Hi Trading Up Downtown readers! My name is Adriane and I have a blog called The Wholesome Foodie. I am in graduate school to get a MPH in Nutrition and become a Registered Dietitian, so I have an interest in all things nutrition related. I stumbled upon the NuVal scoring system months ago when Tina first blogged about it on her personal blog Carrots ‘N’ Cake. After Tina made the big decision to leave her job at Harvard to do social media for NuVal, I knew the company must be doing something right. Curious, I researched the site and saw how easy it was to make nutritious choices. My only gripe? There no stores near me utilize the system… wahhh!
Trading Up
When Tina contacted me to do a post about NuVal, I happily jumped at the chance. I debated back and forth about what type of “Trade Up” to do until I saw this post on Trading Up Downtown. Peanut Butter Puffins used to be my favorite cereal. In fact, back in the day, all I used to eat for breakfast was cereal.
My cereal fetish began in college. After taking a course in “Nutrition & Human Health,” I realized how important it was to eat breakfast every day. Because it was quick and tasty, cereal became my breakfast of choice. However, after finally admitting to myself that cereal was not doing that great of a job at keeping my appetite at bay, I began to switch up my morning meals. Now I count on a bowl of oatmeal at least 4-5 mornings a week to fuel me through my day. Thanks to the many food blogs out there, I have learned how delicious oats can be!
Let’s see how my old cereal habit scores against my new breakfast favorite…
Old: Cold Cereal with Skim Milk
NuVal scoring scale 1 – 100: the higher the score, the more nutritious the food
- Peanut Butter Puffins: NuVal score, 24
- Kashi GoLean Crunch (pictured above): NuVal score, 33
- Kashi Good Friends Cinna-Raisin Crunch: NuVal score, 24
- Kashi Heart 2 Heart: NuVal score, 29
- Peace Cereal Mango Passion Low Fat Crisp: NuVal score, 4
- Skim milk: NuVal score, 91
Wowzas!!! As you can see some of the cereals I used to eat on a regular basis score pretty low on the NuVal scale! Just look at the Peace Cereal – NuVal score = 4… ackk! No wonder I was usually ravenous just hours after eating! In fact, the most nutritious thing about my old breakfast favorite was the skim milk I used!
New Breakfast of Choice: Oatmeal with Skim Milk, Banana and Peanut Butter
- Quaker Old Fashioned Oats: NuVal Score, 57
- Banana: NuVal score, 91
- Stonyfield Organic Skim Milk: NuVal score, 91
- Teddy Crunchy Salted: NuVal score, 38
- Dole Rasins (sometimes use these instead of banana): NuVal score, 91
So, according to NuVal, my morning oats are a much better option than the cereal I used to eat on a daily basis. It’s no wonder that this bowl of oats keeps my hunger at bay anywhere from 3 – 5 hours! Obviously the additional calories and fat helps, but all the other added nutrients are a plus. Go oats!
Thanks again Tina for giving me the opportunity to “Trade Up” my breakfast. Hopefully NuVal comes to stores closer to me so I can utilize the tool even more often!
Developed by an independent panel of nutrition and medical experts, the 
You eat the exact same before AND after breakfast as me — cereal was a college staple but I was always hungry a couple of hours after that bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. Now my oats, PB and banana keep me full for a long time.
So interesting to see the numbers worked out! Until I started reading blogs about 2 months ago, I would have gone for the cold cereal option, but now I LOVE oatmeal and there is evidence to back it up! Great post
This is my exact before and after breakfast too! Except I was eating cereal for breakfast, lunch, dinner… and fourth meal. My friends always called me “healthy”. PSH. I’m glad Nuval’s around to prove them wrong.
We all love our cereal! I should eat more oatmeal, but to help with keeping me full I eat cereal with fruit and yogurt and a few almonds. It usually works!