Oct 27, 2010

Posted in Breakfast, Carbohydrates, Sugar and Sweeteners | 26 Comments

Kashi Cereal vs The Incredible, Edible Egg: REALLY?!

I nearly fell over when I saw the latest Kashi commercial touting it’s cereal as having as much protein as an egg. Oh man, they’ve sunk to a new low if they think that their cereal can hold a candle to a whole food from nature. I have to re-paint this nutritional picture for you in an appropriate manner before this nasty rumor about cereal being anywhere near as good for you as an egg perpetuates further.

Take a few moments to just THINK about this:

Exactly what kind of “mission” do
you think these whole grains are on?

1. Cereal is a processed food. An egg is a whole food.

In case you haven’t been reading this blog for very long, we ALWAYS eat whole foods over processed foods. Period. I really was laughing at this commercial and talking back to the television asking, “then why don’t people just eat eggs?!” (Barring allergies, of course!) Oh, that’s right, we’ve been SCARED away from this delicious, whole, nutrient-dense food by our government’s nutritionists and dietitians who bought into the notion that fat was going to kill us. Well, guess what everyone, it turns out that it’s not the naturally occurring fats (see my post on fats here) in things like eggs that’s sending us to an early grave. Quite the contrary, if we ate more eggs, we’d not only be healthier from the nutrition they provide, but we’d likely eat far less of the sugar laden-crap called cereal. That’s right, cereal is crap. Crap that lines grocery store shelves in beautiful, brightly colored, healthy-looking packages. Shoot, eggs come in boring, beige cardboard cartons. I have earned the right to rant like this because I not only ate my way through the cereal aisle hundreds of times in my day, but I’ve now studied nutrition long enough to know better. 

2. Cereal, and especially this “healthy” Kashi cereal, is loaded with sugar. An egg has no sugar.

We all remember the dish on sugar, don’t we? Check out that ingredients list on the Kashi cereal. There are THREE different sweetners in there:

“Evaporated Cane Juice Crystals” = SUGAR
“Brown Rice Syrup” = SUGAR
“Honey” = SUGAR

In case anyone was wondering how cereal companies get their grains to taste like something better than the cardboard box, it’s by adding SUGAR! Have you ever seen a box of “All Bran Cereal?” Yeah, there’s high fructose corn syrup in that one. One serving of Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal contains more than 3 Teaspoons of pure sugar. And, that 37g of total Carbs will do a great number on your blood sugar, especially when paired with skim milk.

Let’s not forget!

This is to say NOTHING of the canola oil or the “whole grains are healthy” claim that’s just about permeated every single American household to the tune of Poptarts “made with whole grains.” I kid you not. Come on, people, are we really that naive?

For more on the deception that’s happening out there in the world of American nutrition, check out this article that was published recently in the Huffington Post by Justin Stoneman, “America: A Big, Fat, Stupid Nation” and my post on the USDA Food Guide Pyramid entitled “We’ve Been Fed a Pyramid Built of Processed Food Bricks.”

I’ll get around to my own post on this sooner or later, but for more information on why grains aren’t all they’re cracked up to be (whole, half, or otherwise) check out one or both of Robb Wolf’s articles: 
“Damn Dirty Grains: This Time It’s Personal,” or
 “How to Keep Feces Out of Your Bloodstream (or lose 10 pounds in 14 days).”

Enjoy & be well!
Diane Sanfilippo
BS, Certified Nutrition Educator, C.H.E.K. Holistic Lifestyle Coach
San Francisco Nutritionist & Paleo Nutritionist serving the Bay Area and beyond via phone & Skype consultations.

About the author

Diane Sanfilippo BS, Certified Nutrition Consultant, C.H.E.K. Holistic Lifestyle Coach is a San Francisco-based Nutritionist & Paleo Nutritionist serving the Bay Area and beyond (US & international) via phone, Skype consultations and nutrition seminars. Author of “The Practical Paleo Nutrition Guide Book.” An 80-Page eBook guide to making a Paleo diet easy! Filled with tips, tricks, meal planning tools and recipes. Creator of The 21-Day Sugar Detox “The 21-Day Sugar Detox.” Bust sugar and carb cravings in 21 days with the help and support of a community who is all in it together!

  1. Leah Salmon says:

    Great article Diane, thanks

  2. Mike Cheliak says:

    Fantastic Rant Di! I will (and do) take eggs and whole foods over procesed crap 10 times out of 10.

    Kashi..Go Lean…Go Home.

  3. I'm behind the egg 100%! Whole foods cannot be beat :-)

  4. Funny, I had the same reaction when seeing one of the new Kashi adverts the other night. I yelled at the screen, "If eggs are so great, just eat an egg!"

    PS Do you have a RSS feed setup? I'd like to subscribe but didn't see a feed url. Thanks

  5. @Beck- I added an RSS link at the top now… :) Just for you!

  6. Great post! Love your website, too. :) The food industry can be terribly misleading, no?! It's frustrating!

  7. See, I remember eating Kashi and wondering how they could claim to be so natural. So sugary! Good thing I love eggs!

  8. Lisa Sargese says:

    Yep. Saw sugar 3 times on that label! And the whole grains? They didn't mention that they're processed. A real whole grain is puffy and moist by the time we've made it ready to consume it, right? After eating an egg for breakfast I'm not hungry for hours. After eating Kashi? Hungry in an hour…sometimes less.

  9. Mike Norris says:

    A great blog! It's a shame that more people can't just see things for what they are.

  10. Geoff Aucoin says:

    Oh man, that commercial gets my goat, too. I'm so tired of slick marketing taking precedent over facts. It's cereal people!

    gaucoin

  11. Alison St. Sure says:

    Great post Diane! I so wish my daughter wasn't allergic to eggs — it's such a great easy healthy food! (I eat them though.)

  12. I hate this commercial. I scream at the TV every time I see it. Just eat an egg people!! :-)

  13. Anonymous says:

    I thought I read in the Paleo Solution that all carbs are broken down to glucose before the body does anything with them anyway, so isn't it more appropriate to say it has nearly 9 teaspoons of sugar?

  14. Diane @ Balanced Bites says:

    @Anonymous (though I wish you'd leave a name or make one up!!!) – YES! Totally. I was just pointing out the actual sweeteners added, which doesn't even begin to touch the amount of glucose your body derives from the "heart healthy whole grains" ;o)

  15. primroseandpaleo says:

    Very well said. What's disturbing is that many moms will see this commercial and give Kashi to their kids instead of freshly scrambled eggs. This type of advertising is really misleading.. ain't it illegal?

    Love your blog, by the way!

    Cara
    http://primroseandpaleo.wordpress.com

  16. You’re totally right on calling them on marketing processed junk as healthy food. To put the nail in the coffin, per calorie an egg has more protein than Kashi cereal. These fools need more eggs for brain function!

  17. great blog! I love your bold honesty and have already clicked on the next article, can’t wait to read more! thank you , keep it coming … I will share with everyone. Cheers!

  18. It’s nice to see the different types of sugars being distinguished here and how the body reacts to each one differently. I have noting against eggs, I have them 3-4 times a week, but they’re also packed with estrogen (even organic, free-range, all-natural types) which takes a different type of toll on the body. Variety is also good. Oatmeal (or other cereals) on its own doesn’t have a heck of a lot of protein.

  19. GREAT post Diane. My obsession with Kashi GoLean cereal was the beginning of all my health problems that turned into a celiac diagnosis more than two years later. On the nutrition facts label, it looks like a gift from heaven, but on the ingredients label it is confirmed that it is in fact straight from hell. Removing Kashi from my diet was the first step in realizing that maybe it wasn’t the milk that was bothering my stomach, and maybe it was the “hard red wheat” (that couldn’t sound any more difficult to digest). Thanks again for this, and down with Kashi!

  20. why was my comment posted earlier today deleted? i was hoping to get your response.

  21. Great post! I love the photo – I want to draw a halo on the egg’s head and an angelic face, to help his public image………

  22. So glad I found your blog! I have written simar posts about breakfasts/eggs but love the personal humor in yours. Looking forward to reading all of your posts!

  23. It’s actually a great and helpful piece of info. I am happy that you simply shared this useful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.

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