And the best cereal ever is......

[KG]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

Cereal is one of many, many factors.

Basically processed carbs are why the country is fat

Portion sizes. Ours are out of control.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

not that it matters, but the reason America is fat is because We do not walk or run alot. For Ex. Americans and Italians have similar diets, they Italians are much skinnier. The difference is, The Italians Do not drive every where, they walk about x10 as much as americans.

Actually, the real reason is because Italians don't eat much sweets while the average American consumes 64 lbs. of high fructose corn syrup per year. That's also the reason Italians can eat a somewhat high-fat diet and yet their results and overall health indicators are basically the same as a Japanese diet (low in fat, high in carbs from rice). Fructose is a toxin because it can only be processed by the liver whereas glucose (found in natural non-liquid carbs such as potatoes and bread) can be used by basically every organ in the body and doesn't get all sent to the liver for processing.

Watched this giant hour and a half video from a UCSF Pediatrics professor and it blew my mind both how bad fructose really is for you (both in HFCS form and in regular sugar/sucrose, which is half glucose and half fructose) and how complicit our government is in poisoning the country. Check it out if you want -- the introduction/history (from about 10 mins to 45 mins) is very interesting and lays the groundwork for the talk, but the real meat of it starts around 1 hour 10 mins where he brings up the political side of things as well as recommendations about how to avoid the issues yourself:

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Long watch but REALLY worth it if you're at all interested in why Americans are so damn fat and unhealthy as well as the chemical and political reasons for it. The middle part is pretty thick with the biochemistry talk, but as someone who knows nothing about it, I was still fascinated and learned a lot from that part of the video.

Basic conclusions:

**Sugar (specifically fructose) is a toxin and is responsible for America's increasing issues with obesity, cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, and hypertension.

**In obese children who showed great progress in reducing their BMI and increasing overall health through a high-fiber diet and exercise regime had their results completely derailed and halted when they introduced a small amount of sugary beverages... this indicates that sugar was almost solely responsible for their weight gain and lack of success in getting it off.

**Fructose inhibits the receptors that communicate a feeling of fullness or satisfaction -- people who drink a soda before eating a meal end up eating more of the meal for this reason, even though they consumed 150+ calories minutes before.

**Kids (as well as pregnant mothers who have a high fructose diet) become lifetime sugar addicts and exacerbate the problems that we have with low activity and a lack of fiber in our diets (fiber helps process sugars, which is why naturally-occurring carbs including fruits, vegetables, and even sugar cane come "packaged" with fiber).

**The FDA does not regulate fructose even though countless studies have shown that it directly and negatively impacts health. The reason for this is because it's "generally recognized as safe", which is a distinction coming form nothing in particular and essentially applies to anything that is a long-term toxin and not an acute one (such as tobacco and alcohol).

**Fructose has 8 of the 12 negative affects on health that alcohol does except it doesn't work on the brain so you don't get the buzz effects -- sugary drinks are "alcohol without the buzz".

**Baby formula has almost exactly the same percentage of fructose per serving as a Coke... there are obese 6 month old babies in America, and the majority are low-income people who are provided baby formula as well as juices through the WIC program. The racial and social implications of this are HUGE and the government is more than complicit going all the way back to Nixon's "War on Poverty" where HFCS was seen as a cheaper alternative to sugar, thus aiding the effort at reducing food costs, which were pretty central to the 1972 election.

Beverage companies have increased serving size progressively while also increasing sodium, caffeine, and HFCS content. This is intentional because sodium and fructose both cause thirst, do not satiate anything, and fructose is very cheap compared to sugar -- that makes it so people can and do drink more of their beverages while also still remaining hungry for other products, often made by or associated with the same companies (think Coke and McDonalds or Pepsi and Pizza Hut). The increase in HFCS in particular is troubling because it actually tastes sweeter than the cane sugar they used previously but the amounts are STILL more than what was in the original Coke recipe, again, this is intentional on the part of the beverage companies.

The corn lobby is massive and is at the root of the issue in regards to reform, along with the FDA, whose main interest is making sure the rest of the world continues eating our food. If the FDA said that fructose is a toxin (which it is) and thus needs to be regulated, that would essentially ruin one of the few things we can still sell to the world -- those being food, entertainment, weapons, and tobacco. If that happened, there goes the American food economy and all those awesome corn exports to the other countries that our diet is now trying to kill slowly. Big problem... hence the inaction despite the mounting evidence that we're essentially being poisoned and killed slowly by our government.

Well worth a watch... DC/GSW, I'm hoping at least you dudes check it out since you appear to have an interest in health from those Underground Wellness videos.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

Cereal is why America is fat. Candy for breakfast.

It's more likely the whole milk they are taking with it. If people had two bowls of cereal for breakfast with skim or soy milk, they would not get fat from it, especially in comparison to a butter based breakfast.

Cereal is one of many, many factors.

Basically processed carbs are why the country is fat

As someone already said, portions are an issue. Also, soda and butter are big factors.

not that it matters, but the reason America is fat is because We do not walk or run alot. For Ex. Americans and Italians have similar diets, they Italians are much skinnier. The difference is, The Italians Do not drive every where, they walk about x10 as much as americans.

This is an excellent point. I'm from New York and I'm currently living in LA. I can tell you that in both places, there are much less fat people than in middle America. I took a trip to Chicago once, and I was shocked at all the fatties stuffing cheese fries into their mugs before going straight to their cars and driving home. It was like someone took a picture of New York and photoshopped 10-20 lbs onto each person.

Recently I heard a comedian ragging Chicago because of it, and I couldn't help but be all like "it's funny cuz it's true!".

It's more of an exercise an portions thing than anything else, but grease and butter and soda and sugary juices are bigger offenders than dry cereal.

[Blzer]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

Honey Bunches of Oats

[yankeesgiants]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

Dinky Donuts:

[Stumbleweed]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

It's more likely the whole milk they are taking with it. If people had two bowls of cereal for breakfast with skim or soy milk, they would not get fat from it, especially in comparison to a butter based breakfast.

Completely and utterly wrong, actually. Watch that video I posted if you have time. Americans are consuming less fat than ever (it's gone slowly down since the 70's when the LDL craze made people think that fat was the cause of cardiovascular disease... it contributes, but sugars are a greater cause), and yet all the major diseases including CVD are rising unabated. The cereal is the problem, given that it contains sugar and often high fructose corn syrup, which has no benefits to the human body. Kids who drank nothing but water and milk in studies all lost weight and showed progress in other health measures... it's not the damn milk.

[KG]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

Never heard of Dinky Donuts.

I always liked Golden Grahams but being lactose intolerant has putten a damper on my cereal consumption, even with all the Soy Milk products on the market now.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

CTC is my all time favorite.

As a kid it was this...until it got discontinued.

[roadman]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

For health reasons, I'm enjoying Kashi's Go Lean. 6 grams of sugar per cup and the cereal is high in fiber.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

For health reasons, I'm enjoying Kashi's Go Lean. 6 grams of sugar per cup and the cereal is high in fiber.

That's the type of cereal everyone should be eating... minimal sugar and a good amount of fiber. Anything else you may as well just wash down a multi-vitamin with a damn soda... they put some cursory whole grains and vitamins into the cereal (mostly artificially), but almost all of it is just compacted sugar and corn.

That said, I love some Cinnamon toast Crunch too... whatever odorless compound they inject into it at the plant to make it taste just like browned toast is amazing. Doesn't make it a good way to start the day though... I eat mine at night as a dessert/snack mostly.

[~LiverpoolRed~]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

Honeycomb for me.

[WeLLWeLL]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

Too many to choose from. Honey Bunches of Oats, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Reeses, and Capt. Crunch. My favorite thing to do when I was younger, and sometimes still to this day is to mix cereals. Reeses and Corn Pops always went over well for me. Capt. Crunch and Cinnamon Toast Crunch was also another joyful experience. I'll mix any cereal any time...as long as it isn't Raisan Brand.

[Chef Matt]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

I'm all about

Wheaties
Raisin Bran

Been my favs since I was a kid.

[slickdtc]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......

Cereal is bangin'. Honey Bunches of Oats, Reese's Puffs, Captain Crunch. Lots of good ones listed.

But my favorite is Waffle Crisp:

[Steve_OS]

Re: And the best cereal ever is......