What's Behind Curtain #3 in the Fiber Cereal Contest?

We were on our walk around Lake Merritt the other day when my friend asked me what kind of cereal I eat. Uh oh, I thought to myself. It’s the sugar/fiber check. Deadly.

My favorite had been frosted mini-wheats, but when I asked my doctor if it had enough fiber, she frowned. Then she gave me a list of high-fiber foods. Ask for the time, they tell you how the clock is built. Oh, well.

Ever since I had colon cancer surgery, I've been more concerned about what I eat.. It’s a major issue, yeah, I recognize that, but it’s been a struggle. But if I can get one little scrap of information into my pea-sized brain, something I can grab hold of and squeeze, so much the better. And I depend upon my health professionals to pound the message into me, and, yes, my friends.

So there we had a discussion about fiber in cereal. We both started with Bran Buds, with its 10 grams of fiber. Great choice! Lousy taste. I actually put the milk in and then read the paper, and then when I was finished maybe I could eat the bran buds. They were that hard.

I then discovered that Cheerios had a whole wheat version. I love the taste of Cheerios, especially with a little Splenda. But my friend pointed out that Cheerios has only 3 grams of fiber. Okay, I went up in taste but down in fiber.

I've read disagreeing opinions on how much fiber we need each day, but most say between 30 to 40 grams of fiber a day. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that if I start off with 13 grams of cereal in the morning, I've got a good head start.

So I just bought Fiber One, which has 13 grams of fiber, better than either of the other cereals. Fiber One actually has a rather helpful website which helps you add up fiber, and it offers a free sample of Fiber One cereal. I haven’t tried eating the cereal yet. I’ll let you know how the taste measures up.