Tired of eggs & bacon? How about a bowl of hot cereal? I tested three commercial products and a recipe from about.com Low Carb Diets.

Test Procedure - I made the Flax-Z-Snax and Sensato hot cereal the same way (regardless of the instructions): I used 1/3 cup of mix and added 1 1/2 times as much water, then cooked it in a microwave for a minute and fifteen seconds. I then stirred it and microwaved again for another minute and 15 seconds. I made the LC-Hot Cereal the same way, but used just 1/4 cup and added 1/2 cup water. I added one or two tablespoons of heavy whipping cream to each hot cereal. I added a few drops of liquid splenda to each cereal other than Sensato, which had adequate sweetener already.

Test and Analysis Results The table below ranks the hot cereal I tested from top to bottom based on how much they raised my blood glucose. The table shows the price of a package of hot cereal and where I bought it. The table also shows the carb counts claimed by the manufacturer for a single serving. Carb counts are all in grams; CHO is carbohydrate; F+SA is Fiber and Sugar Alcohol

Hot Cereal Summary

 2  

 4    

 6      

 12           

The Winner

Hot Cereal Statistics

Measured differences in ΔBG between these products were not terribly significant. Still, About.com Hot Pumpkin “Cereal” was the clear winner, raising my blood glucose only 2 mg/dl on average. I added the optional flax seed meal to this when I tested it, along with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a few drops of liquid Splenda. Claimed carb counts in the table for this recipe are based on my own nutrition analysis.

LC Hot Cereal costs about $1/oz and Sensato Hot Cereal about half as much, but LC Hot Cereal seemed to expand a lot more than Sensato so I used just 1/4 cup a serving for LC Hot Cereal and 1/3 cup a serving for Sensato. While these products caused my blood glucose to go up a little more than About.com Hot Pumpkin “Cereal”, they were easier and quicker to make.

The LC Hot Cereal had a slimy consistency that put me off. I wish there was a nicer way of saying this. I really like LC Foods and what they are doing, so I hesitate to mention slime – especially given all the negative press lately about pink slime – but to be fair, I feel I must point this out, and I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it.

I might get used to LC Hot Cereal. When I first tried Cinnamon Spice Hot Cereal from Flax-Z-Snax, I didn’t like it, but I grew to really enjoy it and it was my mainstay breakfast for years.

Cinnamon Spice Hot Cereal from Flax-Z-Snax raised my blood glucose twice as much as any of the others. Also, netrition.com had an independent lab test done on another Flax-Z-Snax hot cereal and found that the net carb count was significantly higher than Fax-Z-Snax claimed. I don’t plan to use it any more.