5 boxes of General Mills GIVEAWAY!!!

Many of us vow to eat healthier and start our year off right on New Years.

I admit it, I often do this myself. I start off with great intentions and slowly start to slip back into the trap of eating unhealthy and visiting those awful fast food chains more often then I should. I hate that I get sucked into the trap! I want only what is best for my family, however sometimes convenience overcomes me and I “settle” for something less healthy.

I really do want to try to change those bad habits though. While unhealthy food options may be okay from time to time, they do not need to be a major part in our lives. According to Dr. Travis Stork, emergency room physician and host of “The Doctors,” identifying whole grain products can be challenging. Shoppers can look for nutritional cues on the front of the box, but they need to read the ingredient list to know if they are getting enough whole grain. Ingredient lists detail ingredients in order of prevalence, and if the words “www.WholeGrainNation.com” are followed by a grain like wheat or oats, it means the food contains more whole grain than any other single ingredient. Here’s how to determine if your cereals have whole grain as a first ingredient:

With all of the health messages facing grocery store shoppers, it can be confusing to translate what appears on food labels into nutritional needs, and hard to determine which foods have a meaningful amount of whole grain. Dr. Stork has some additional recommendations to help you include whole grain easily into your diet. They include:

*Start Early! The Dietary Guidelines recommend people get at least 48 grams of whole grain in their daily diets. Get a jump-start on the day’s nutrition by incorporating whole grain into your morning routine. For instance, when choosing cereal make sure whole grain is listed as the first ingredient. One easy choice is cereal with the white check, which have more whole grain than any other single ingredient.

*Make Simple Swaps. Choose whole grain versions of the foods you love and already eat! Great options include whole wheat pasta and whole wheat bread or even whole grain crackers. Also, try different types of whole grain. Use brown rice instead of white rice as a side dish at dinner or popcorn, which is a whole grain, for a snack.

*Don’t Judge a Food by Its Cover. The front of food packages provide good nutritional cues, but don’t forget to read the ingredients and check the nutrition label and side labels for additional health information. Cereals with the white check even include the amount of whole grain per serving on packaging.

To help with choosing products with whole grain, General Mills developed “Fast Lane for Whole Grain,” an online educational game. Consumers can navigate virtual grocery store aisles and identify products that have whole grain as the first ingredient, with the option to enter a sweepstakes to win one of each of the 50 cereals with the white check!!!

Make a commitment to add more whole grain to your diet by simply pouring a bowl of cereal with the white check including Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Honey Nut Cheerios and Total. (We received each of these cereals as part of this promotion and my whole family loved them all! You never would have guessed that they were a nutritious food by the way my family was eating them!)

For more information on the importance of whole grain and a chance to enter the “Fast Lane for Whole Grain” sweepstakes, visit
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a Rafflecopter giveaway.

How would you like to receive a Prize Pack of General Mills Whole Grain Cereals?