Trader Joe's High Fiber Fruit & Nut Multigrain Medley

One of the things I didn't eat growing  up is cereal or granola for breakfast. (Most) Dutch people eat bread in the morning. The moment to eat granola would be after dinner as a dessert added to yogurt. But of course, I have tried cereals and granola for breakfast here in the United States, but never found one that was really tasty and still reasonable healthy. Because if you find one that is tasty, after reading the sugar and fat content on the label, it makes you think that you are better off eating a bar of chocolate (although the chocolate probably does not score high for fiber content).However, cereal is convenient to have in the pantry, for when there is no bread, or as a snack (especially when you have children).

Luckily, Trader Joe's managed to make a cereal that is low in fat, low in sodium, not too sweet, high in fiber (7 grams per serving, which is more then 25% of the recommended daily intake), and best of all, very tasty. It has a great crunch. I enjoy it just as is without yogurt or milk.

The picture on the box shows a lot of cranberries, raisins and nuts (nicely staged), but there never seems to be too many of those in the box. Not that I really mind, but my daughter, always asks for more raisins. But even kids (at least mine) like this cereal. And it beats the sugar-coated, artificial-color-infused cereals that are marketed towards them.

Even when I crave a crispy cookie, this cereal can satisfy that craving too (not always..., but if there is no cookie around it definetly does) so it makes a pretty good snack.

The only thing that puzzles me a bit, is the listing of 'iron' in the ingredients lists (see below). Because, I assume, they did not add just a tiny pieces of metal to it, but some kind of iron salt, so why not list exactly what it is? The type of iron in a cereal typically is a nonheme iron, which is iron from a plant source. It has a lower absorption in the body than a heme iron, which is animal derived. However, It could be an iron oxide as they are allowed in cereal, but technically, they should be used for color coating and not for iron fortification (and this cereal does not look like a specific color is added either). Or maybe it would be something like ferrous sulfate, ferrous gluconate, ferrous lactate or ferrous carbonate. My personal preference would be something like ferrous lactate or gluconate as it is absorbed much easier by the human body (better bioavailability) then the iron oxide and therefore actually might contribute to my iron consumption. 

Ingredients: Corn Flour, Wheat Bran, Corn Bran, Evaporated Cane Juice Crystals, Raisins, Cranberries, Oat Bran, Whey, Sliced Almonds, Pecans, Whole Oat Flour, Whole Triticale Flour, Whole Brown Rice Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Whole Ruy Flour, Whole Barley Flour, Whole Buckwheat Flour, Salt, Caramel Color, Vitamins and Iron,Vitamin C, Iron, Niacin, vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Riboblavin, Thiamin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D.