“IT STRIKES” Again: Looking for a healthy breakfast? Try the Corn Pops diet

[The following story was first published in The Londoner on Nov. 7, 2002 under my current byline, It Strikes Me Funny. How times have changed since I first retired. Now I make my own breakfast cereal like a True Canadian! gah]

Looking for a healthy breakfast? Try the Corn Pops diet

Several of my everyday, deeply-ingrained habits have come under close examination since my retirement because I have more time to reflect on the choices I make - what clothes to wear, which personal hobbies to pursue, which hour of the day or night is most appropriate for bedtime (maybe right now would be good), which foods to eat, what to say when I sneeze or speak to a telemarketer.

Just last week I considered my breakfast routine. Instead of having my favourite fast-food breakfast (Kellogg’s Corn Pops) and running off to work as in the past, I took a moment to search for any other options that were available in our kitchen cupboard. Perhaps there would be a healthier, more nutritious and flavourful choice (though I sincerely doubted it).


["How times have changed. I cook my own cereal now.": photo by Dusty Jeans]

I found several historic cereal items to consider; the months-old remnants of a Variety Pak leftover from my grandson’s last visit; a king-size box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes that has help up one end of a shelf laden with soup cans since my wife Pat and I moved into our house in Wortley Village 15 years ago; and numerous cold-weather staples, some dating back to the mid-70s - Red River Cereal, corn meal, wheat germ, slow-cooking oatmeal and tiny packets of instant oatmeal that make me gag just looking at them.

I set all of those aside. The Paks were too small and fussy. Besides, the wee box of Corn Pops was missing. Jackson, the grandson, is a chip off the old block it seems. The others were in unspectacular-looking boxes or sticky plastic bags and required too much work to get ready even though I had the time.

Then I spotted the brightly packaged PC gourmet English-style recipe Muesli cereal.

The box’s cheery picture of hearty ingredients piled neatly beside the full, stylish bowl had my stomach doing handstands. There were three kinds of fresh grapes and sweet, nutritious banana chips in every spoonful. If I was going to turn over a new leaf in retirement and eat a healthy breakfast to start my busy days then muesli was going to be the cereal for me.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion.

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Please click here to read the last entry of “IT STRIKES” Again.

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