Lifestyle

Princeton Students’ Favorite Dining Hall Cereal, According to a Survey

By Sarah Lossing at Princeton University

Tell me this doesn’t sound familiar: you just finished a delicious dinner at one of Princeton’s wonderful dining halls, but you still want a little something more. You could go for the classic dessert, or the trendy banana, but instead your eyes seem to go straight to the cereal. You justify your decision. Cereal’s not that bad for you, right?

Although I too am a huge culprit of the after-meal bowl of cereal, if you’re counting your calories, it might be better to go for that froyo instead (or grab a piece of fruit if that’ll do the trick). Here’s all you need to know about cereal at Princeton:

Let’s start with a nice one: taste. Here are the results of a survey asking students to pick their top four D-Hall cereals. Over 370 students responded!

Next up, cereals by location. If you’re looking for some Cracklin Oat Bran, don’t head to Forbes!

Whitman:

• Oat and Honey Granola
• Smart Start
• Captain Crunch
• Raisin Bran
• Cracklin Oat Bran
• Cheerios
• Corn Flakes.

Rocky/Mathey:

• Oat and Honey Granola
• Lucky Charms
• Frosted Mini Wheats
• Cheerios
• Cracklin Oat Bran
• Rice Chex
• Raisin Bran Crunch

Wu/Wilcox: 

• Cracklin Oat Bran, Smart Start
• Kashi Cinnamon Harvest
• Captain Crunch
• Rice Chex
• Cheerios
• Cocoa Puffs
• Lucky charms
• Kashi Heart to Heart

Forbes:

• Apple Jacks
• Corn Flakes
• Raisin Bran
• Kashi Cinnamon Harvest
• Captain Crunch
• Oat and Honey Granola
• Rice Chex
• Smart Start
• Kashi Heart to Heart
• Lucky Charms

And last but not least, nutrition. First, here are some fun (and by fun, I mean health) facts about some D-Hall regulars:

• Rice Chex- gluten free (made from rice instead of wheat, hence the name)
• Cheerios- studies have proven that a serving of Cheerios can lower bad (LDL) cholesterol. For more information, check out this website.

• Smart Start- contains clusters of antioxidants, specifically vitamoins A, C, and E, including Beta Carotene,
• Kashi Heart to Heart, Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, Raisin Bran, Oat and Honey Granola, and Frosted Mini Wheats- all of these cereals contain a moderate amount of protein (5+ g per 3/4 cup serving)

And finally, the nasty one: calories and sugar. You might want to think twice before shoveling more granola on top of that low-fat, low-calories yogurt…

So as not to leave you on a sour (or rather, extremely sugary) note, here’s my final piece of advice on how to successfully navigate D-Hall cereals: Try and steer clear of the crazy unhealthy ones, such as Cracklin Oat Bran (sorry OA fanatics), but if all that looks appealing at dinner one day is cereal, go ahead and have a bowl (preferably with skim milk)!