Diabetes-friendly cold breakfast cereals?

February 6, 2021 8:29 AM

(Asking for a friend). I'm looking for (Type 2) diabetes-friendly cold breakfast cereals. Not a fan of oatmeal either hot or cold/overnight type. I am ok with a little bit of sweetener, either sugar/honey/regular or alternative sweeteners, but in general I'm not a fan of super sweet cereals. The best one I've found so far is Arrowhead Mills Organic Oat Bran Flakes. I have access to various stores, including online, organic groceries, Trader Joe's etc..
posted by gudrun to Food & Drink (18 answers total)

Best answer: Shredded Wheat biscuits or bite size have good fiber and no added sugar. The bite size stay firmer than the biscuits. Also, Wheat Chex, Grape Nuts or Grape Nuts Flakes all have 6 or fewer grams of sugar per serving and 3-4 g dietary fiber.
Plain old Wheat Puffs are also a whole grain cereal.
posted by probably not that Karen Blair at 8:48 AM on February 6, 2021 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Kashi Autumn Wheat
posted by Ideefixe at 8:59 AM on February 6, 2021

Bob's Red Mill has a muesli that's no added sugar and pretty good.
posted by mark k at 9:21 AM on February 6, 2021

I make oats in the morning - just rolled oats and milk (I like raisins but don’t know if they are too sweet). If you let the bowl sit for 5 or 10 minutes they soften.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 9:49 AM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

Best answer: My diabetic mother loved unsweetened puffed wheat for breakfast and ate it for years. She'd pop lower gi fruit on it for variety or mix it with an unsweetened muesli if she wanted something more filling in winter. They are surprisingly tasty for a such a plain cereal. She was however Type 1.
posted by wwax at 9:59 AM on February 6, 2021

Best answer: If your friend is willing to throw a little money at the problem, keto breakfast cereals aren't awful, and they are low sugar/carb, high fiber, high protein.

There are a number of keto granolas that are basically toasted nuts, often with either toasted coconut or protein puffs or whatever. Some of them are very delicious. I got one from Costco that was amazing, and I think it is the same brand as this one. I also picked up this cheap one (Sola Granola), which is heavier on the soy crisps and has fewer nuts; I liked it a bit less, but it wasn't bad. If you or your friend searches Amazon for "keto granola" and then sorts by most popular, you'd probably find a number of good ones. Your local grocery store will often have a couple of keto cereals (in the cereal aisle), and Whole Foods has a few more (and maybe other specialty retailers).

I also tried Catalina Crunch, which is surprisingly tolerable in certain flavors (I like the chocolate).
posted by ClaireBear at 10:13 AM on February 6, 2021 [2 favorites]

rice krispies are low in added sugar
posted by bearette at 10:47 AM on February 6, 2021

Response by poster: Some updates: Completely willing to spend money on this. Catalina Crunch is kind of on the too sweet side, I'm afraid. I find it ok as a snack, but not so great as a breakfast food. Also, I wish I liked it, but after many efforts and variations, I can barely gag down plain rolled oats/oatmeal in any form, unfortunately. I have a bit of a problem with lactose in milk, so usually have cereal with oat milk.
posted by gudrun at 10:56 AM on February 6, 2021

Best answer: My doc strongly recommended Fiber One (original) as the best option for cold cereal that was diabetes friendly.
posted by topher74 at 11:00 AM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Supposedly Magic Spoon's cereal subscription service has a number of options for this, but I can't speak personally to their tastiness. I just have a couple friends with various celiac/diabetic diet needs who have found it useful.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:23 PM on February 6, 2021

Best answer: Weetabix? It's very low in salt and sugar.
posted by essexjan at 12:39 PM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I quite like this crisp and light crisp bread broken into small pieces with milk or yoghurt instead of cereal. 3 slices have 13 grams carbohydrates, and broken into bites in milk or oat milk makes a nice bowl of breakfast.
posted by 15L06 at 1:40 PM on February 6, 2021

Best answer: I like the Kashi Go cereals. They're higher in protein. The original and the crunch version probably have the least sugar.
posted by kathrynm at 2:29 PM on February 6, 2021

If you're gonna do cold cereal be sure to stick with Whole Milk. More fat/protein in the milk means slower spike from the milk sugars.

I do regular Quaker Oats with chopped peanuts, almonds, and cashews. The oats are carby, sure, but the nuts and whole milk adds enough fat/protein to make the blood sugar spike nice and shallow.
posted by nathanfhtagn at 3:17 PM on February 6, 2021 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Coming back one last time to thank folks for recommendations, but I need to emphasize, please no oat/oatmeal recommendations. She hates Quaker Oats/plain oats, oatmeal, and will not eat it, no matter how it might be modified or dressed up. She has tried various times, and in many ways, and she just plain hates it.
posted by gudrun at 3:24 PM on February 6, 2021

Best answer: Uncle Sam has some high fiber, decent protein, and low sugar cereals that are not awful. I also like the Kashi Go cereals but they are harder to find lately and also very very bland if you don't go for the slightly sweeter ones. I'm a big fan of Weetabix because it goes down easy and you can heap fruit on top of it.
posted by jessamyn at 3:24 PM on February 6, 2021

Best answer: My diabetic partner does kellogg's Bran Buds, usually with yogurt but sometimes with milk. I like them with milk and a few banana slices.
posted by february at 4:15 AM on February 7, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Very helpful, thanks. I'm marking bests for the ones my friend is most taken with.
posted by gudrun at 6:05 AM on February 24, 2021