Balance of Food

When the Atkins craze hit, the one thing that really annoyed me was the products. How you not only needed to follow this carb-deprivation plan, but also you had to do it with those products. The sincerity of a diet program can be measured in whether it tries to sell you food. Now, Curves is at it with breakfast cereal. I saw the two flavors: Whole Grain Crunch and Honey Crunch. I see from the Web that they also have chewy granola bars in Chocolate Peanut and Strawberries + Cream. I have not looked at the ingredients for the bars, but of course, I had to read the ingredient list for the cereal. I saw one ingredient that shouldn't be in a breakfast cereal: sucralose. The honey version had sugar and sucralose. So we have an extra sweet cereal, which will make you want to eat more. If anything, breakfast cereal needs to be less sweet. If you need that much sweetness in the morning, have a piece of whole wheat toast with natural fruit spread. I understand the idea of "extending a brand" with marketing. Weight-loss centers apparently don't make enough money. But at least put out a product worthy of your audience. Not to talk up brands, but Special K is a cereal targeted at diet-conscious women. It doesn't have to resort to cheap tricks such as artificial sweeteners. There are other reasonably healthy cereals that could accomplish the same idea (Cherrios, Wheaties) that have the whole grains the Curves cereal promises without artificial sweeteners. And this doesn't even take in healthier, lesser-known cereals. If a diet center helps you get into better shape, good for you. But this cereal isn't going to help.