How to Avoid Being Fooled by the Deceptive Marketing of Unhealthy Cereals

It is sad but true. Most of us have a concept of healthy food that is severely biased by the marketing we have been exposed to. How healthy is your breakfast cereal? Are you sure?
Most cereal is glorified candy. You thought your Honey Nut Cheerios were healthy? Think again! With 10 grams of sugar per serving (only 1 cup), they only receive a nutritional index of 44 out of 100, and anything under 62 is considered unhealthy. This is certainly not the end of the world, but it’s not ideal either.

The Most Unhealthy Cereals Are Marketed the Most

And they are marketed specifically at kids!
Who do you think these guys are trying to talk to?

Yay! Eating tasty poison is fun!

Does anyone else see a major issue here? Many of these companies use websites with games for kids on them to keep kids in front of their marketing message. Scary.

If you really want to get angry, head over to http://www.millsberry.com/tour.phtml and watch the tour video. The company that makes the top 5 most marketed cereals (all of which are unhealthy) created the coolest website ever for kids, complete with a virtual world.

The 7 Most Marketed Cereals are All Unhealthy*

Below is a list of the 7 most marketed cereals, their nutritional index (based out of 100, 62 and higher is considered healthy), and the average # of ads viewed by kids over a 15 month period. By this standard none are healthy, but my standards, 6 out of the 7 are basically poison if eaten regularly. Childhood obesity and diabetes anyone? HELLO!
1. Cinnamon Toast Crunch nutritional index = 37 # of ads = 82
2. Honey Nut Cheerios nutritional index = 44 # of ads = 80
3. Lucky Charms nutritional index = 36 # of ads = 78
4. Cocoa Puffs nutritional index = 39 # of ads = 68
5. Trix nutritional index = 38 # of ads = 58
6. Frosted Flakes nutritional index = 43 # of ads = 58
7. Fruity or Cocoa Pebbles nutritional index = 38 # of ads = 54

Marketing of Candy Cereal Highlights True Cause of Health Care Crisis

If you think this is as bad as it gets, think again. These same candy cereals are being marketed with the food industry’s new “Smart Choice” label, a mark designed with a big check mark to assure consumers that they are buying a healthy product! Don’t we have consumer protection laws in this country? What’s the point of having these laws if they can’t prevent shady marketing like this from happening? It’s stuff like this that helps confuse consumers into eating garbage. Yes, of course, people need to practice self-discipline and common sense, but should the food industry and government be making it harder to make healthy decisions? Absolutely not!!! Here is where real prevention can be practically implemented, but our food source is not the major talking point that it should be in our health care debate.

Good source of Calcium & Vitamin D? Who cares!

Whole Grain Guaranteed? More like diabetes guaranteed!

In response to criticism, the companies say things like “but our cereal is a good source of vitamin A and C”. Really! Are you kidding me? We are a nation of obese people with heart disease and diabetes, not a nation afflicted with scurvy! Yes people need their vitamins, but you can’t mix vitamins into crap and call the crap healthy!!! DUH. But alas, that is what they do, and our government and we the people let them do it.

Even more upsetting, a major study just confirmed a link between eating candy regularly as a kid & being more VIOLENT in adulthood. (Click here to read study!)

Don’t Be Fooled

Here are some good general guidelines for picking a breakfast cereal:

1. The total sugar amount of the entire breakfast (including milk) should not be more than about 10 grams. (And the quality of milk is important too. The healthiest option is to find a local farmer who has grass fed organic cows that are put out to pasture, not injected with drugs, and the milk is minimally processed i.e. low heat pasteurization, non-homogenized, or raw). Here is a link to local farms throughout the country: http://www.localharvest.org/
2. Look for smaller, less well known companies who don’t need fancy marketing to create a successful cereal product.
3. Always read labels on the back! Avoid cereals with high sugar or high fructose corn syrup in them.
4. Stick to organic rice or corn flake cereals if you think you may be gluten intolerant. (Do you get gas after eating other grains besides rice, corn, millet, and buckwheat? All other grains have gluten, avoid them if you feel bloated after eating them.)

Take Action

In addition to eating a great breakfast, I encourage you to boycott all General Mills, Kellogg, and Post cereals, as these 3 companies lead the way in deceptive candy cereal marketing.   I hate to tell you, but KASHI is owned by Kellogg!  I hope you will share this post, and leave me some comments or feedback. Change isn’t led by politicians, it’s lead by the consumer, and how consumers vote with their dollars.  If we all work together, maybe the picture I created below will reflect a new kind of marketing integrity?  If you want to sell candy for breakfast, you can, but you have to call it candy.

Lucky Charms is candy. Feeding candy to your children for breakfast will make them sick and eventually cause disease.

Please leave some comment! Thanks.

Until next time, stay healthy and eat well.
Johnny Fitness

*Statistics based off of research provided by the Rudd Center For Food Policy and Obesity. This blog was inspired by the Time Magazine Article “Food Sweet Spot” by Bonnie Rochman *

Jonathan Angelilli has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 8 certifications, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale lifestyle consultation service in NYC.  He works hard to match up people, luxury buildings, private gyms, concierge companies, and corporations with a personalized team of empowering health and fitness professionals.  He has directly coached, managed, and mentored over 100 personal trainers in the last 5 years alone, and also co-owns a highly successful consulting company for personal trainers.