# Kellog's All Bran Flake Cereal



## EndymionXT (Dec 14, 2018)

Hello,

I'm still new to diabetes type 2, and was wondering if the cereal is ok to eat or not?I typically throw in some blueberries with the cereal as well. If this cereal is not good, what recommendations would you suggest for me for cereal brands?

Ingredients: 
Whole grain wheat, wheat bran, sugar, corn and barley malt extract, salt, Vitamins and minerals: iron, thiamine hydrochloride, d-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, zinc oxide.

Nutrition link
https://www.allbran.ca/en_CA/products/all-bran-flakes-cereal-product.html#nutrition-modal


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## Drummer (Dec 14, 2018)

I don't know of any cereal which is good to eat - have you checked the carb content?


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## EndymionXT (Dec 14, 2018)

Um. I dont know how to check carb unfortunately... i only got the diagnosis today. How would i go about checking it?


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## Ljc (Dec 14, 2018)

EndymionXT said:


> Um. I dont know how to check carb unfortunately... i only got the diagnosis today. How would i go about checking it?


Hi @EndymionXT , welcome to the forum. The carbohydrate content is on the nutritional label which is often on the back of packs. I’ll go look it up for you, 

Feel free to ask any questions about diabetes , we’ll do our best to help..
Have you been given much advise by Gp or nurse yet ?  

You’ll find lots of info on this thread 
useful-links-for-people-new-to-diabetes
Just scroll down to the T2 section 
I suggest you start with 
Maggie Davies letter 
Then test review adjust by Alan S 

If you would like to start testing , it’s unlikely you will be provided with a glucose meter , many here use The SD Codefree meter which you’ll find a link to there is one of the cheapest ones to self fund the ongoing cost I’d the testing strips


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## Ljc (Dec 14, 2018)

Here it is .
You can safely ignore the of which are sugars as they are already included in the carbohydrate content 

 

I totally ignore the traffic light system on the front of packs as it doesn’t contain the info I really need


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## Madeline (Dec 14, 2018)

A 30g serving is small, like a teeny sad cereal puddle in the bottom of your bowl, and 2/3 of that is carbs. Add milk and that’s a v carb heavy breakfast. 

I couldn’t eat that, some could. One thing I’ve learnt really rapidly on here is we are all very different, and even our requirements change. I’ve been diagnosed less than a month, and during that month I’ve gone from being able to tolerate 1/2 cup oats to having to ditch them for a non carb breakfast. 

I was encouraged to get a blood glucose monitor and test, and I agree with everyone here who thinks this is the right thing to do. It’s the only way you can see if what you’re eating is working for you.


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## travellor (Dec 14, 2018)

Test, but don't let it take over.

I found the carbs I could tolerate, then moved on and reversed my diabetes.

As said, it can go the other way though, and you become more carb intolerant.
But normally diabetes moved glacially, so you should be fairly stable when you find what works for you


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## trophywench (Dec 14, 2018)

30g of cereal was once referred to on another forum by someone as 'an Elf's portion'  LOL


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## travellor (Dec 15, 2018)

trophywench said:


> 30g of cereal was once referred to on another forum by someone as 'an Elf's portion'  LOL


Fortunately this forum has a very good base in reality, rather than fantasy land of happy elfs. But at least it's seasonal, LOL


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## Madeline (Dec 15, 2018)

trophywench said:


> 30g of cereal was once referred to on another forum by someone as 'an Elf's portion'  LOL



They’re not wrong. That would stave off my hunger for around 10 minutes, then I’d have my head in the fridge.


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## travellor (Dec 15, 2018)

Madeline said:


> They’re not wrong. That would stave off my hunger for around 10 minutes, then I’d have my head in the fridge.




I assumed that was trophywench pointing out they were just mouthing off as usual?
30g of cereal is a normal, standard,  portion, a good old mini box of cereal from the variety packs of my childhood days.
That would still last me the morning now.


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## Madeline (Dec 15, 2018)

It wouldn’t for me, I’d be a sad and hungry little Elf. Those boxes are for children. And the little people, obviously.


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## travellor (Dec 15, 2018)

Madeline said:


> It wouldn’t for me, I’d be a sad and hungry little Elf. Those boxes are for children. And the little people, obviously.



I think it just depends what you get used to eating. I used to be the same.
Diabetes was a wake up call, now I eat eat a lot less generally.
Which isn't a bad thing for me.


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## trophywench (Dec 15, 2018)

I know!! - but I have to say @travellor - a variety pack amount is quite enough for me at any time and always was - or one Weetabix, one Shredded Wheat, one whatever.  However I know practically everyone eats more than that every morning and doesn't automatically lay it down as body fat like what I always did and still do.  There again I've no idea how much 'brown' fat any of us have, though* that* sort of fat around our organs has much more to do with whether our body can cope, than a simple old fashioned spare tyre around our waist does.

Eating no more than our fair share (ie the amount our body actually needs rather than eating whatever it is willy nilly) of such over processed carbohydrate, has got to be the way to stay healthy?

Personally - I'd love my body to be more like an elf's than mine - petite and attractive!

It's a bit odd really - I have size 5.5 feet and have always had to make sure I got new shoes as soon as the stock appeared since 5, 5.5 and to a lesser extent 6, were the most common sizes and so they sold out pretty quick.  Now - it's still hard - because very few ladies have feet that small.  Dad had size 11 and mom was 5.5, big sis was a 5.

Our grandson wore size 11 when he was also 11! - and granddaughters from both our daughters have all got size 7 - or more.   They are also a lot taller than my generation.  6 foot girls are nothing unusual these days instead of being an oddity 50 years ago, let alone 70.   WHY are people just getting bigger?


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## Madeline (Dec 15, 2018)

Better nutrition I think. Look at the Dutch, they’re giants and consume a lot of dairy. Mad old bit of generalising there, but I’d put money on it being down to nutrition.


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## Browser (Dec 17, 2018)

My go-to cereal is Lidl’s Really Nutty Muesli. Four heaped tablespoonfuls, a few slices of banana or some berries such as strawberries, raspberries or blueberries and a little milk. A slice of toasted Burgen with egg to follow.  Maybe not for everybody but works for me.


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## EndymionXT (Dec 19, 2018)

My A1C test result was that I am currently 6.5 of 7.0, My doctor said that I currently do not need to take medication but I must eat healthy diet, and exercise before I take my next blood test in 3 months to see if it went up or not... So the cereal I got I am taking it as is not good for me. even though I'm now using almond milk ? what breakfast is quick and filling that I should consume instead. I am currently 25 years old


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## Drummer (Dec 19, 2018)

The nutrition information seems to show that it is 82 percent carbs so that is really bad news, and you add banana and berries - it is not something that I would even think about eating - having almond milk will not help at all, as basically you are taking in food which will simply turn to sugar as it is digested.
I eat meat or fish as part of every meal, and low carb foods, less than 11 percent carbs, so I don't spike.


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## Scotfalconer (Dec 20, 2018)

Ljc said:


> Here it is .
> You can safely ignore the of which are sugars as they are already included in the carbohydrate content
> 
> View attachment 10549
> ...


Excuse my ignorance , as I have just been diagnosed with T2, can you please tell me if any what the acceptable level of carbs is? As I thought the cereal would have been ok, as I have said I am recently diagnosed and don’t have a clue about diabetes.


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## travellor (Dec 20, 2018)

Scotfalconer said:


> Excuse my ignorance , as I have just been diagnosed with T2, can you please tell me if any what the acceptable level of carbs is? As I thought the cereal would have been ok, as I have said I am recently diagnosed and don’t have a clue about diabetes.



It depends on what diet, and actions you choose to take.
I chose to test all foods I ate with my meter, made up a list of ones that didn't spike me, and lost a lot of weight on a low fat diet, followed by the Newcastle diet. The main benefit of my approach was I seemed to have reversed my diabetes, and now eat a Mediterranean diet.

As you have read, others prefer to control their blood glucose by avoiding carbs on an ongoing basis, and find their own level of low carb diet.


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## trophywench (Dec 20, 2018)

Scott - the only thing anyone with diabetes has trouble eating - is carbohydrates!  Our bodies just can't deal with them properly and so, the very best thing to start off with is work out which ones in your diet, are the most processed - the more processed it is, the more difficult it is for our body to deal with.

So the premier culprit is probably sugar itself - turning sugar cane or the root veg sugar beet, into white granules of sugar takes one heck of a lot of different actions.  So does producing flour from grain.  So you start by cutting down on anything that tastes sweet and at the same time, what my mom used to call anything stodgy - so that includes the savoury stuff with flour in it too - anything with any sort of pastry in or on them are candidates.

All protein foods are fine (all the nice things like meat, fish, eggs) and more or less any veg that grows above ground

You don't need to drop every suspect - start off by considering - by reading the Nutritional Info on packaging - which ones in your house have the highest counts and cut down on them first.

A moderate - ie normal -  amount of fat is usually fine too unless there's anything else going on healthwise that affects it - by the way, the easiest way of reducing most people's cholesterol level that may have been revealed to be a bit high in blood tests - is to reduce carbohydrate consumption!


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## travellor (Dec 20, 2018)

trophywench said:


> Scott - the only thing anyone with diabetes has trouble eating - is carbohydrates!  Our bodies just can't deal with them properly and so, the very best thing to start off with is work out which ones in your diet, are the most processed - the more processed it is, the more difficult it is for our body to deal with.
> 
> So the premier culprit is probably sugar itself - turning sugar cane or the root veg sugar beet, into white granules of sugar takes one heck of a lot of different actions.  So does producing flour from grain.  So you start by cutting down on anything that tastes sweet and at the same time, what my mom used to call anything stodgy - so that includes the savoury stuff with flour in it too - anything with any sort of pastry in or on them are candidates.
> 
> ...



Saturated fats are an utter killer for me.
It sends my cholesterol through the roof!!!!
Healthy fats ie. unsaturated weren't too bad, but obviously high calorie so I dropped them to lose weight.

Carbs had little effect on cholesterol, so it's certainly not a universal cure all for the rest of us.


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## trophywench (Dec 20, 2018)

I never suggested it was a universal cure - everyone of us is different - we each have to try and identify what works for ourselves.

Try simple things first - then if they don't work - try something else.

There's always been more than one way of skinning a cat.

(Apparently - not an avenue I've ever been tempted to explore, myself …. )


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## travellor (Dec 20, 2018)

trophywench said:


> I never suggested it was a universal cure - everyone of us is different - we each have to try and identify what works for ourselves.
> 
> Try simple things first - then if they don't work - try something else.
> 
> ...



I entirely agree, the accepted cholesterol methodology worked very well for me. No reason to change it.
Cut saturated fats, see the improvement.

If that fails, go for alternative theories.


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## Drummer (Dec 21, 2018)

fats and cholesterol are an entirely different subject.
If a person is diabetic the problem is carbohydrates. 
A lucky type two can reduce their blood glucose levels to normal by not eating the starches and sugars in the modern diet to the extent necessary for their body to cope with them.
Since starting to eat a low carb diet my tests have dropped to normal for blood glucose and my cholesterol seems to have gone down as well, despite eating saturated fats as part of it.


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## travellor (Dec 21, 2018)

Drummer said:


> fats and cholesterol are an entirely different subject.
> If a person is diabetic the problem is carbohydrates.
> A lucky type two can reduce their blood glucose levels to normal by not eating the starches and sugars in the modern diet to the extent necessary for their body to cope with them.
> Since starting to eat a low carb diet my tests have dropped to normal for blood glucose and my cholesterol seems to have gone down as well, despite eating saturated fats as part of it.



My point exactly.
It's seems to be a well repeated myth they aren't linked for many of us.

It's not a universal rule.
Testing shows my bad cholesterol tracks my intake of saturated fats, carbs have no effect.
We aren't all the same.


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## SkinnyLiz (Dec 21, 2018)

Acceptble level of carb varies from person to person.  
As a Low carb diet is anywhere between 50-150g carb a day, went for the middle ground and aimed for 100g a day to start with.
That was five months ago.
Was losing too much weight, (naturally skinny) so now aiming for 120g.
Significant weight loss because also have to restrict fats due to IBS.

Some advantages of low carb,  
Full fat yoghurt, much creamier and more satisfying.  Same for cottage cheese. 
Can add butter to veggies. 
Cooked breakfasts. bacon, sausage, egg, mushrooms, tomato, spinach, smoked fish, just keep the baked bean portion small- or miss it out entirely, only one slice of toast, if any though.
Cheese is on the menu.

I recommend the Calorie and Carb Counter book published by Diabetes UK, very informative, a huge help in making food choices. 

Dont despair, its a lot to take in all at once.  You have made a good start by joining the forum and asking for advice.  
Now its time to start making changes.  
Wishing you a happy and healthy life.

Liz


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## FredT (Jan 7, 2019)

Madeline said:


> A 30g serving is small, like a teeny sad cereal puddle in the bottom of your bowl, and 2/3 of that is carbs. Add milk and that’s a v carb heavy breakfast.
> 
> I couldn’t eat that, some could. One thing I’ve learnt really rapidly on here is we are all very different, and even our requirements change. I’ve been diagnosed less than a month, and during that month I’ve gone from being able to tolerate 1/2 cup oats to having to ditch them for a non carb breakfast.
> 
> I was encouraged to get a blood glucose monitor and test, and I agree with everyone here who thinks this is the right thing to do. It’s the only way you can see if what you’re eating is working for you.


I tried a cup of whole grain cereal, unsweetened almond milk, a few blueberries and ground flaxseed. I thought the taste was great but it caused a nasty BG spike. When I do eat breakfast eggs, sausage or bacon have very little effect. Even one slice of so called healthy bread raises my BG. Avoid carbs!
I’m still learning so I test often. Over here (California) Contour Next EZ are cheapish and the strips are about $70 for 300 on Amazon.


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