COLUMN: Special K isn't so special
People need to take off their rose-colored glasses and read the nutrition facts on labels of foods that pretend to be “healthy.”
Some major food and beverage companies are advertising their products as “good for you,” encouraging unintelligent buyers to consume them.
Take a walk down any food aisle in a grocery store, and you will see a lot of options.
Most of these options include a “regular” food item and the “diet” version. But nine times out of 10, the diet form is not any better for you.
Yes, it might have less fat, but it also has a lot more added sugar to make up for it and make you still enjoy whatever is going down.
The Special K brand in particular is adept at fooling people into buying their products to lose weight.
They advertise their cereal, cereal bars, protein shakes and crackers as a healthy alternative to other foods. Eating these items for two meals and then one meal of your choice for two weeks will cause people to lose six pounds.
Thousands of customers fall for this Special K Challenge and don’t realize that none of these items will cause them to lose weight. If anything, they are tricking their bodies into eating something that might be a little healthier than what they are currently eating. But, everything listed on their website’s product site has added sugar and, therefore, added calories and eventually fat, making Special K not so special for your hips and thighs.
Another food company that sells its diet menu as healthy is Taco Bell.
When most people think of Taco Bell, they think of fast food and having a lot of body gas afterward (both hold accurate).
And the diet menu is also just that. It won’t cause you to lose weight. The menu offers food items that only sound healthy on the surface.
Order a fresco bean burrito, and it’s still packing more than nine grams of fat and more than 350 calories.
That is only 20 calories and two grams of fat less than the regular burrito option.
People who take on these diet challenges, such as the Drive-Thru Diet, need to realize as soon as they get off these plans, they are bound to gain everything back.
Even Kashi employs trickery.
When I pull a box of Kashi cereal out of my grocery bag, people would assume it’s because I am trying to be healthier or I am on a diet.
But honestly, it just tastes good. And why does it taste so good? The sugar! It’s loaded with it.
Kashi sells itself as the cereal packed with protein; it has as much protein as an egg.
Boom. Sounds pretty healthy, right? That’s all it would take for an unintelligent consumer to purchase. But, a serving of cereal has more than eight grams of sugar before adding sugary milk to it.
I’m not saying don’t buy these products altogether, especially if you don’t care how much you weigh or how healthy you’re eating, but if you’re looking to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle, learn to read the nutrition labels before buying.
It sounds cliché at this point, but being healthy truly is all about eating fruits, veggies, whole grains and lean meats. Cut out the processed food and add in more exercise.
Trust me, these companies don’t care how much you weigh. They don’t care how much weight you lose or gain by buying their products. They just want to sell. And they can do that by false advertising.
Once you buy what they are selling, they win. And your thunder thighs lose.
