A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, but it also may be lurking in your cereal bowl—bad news for your health, weight, and energy levels. Fortunately, Nestle and General Mills have announced a new initiative to decrease the sugar and salt content in many of their cereals.

The cuts will affect products the brands market outside North America, including 20 cereal brands popular with children and teenagers, according to Reuters. The goal is to aim for average reductions of 24 percent in sugar and 12 percent in sodium by 2015. (We can only hope this trend makes its way across the pond and infiltrates the US cereal aisle soon.)

Lowering the sugar levels in your breakfast isn’t just great for your waist line, it’s also good for productivity, says Karen Ansel, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., co-author of The Calendar Diet: A Month By Month Guide to Losing Weight While Living Your Life. “When you have a sugar-packed breakfast, you’ll likely be in a slump all day,” she says. Because sugar is so easy to digest, the effects don’t last very long, she explains.

“The ideal breakfast food has a little bit of protein to keep you alert, complex carbs for energy, and a little healthy fat and fiber to keep you full,” she says. You don’t have toss your cereal boxes, though. Look for options with whole grains that have less than 4g of sugar per serving, she says. Then top off your bowl with 1 percent or fat-free milk, or try your cereal with plain non-fat yogurt.

Want something more exciting? Try her other (super yummy!) suggestions:

A New Take on Toast
Sprouted-grain toast like Ezekiel bread
Spread with nut butter or sunflower-seed butter
Top with sliced pears

Breakfast Bruschetta
Whole wheat English muffin
Spread with orange marmalade and low-fat ricotta cheese
Top with sliced strawberries and bananas

For even more delicious morning meals, check out these 10 super-fast breakfast recipes.

More from WH:
Easy, Speedy Breakfasts
Oatmeal Recipes That Will Change Your Life
5 Healthy Muffin Mixes

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