Kellogg's Strikes Back
My good friends at Kellogg's are in the news these days for a bold response to demands that they stop marketing foods with poor nutritional values to kids. They've announced their plan to re-work the content of their cereals and other products and, if they can't make a good tasting product that meets nutritional goals, they'll stop marketing it to the under-12 crowd. This includes the obvious media campaigns but also the use of toys and branded characters to attract buyers.
(As an aside, I hope they don't drop their Pirates of the Caribbean tie-in. I know many moms who've been enjoying gazing at Jonny Depp/Jack Sparrow over their morning meal.)
The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood recently targeted Kellogg's and Viacom (Nickelodeon) with a lawsuit demanding that they stop marketing junk food to kids under eight. Apparently, they chose Kellogg's and Viacom because they are industry leaders. Going after Tony the Tiger forces the big K to step up and set an example for others in the industry - hopefully that annoying Trix rabbit and Lucky Charm dude will follow suit.
My husband works for Kellogg's, so I'm obviously biased about their business. Because John is an employee, we have a huge variety of Kellogg's cereals in our house. Jake tends to choose Rice Krispies and Corn Flakes over all the sweetened varieties. Ryan vascillates between Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes, which is fine by me! And I still bolus early for a bowl of Froot Loops now and then.
posted by Kassie @ 9:11 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Truthfully, I think too much is made about sweetened cereals, and not nearly enough about all the other "junk" foods including fruit roll-ups and other glucose and high-fructose corn syrup sweetened "fruit" snacks that contain less fruit content than Kellogg's Fruit Loops do, yet fly under the radar. There's also a lot of salt things like SpaghettiOs, and all canned soups, are they going to target them for the growing incidence in cardiovascular disease? How about personal accountability for our eating habits?!
Fruit snacks (which Kellogg's makes) are evil in my opinion - except I love having them around for lows!
This feels a little bit chicken-and-egg to me: If they make it, must we eat it? If we'll eat it, must they make it?
Ultimately, I decide what to buy my kids to eat. But I can also see how it would help to not have them jazzed up about the latests sweet cartoon cereal.
Breakfast is a very tough meal for her, being a Type 1. I reduce her carbs and have her on a much higher ICR ratio. No matter what the ratio, though, a bowl of cereal will cause her BS to spike into the high 300s. I tried the frosted flakes which, because of sugar, have a much lower glycemic index than the regular corn flakes, instant low sugar oatmeal... makes no difference. This stuff is poison for her, so I threw out every box of cereal, excepting one, in the house. I told her if she wants cereal she can have it, but she can have it as a desert, because that is what it is. Not for breakfast. I have found a Sugar Free Brown Syrup and Maple Flavored oatmeal with 18 grams made by A&P and that does not effect her blood sugars at all. However, it gave her stomache aches, so out that went. Since I gave her the "desert" edict, she doesn't even ask for it, since she would rather have an ice cream cone or some potato chips, both of which effect her blood sugar much better than cereal.
I love that dessert solution!
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