Breakfast - breaking your fast! I always made a joke of this saying, saying that if you didn't eat all day, and you had your first bite to eat of the day at 8'oclock in the evening, this would still be your breakfast!
I'm sure everybody has heard, breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Perhaps it is!
Eating breakfast is one of the best descisions you could make all day, a good nutritious breakfast sets you up for the day and gives you the energy to go on!
Some dieters think that skipping breakfast, will help to lost weight. This is not always the case, as eating first thing speeds up your metabolism, thus allowing the weight to be shifted easier!
Skipping breakfast, is one of the _worst_ desicions you can make, skipping the meal can leave you feeling tired, and with little or no energy. Missing breakfast commonly leads to snacking mid-morning, usually consuming more calories than would have been in your breakfast.

I never used to be a real breakfast person, and the thought of food in the morning made me feel very sick! However in the past few months, I have been getting forced to eat a large breakfast, and I now realise I do infact have a lot more energy, and although I also snack mid-morning, the first part of my morning is full of energy and I have a lot more concentration!
When I was little and I did enjoy breakfast, part of breakfast in our house along with our toast was a big bowl of cereal! When I was little however, these cereals were usually sugar-laden and chocolate! I also used to quite enjoy eating cereal dry, without milk, espescially if it was something sweet and sugary like _Frosties_ or _Golden Nuggetts_.
Now however I much prefer something more plain, such as Weetabix, Branflakes and such like!
Cereal is still part of my breakfast, and normally part of my supper too and I find it sets you up for the day, or calms you down at night, espescially with hot milk!!

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Cereals come in various types. Wheat-based, bran-based, sugar-based, chocolate-based and so on! Personally I prefer the more wheat and bran ones, however I know for sure my two little brothers would disagree and almost without fail always opt for the ones covered to thier tips in sugar! I have to agree, sometimes they do just appeal and I often find myself grabbing a couple out the packet and gobbling them down when I feel light something sweet!

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_WHEAT CEREALS_
Wheat cereals are in my opinion delicious. What makes them _even_ better is that they feel healthy! One of the most popular wheat cereals is the very famous _Weetabix_. What is Weetabix? Well basically a "biscuit" packed full of fibre and wheat! I do find Weetabix to be a little bloating, but the petruding tum goes down after a short while! I espescially like my weetabix mashed to a pulp with lots and lots of milk! Some people think it looks horrible, and reminds them of baby food, and although I agree with the latter, it is definitly not horrible, and tastes fantastic, sometimes sprinkled with some sugar!! Weetabix is very versatile too and can be eaten in many different ways. Wheather its with yogurt, fruit, both yogurt and fruit, flavoured milk, hot water (not sure about this one!?), and many more combinations its also sure to be delicious!
Another wheat-based cereal is Shredded wheat, commonly known as Shreddies! Shreddies are little squares of delicous wheat! These taste a little sweeter than regular weetabix, however not fake tasting! These are best eaten normally with ice cold milk, and sadly they do not mash very well! Shreddies come in different varietes too!


_BRAN CEREALS_
Bran cereals. Hmmm makes me crave them just saying the words! I do enjoy my bran cereals and I think my favourite has to be Branflakes! Who hasn't heard of, if not _tried_ Branflakes? No? Well I am shocked! Branflakes, are basically flakes of bran! Brown in colour, and jaggy in shape, thats the easiest way to put it. These are best eaten with ice cold milk, and even more scrumptious with raisins mixed in! Although they are not loaded with sugar, they have a slight sweetness to them, and the milk that is left once the branflakes are finished is normally sweet and very moreish!! Another bran cereal I enjoy on the occasion, is Fruit and Fibre! I always used to think this was a "granny" cereal, due to the fact my grandma used to devour them on a daily basis! However when I did try it for the first time, I was converted and every day for a month I had at least one bowl!! What is fruit and fibre? Basically what it says on the "tin". Flakes and chunks of bran mixed with sultanas and raisins. I always thought that fruit and fibre had a slight banana-like taste to it, however it wasnt unpleasent and really did add to my enjoyment!! More recently cereals like "Oat bakes" and "Just right" have been produced, these are basically all the same but vary in flavours and shapes!


_CLUSTERS_
One of my favourite cerals used to be of the cluser variety. These particular ones were _pecan and maple!_ Clusters of honey coated Oat and wheat clusters, with caramelised pecans and maple syrup! I used to be obsessed with these and used to eat them plain, with out any milk! I used to think they would be healthier than crisps, but looking back I can see the sugar content is sky high compared to the savoury snack! Another cluster type is, Crunchy nut clusters! Basically the same idea minus the pecans! But the clusters are alot nuttier in taste! Crunchy nut clusters also come in chocolate and honey variety, although Im not keen on the chocolate ones, the honey ones were delish!!


_HOOPS_
Cheerios are the cereal I assosciate most with hoops! Ive never been a huge fan, although my brothers used to dig into these almost every morning, and some nights too! Cheerio's are made from 4 different grains- whole grain maize, whole grain oats, whole grain barley, whole grain wheat and infact the back of the packet states a fifth one, whole grain rice. These are probably one of the healthiest yet most appealing for youngsters and they definitly go down well in my house!! There are various other types of loop cereals, often supermarkets own brands! Another one we have tried and quite enjoyed in the past year or two, were _Honey Loops_. The same idea as Cheerios yet these are alot sweeter and higher in sugar, due to the fact that there covered in delicious honey! They are really sticky and not too friendly if eaten without milk! Loop cereals are normally very crunchy and from past experience, very moreish!!

_CHOCOLATE CEREALS_
My brothers favourite, my least favourite. I've never been a fan of chocolate cereals, although I have a very sweet tooth! I have always found them to be "fake chocolate flavour" and I disliked this very much!! Chocolate cereals include; coco pops, chocolate shreddies, cookie crisp and lots more!! Coco pops are the chocolate version of rice kirspies, which I am sure _everybody_ has heard of. Small rice snaps coated in chocolate. I find them very sickly and I find it really hard to finish a full bowl! As with most, these take very fake! Chocolate shreddies, in my opinion are no way as good as the original shreddies. I only tried these once, and never returned for more! I cant really remember the taste, but I do know I didnt enjoy them _at all_ and warned my brothers off. Cookie crisp is probably the only chocolate cereal I enjoy. Cookie crisp however isn't totally chocolate, only really chocolate chips! They are the same idea as a cookie, but taste nowhere need as scrumtious. This cereal is really sweet and I prefer to munch away without milk, just like a bag of crisps! Overall, I cant reccomend chocolate cereal, unless you like coco powder as I think the taste is similar!

_PORRIDGE_
Porridge, porridge, porridge. Whenever I think of dull, dark mornings, where the sleet is tumbling down outside and the wind is sweeping little old ladies off there feet, I think of porridge. A large bowl of steaming oats sitting on the table, with a sprinkle of sugar. Porridge can be made in three ways, either with milk, or with water, or with half and half. Personally I like it with mostly milk and just a splosh of water to loosen it up. One thing I cannot stand however, is stodgy, paste-like porridge, gone stone cold and when your spoon could stand up straight in it.
I remember my delight when I came across the different types of porridge that comes in the sachets. Porridge now comes in a variety of flavours, including honey, chocolate, golden syrup, and different fruit varietys. When I used to enjoy porridge as part of my breakfast, I used to eat the golden syrup variety. Not only this though, I added my own dollop of golden syrup into the bowl before popping into the microwave. Occasionally this went very wrong, and I ended up with burnt, black golden syrup, however when it went to plan, it was absolutely delicious!

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_VERSATILITY_

Cereal is extremely versatile. It can be eaten at any time of the day, as part of any meal, (although not the most nutritional for lunch and tea). Not only can it be eaten at any _time_, it can also be eaten in various different ways..

_MILK_- The most common way to enjoy cereal is splashed with ice cold milk. I have to say this is probably my favourite way to eat it too. Using milk is extremely simple. Basically, tip in your cereal to your bowl and pour the milk over till you have the perfect amount. Semi-Skimmed milk is best I found, as skimmed milk doesn't have much of a taste, and full fat milk is a bit heavy, and has quite a sticky taste when mixed with cereal.
Ice cold is the way I like to serve my milk up, however it can also be heated up. Personally I don't like hot milk on cereal, but if you do, its best served with a cereal like Weetabix!

_HOT WATER_- A more unusual way to eat cereal, and personally I wouldn't. However eating cereal with hot water is an option. I can't comment, but I think doing it this way would make the cereal go very soggy however wouldn't take any of the taste away from the cereal.

_YOGURT_- Another fairly common way to eat cereal is with yogurt. Yoghurt can be slopped over cereal on its own, or along with milk. Personally i'd do it with milk as I think i'd find yoghurt on its own wouldnt moisten the cereal up to much. I think non-bitty yogurts would be best for this, however I don't see why "bitty" yoghurts couldn't be used. Muller lights are ideal for slopping over a bowl of cereal, and are very healthy too! Fruit flavours are best for this kind of thing, or a nice vanilla, however I wouldn't recommend a sweet flavour such as toffee.

_FRUIT_- Fruit is a very common thing to add to your cereal. If I ever add any, its normally something like raisins. However I do have a friend who likes to chop up apple and pop it into her branflakes, and another who likes to throw in some kiwi. Personally none of these appeal to me, but I wont knock it till i've tried it. Banana is another common fruit to pop into your cereal, and surprisngly doesn't "melt" or disolve in the milk! I used to enjoy weetabix with chopped banana, banana fromage frais and milk slopped ontop on a daily basis, however I soon grew out of that phase!

_FRUIT, YOG AND CEREAL COMBO_- This one is mainly based around fruit, however I often enjoy it as part of a snack midafternoon. Into a bowl, I pop strawberrys, raspberrys, blueberrys and chopped banana. I then pour over a yogurt (normally a muller light), then I crush up some branflakes and sprinkle them over the top. This creates a delicious, filling and fairly healthy snack.

_CAKES_- The one you've all been waiting for. Who hasn't made, or eaten Rice Krispie Cakes? I definitly have. I used to love making these with my grandma when I was little. Our secret was to melt three different types of chocolate- dark, milk and white, and the occasional mars bar was thrown into the pan two. Then we mixed it together with either rice krispies or cornflakes, and added our other secret ingredient, golden syrup! These were always hugely popular at family parties, and the children loved them!


These are only a couple of ways to enjoy cereal. Dont get me wrong, there are loads more too, however that would take forever to write!

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Personally my favourite cereal is branflakes. I love the taste, and I also love how they leave the milk with a very sweet taste, extremely addictive! Branflakes, thankfully are a fairly healthy cereal and so can be consumed daily without any worries!!




SweetTooth 93.