Your breakfast cereal is as good as having a piece of cake: Why it spikes blood sugar, keeps you hungry

Indian Express

26-05-2025

(Written by Dr Ridhima Khamesra)
Thirty-year-old Sarah was surprised when she was diagnosed with prediabetes. That's because all her life she was eating what she considered the gold standard of healthy breakfasts: a bowl of honey-flavoured whole grain cereal with sliced banana and low-fat milk. She didn't know that this routine of years had quietly pushed up her fasting glucose levels.
Mid-morning, she would have her first coffee with sugar to combat the growing fatigue. Late morning, she would have intense sugar cravings that seemed to come out of nowhere. By lunch, she was ravenous, often making poor food choices. By afternoon, she would have a complete energy crash that had her reaching for more caffeine. We used a continuous glucose monitor to track exactly what happened to Sarah's blood sugar after her 'healthy' breakfast. The results were shocking: her glucose levels skyrocketed to heights you'd expect from eating pure sugar, then came crashing down just as dramatically.
Millions of people start their day with a bowl of what they genuinely believe is a healthy breakfast, sometimes tagged 'heart healthy,' 'rich in whole grains' and 'added vitamins!' Most breakfast cereals contain more sugar than dessert.
Here's the real twist. Those serving sizes listed on boxes are laughably small. Nobody actually eats just three-quarters of a cup of cereal. Your typical morning bowl contains nearly double the suggested serving, meaning you're essentially having cake for breakfast.
The 'healthy' cereals are often the worst offenders. That expensive granola bar is packed with more sugar than most candy bars. Those innocent-looking raisins and dried fruits scattered are concentrated sugar bombs waiting to wreak havoc on your system.
But the real damage isn't just from added sugars. The refined grains in most cereals break down into glucose faster than eating pure sugar straight from the bowl. This creates what nutritionists call a 'glucose tsunami' – a rapid spike in blood sugar that triggers a massive insulin response, followed by an inevitable crash that leaves you hungrier and more tired than when you started.
1. Moong Dal Chilla – Blend soaked moong dal with ginger, cumin and spinach. Make a pancake, which is high in protein and fibre.
2. Curd + Nuts + Seeds – This is a good combination of protein and good fat. Almonds and flaxseeds also lend satiety value.
3. Sprout Chaat – Toss sprouted moong with lemon, chaat masala and coriander. No cooking needed.
These foods work with your body's natural rhythms instead of against them. They provide steady, sustained energy without the dramatic sugar highs and crashes that leave you feeling awful.
How changing your breakfast changes everything else
Sarah was able to reverse her prediabetes without complicated diets or expensive supplements. She just swapped processed cereal for real food.
The hardest part? Breaking the mental habit of reaching for that familiar box. But once you feel genuinely satisfied after eating and watch your cravings disappear, going back to cereal feels about as appealing as eating cardboard.
(Dr Khamesra is a clinical dietitian)