking at just calories, fat and fiber, it looks at everything. I was shocked (and a little dismayed) to find out that the cereal that is my comfort food is 0 fat, 27 G carbs, 0 protein, 0 fiber. It is nothing but sugar. Now, I had heard this a time or two, but it wasn't until I looked at everything else did I realize that eating a bowl of cereal is like drinking a glass of chocolate milk. The milk has the nutrients, but the other things just add sweetness and flavor.

I did eat the bowl of cereal. But instead of pouring myself a second or third, I kept it at one. The dawn of realization finally hit about how little nutrition there is in kid's cereal.

One other thing that I'd like to mention. I think I am finally learning not to emotionally eat. On the way home from my very last Molalla Class, I was a little frustrated because of a speaker we had in class that freaked my students out. I got it resolved, but I was pretty frustrated and upset. Now, we had had a potluck with all sorts of goodies. I had my fill, but I was restrained. On the way home, I kept thinking that I was frustrated and I needed to vent, but I wasn't hungry and wasn't going to rely on food to calm me down. I passed several convenience stores and did not stop. By the time I got home, I had calmed down enough to go to bed. (Only to be woken up at 0445 to take a certain croupy boy to the hospital.)

It's getting late and I have a ton of laundry to fold and a bed. to make. Night.