I enjoyed a bowl of Cheerios one recent morning as I scanned the marketing content on the box. From experience, I?ve learned you should take what you see on a cereal box with a grain of salt. Pretty much like reading a newspaper or watching the evening news.
I trace this skepticism back to my boyhood, when a cereal box in our pantry caught my eye with the promise of a free B-52 bomber model inside. The picture had me hook, line and sinker. Though my mother had already opened another box of cereal, I couldn?t resist. I opened the new box when she wasn?t looking. I had to have that B-52 right then.
Naturally, the plane was buried at the bottom of the box. So, being an enterprising child, I dumped all the cereal out.
And what a disappointment! The bomber had a pitiful two-inch wingspan. Definitely not what I envisioned ? and not worth the fast talking I had to reel off to avoid a spanking.
As a boy, I was a fan of ?The Breakfast of Champions.? I looked forward to seeing who would be the next athlete featured on the front of the Wheaties box. I probably defeated the wholesomeness of the cereal when I spooned a huge dollop of brown sugar on top but not stirred in. Over it, I poured enough milk to require a bowl with sideboards. I was fussy like James Bond requesting a martini ? dry with a twist of lemon, shaken but not stirred. Regardless of my morning ritual, those were the days of true champions ? individuals who accomplished impressive feats. Not like today when every child gets a trophy, win or lose.
But I digress, as you know only I can.
Back to those little Os of oats that I now enjoy for breakfast, without added sugar. Prominently featured on the front of the box, like that B-52, is a heart with the message ?Can help lower cholesterol.? (Looking back, I wonder what the Breakfast of Champions did for my heart health).
I?ve read research that Cheerios can help lower your blood cholesterol. But before I switched breakfast cereals I had to weigh the fact that cholesterol is the basic material from which hormonal estrogens and testosterone compounds are synthesized. So, did I want to lower cholesterol at the possible risk of compromising my testosterone?
Here?s some other information I?ve gleaned from the Cheerios box and the Cheerios website ? with a well-rounded spoonful of commentary added:
- ?First ingredient whole grain oats,? and followed by ?
- ?Simply made gluten free.? Now, wait a minute! Since when did oats ever contain gluten protein? Never. However, the Cheerios website includes a page about when Cheerios were recalled in 2016 due to ?an incident that occurred at our production facility in Lodi, California, that allowed wheat flour to enter our gluten-free oat-based system.?
- ?We have committed to sustainably source 100% of our cereal boxes by 2020.? What does ?sustainably sourced? cereal boxes mean? Will General Mills own a tree farm and plant their quota of new trees every year? Or will they convert sawdust from a furniture factory to boxes? Or could they develop a box you can eat after the cereal?s gone? The General Mills website reports, ?General Mills is among the largest users of post-consumer recycled paper packaging in the United States, and continues to implement innovative packaging solutions to help reduce its overall environmental footprint.?
- No added colors. (I guess that eliminates competition with Froot Loops.) By the way, have you ever eaten Froot Loops by sorting out the different colors to determine the difference in taste between colors? I will save you the effort, there isn?t!
- Contains no genetically modified grain. Of course, like gluten-containing oats, genetically modified oats don?t exist. And as the Cheerios website states: ?We don?t use genetically modified ingredients in original Cheerios. Our principal ingredient has always been whole grain oats ? and there are no GMO oats. We use a small amount of corn starch in cooking, and just one gram of sugar per serving for taste. But our corn starch comes from non-GMO corn, and we use only non-GMO pure cane sugar.?
- Most of the oats used in cereal are grown in Canada. Oats are ideal for the short growing season of northern climates. In an online General Mills interview, Canadian farmers say they consider producing oats as part of their patriotic duty. Indeed, I am impressed by their commitment.
The one thing that I can assure you about breakfast: It?s the most important meal of the day. Because, if you aren?t home in time for breakfast, you?re in trouble!
