The Environmental Working Group, suggests you take the following list with you when shopping for breakfast cereals.

EWG  is a private, not for profit organization that uses the power of public information to protect public health and the environment.

The 10 Worst Children’s Cereals-don’t meet nutrition guidelines:

Kellogg’s Honey Smacks

Post Golden Crisp

Kellogg’s Froot Loops Marshmallows

Quaker Oats Cap’n Crunch OPPS All Berries

Quaker Oats Cap’n Crunch Original

Quaker Oats Oh’s

Kellogg’s Smorz

Kellogg’s Apple Jacks

Quaker Oats Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries

Kellogg’s Froot Loops Original

Best Cereals-are free of pesticides and genetically modified ingredients:

• Ambrosial Granola: Athenian Harvest Muesli
• Go Raw: Live Granola, Live Chocolate Granola, and Simple Granola
• Grandy Oats: Mainely Maple Granola, Cashew Raisin Granola, and Swiss Style Muesli
• Kaia Foods: Buckwheat Granola Dates & Spices and Buckwheat Granola Raisin Cinnamon
• Laughing Giraffe: Cranberry Orange Granola
• Lydia’s Organics: Apricot Sun, Berry Good, Grainless Apple, Sprouted Cinnamon, and Vanilla Crunch.
• Nature’s Path Organic: Optimum Banana Almond, Optimum Cranberry Ginger, Corn Puffs, Kamut Puffs, Millet Puffs, and Rice Puffs.

Good Cereals-easier to find but may include ingredients that are genetically modified or grown with pesticides:

• Kellogg’s Mini-Wheats: Unfrosted Bite- Size, Frosted Big Bite, Frosted Bite-Size, Frosted Little Bite
• General Mills Cheerios Original
• General Mills Kix Original
• Post Shredded Wheat (all varieties)
• Post Grape-Nuts Flakes
• Quaker Oats Oatmeal Squares Cinnamon
• Post Bran Flakes**
• Post Honey Bunches of Oats with Vanilla Bunches

Some cereals are better than others. When selecting cereals look for:

• Cereals with a short ingredient list (added vitamins and minerals are okay).
• Cereals high in fiber.
• Cereals with few or no added sugars, including honey, molasses, fruit juice concentrate, brown sugar, corn sweetener, sucrose, lactose, glucose, high- fructose corn syrup and malt syrup (USDA 2006a).

Cereals that meet these criteria can usually be found on the top shelves of the cereal aisle. They are harder to reach and not at eye level but often less expensive.

Every healthy diet endorses eating lots of fresh produce. But, even fresh produce carries a health risk…pesticides.The answer…buy organic, if you can, as produce grown organically is grown without synthetic pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.

The Environmental Work Group ( EWG), a nonprofit organization that uses the power of public information to protect public health and the environment put together a Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides, which identifies those fruits and vegetables that carry the highest risk of pesticides and those that are considered less of a pesticide risk.

What follows is their list of the “Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15 of Produce.” EWG suggests that you buy organic for produce appearing on the Dirty Dozen list as these fruits and vegetables have the highest levels of pesticides.

The Dirty Dozen of Produce:

1. Apples

2. Celery

3. Strawberries

4. Peaches

5. Spinach

6. Nectarines ( imported)

7. Grapes

8. Bell Peppers

9. Potatoes

10. Blueberries

11. Lettuce

12. Kale/Collard Greens

The Clean 15 of Produce:

1. Onions

2. Sweet Corn

3. Pineapple

4. Avocado

5. Asparagus

6. Sweet Peas

7. Mangoes

8. Eggplant

9. Cantaloupe (domestic)

10. Kiwi

11. Cabbage

12. Watermelon

13. Sweet Potatoes

14. Grapefruit

15. Mushrooms