“Ringing in the New Year often means new eating habits. We know whole grain is important to you, and the Dietary Guidelines recommend choosing products with a whole grain listed as the first ingredient. Now every cereal with the white check has more whole grain than any other single ingredient with the same great taste. You will see “whole grain” as a part of the first ingredient on the ingredient list, indicating that whole grain is the first and most prevalent ingredient.

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 “whole grain” 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 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. 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^®.

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

One Bragging Mommy Reader will win 5 boxes of General Mills Cereals with the white check! 

How to enter: Leave comments below with your qualifying entries. Leave a Separate comment for each entry telling us which you qualify for.

MANDATORY 1st entry- Tell us which of your favorite General Mills cereals with the white check will you kick start your morning this New Year?

1st Mandatory Entry must be completed before you can qualify for additional entries. All extra entries who don’t do the mandatory entry will be deleted.

• 3 entries- Visit Whole Grain Nation Website and tell us something you learned there.
• 2 entries- Grab The Bragging Mommy button and put it on your blog. Leave a link.
• 5 entries- Follow BraggingMommy Heidi on Google+.
• 1 entry for each- Follow The Bragging Mommy via: Facebook, Twitter, subscribe to emails, subscribe in reader.
• 1 entry per day- Mention this giveaway on your Facebook page linking to this post.
• 10 entries- Blog about this giveaway linking to this post. Leave a link.
• 1 entry per day- Tweet this giveaway including a link to this post & @braggingmommmy in your tweet.

You can enter this giveaway until Feb. 9th @10:00 am MST. The winner will then be chosen at random, verified and contacted via email. The winner will have 48 hours to email us back and claim the prize, if prize is not claimed within 48 hours a new winner will be chosen. By entering this giveaway you agree to The Bragging Mommy Full Disclosure. You must be over the age of 18 and live in the Contiguous US to enter.

*The prize pack, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.