How special is Special K?

If you participated in one of my "Healthy Shopping 101" classes this summer, you'd know that the one aisle in the grocery store that just makes me crazy is the cereal aisle. Ugh. Or when I ask a client what they had for breakfast and they say "cereal" and then say "But it's okay, it was Special K". Oh. Special K. That makes it okay then...not.

Kellogg's is great at marketing the Special K brand. Their commercials are high-quality, their ads are classy. They have one for their new crackers that actually shows the serving size - 17 crackers for 90 calories - spread out on a page. Well, it's actually 24 crackers for a serving size, but hey, they were close.

Great marketing and advertising doesn't mean it's healthy for you. 

And it's not all about the calories. And that's usually the first thing that people look for when and if they look at the food label. You can do this on-line, for any product. Just plug it into google.com, find the manufacturer's website, find product and hit "Nutritional Information".

My biggest problem with cereal and crackers is the ingredients. They are not natural. You know, fruits and veggies, they've been around for a while, you can even find them in the Bible. I don't think there's anything in the Bible about cereal. I could be wrong. But seriously, too many people rely on it from childhood habits [cereal was big in the 70's and 80's as breakfast food] or the sweetness of it. Try to find one under 10g sugar - it's hard.

• The best alternative to cereal is oatmeal. Real oatmeal, not the boxed, processed kind. 
• The best alternative to crackers is fruits and veggies. Real food, not processed. 

Does this mean you have to give up your favorite cereal and crackers. No, not necessarily. 

However -- if you are trying to lose weight and you get stuck on a plateau - or you want to lose weight and can't seem to - then you may have to moderate or eliminate cereal and crackers for a temporary time. Would that be bad? Most of the daily foods we eat are habit-based. If you gave up cereal and crackers for a short period of time and ate oatmeal and fruits and veggies instead, would it hurt you? The worst part of it would be dealing with the cravings and just the habit of eating something crunchy like that.

Those can be overcome.

• Read food labels. 
• Educate yourself on what you are putting into your body.
• Don't be swayed by good marketing and advertising. 

Then you will see yourself coming off the plateau's, you will see yourself starting to lose weight. And that is more special than any product.