4 ms·

It's just objectively not good food with a glycaemic index approaching soda, very short satiety, and limited nutrition value. It's a mix of things we blame for

by clnq 3y ago

It's just objectively not good food with a glycaemic index approaching soda, very short satiety, and limited nutrition value. It's a mix of things we blame for the obesity epidemic, all in one convenient meal. The "breakfast of champions" slogan, given how popular it became, sounds like it would make for an interesting case study where people agreed to marketing, even if their individual experiences must have been that the food isn't really as filling as other options. Maybe it's a breakfast of sports champions who eat it as pre-workout, but surely it's not a breakfast that makes champions.

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
I’m a lazy guy that is part of one of those elite gyms (kind of by accident, but it is what it is). As a result I get to see what actual elite athletes eat by virtue of being around that and I can assure you that these elite sports champions are not eating any form of cereal at all as part of their daily regimen.
- thaumasiotes 3y ago
  They all eat at the gym?
  - ffhhttt 3y ago
    Presumably people occasionally still talk to each other
    - plugin-baby 3y ago
      > I get to see...
- kenjackson 3y ago
  Elite athletes often eat pretty poorly. But they can get away with it because they work so hard. I know a lot of D1 football players not only eat cereal for breakfast but also as a late night snack.
- maccard 3y ago
  I was a borderline elite athlete at one point, training with actual elite athletes. Most of what we ate would be considered a "wildly unbalanced diet", and when we were competing it was just large volumes of calorie dense food, be it pasta, protein bars or milk.
- refurb 3y ago
  That seems an odd claim. Do elite athletes eat all their meals at the gym?
- ilyt 3y ago
  Diet is not something you can scale linearly with calorie usage of your job
coffeefirst 3y ago
To make matters more absurd, we took this product, dressed it in bright colors, marketed it towards children, and without a hint of irony, told their parents it’s the most important meal of the day?
xctr94 3y ago
It could be good food. You can make a profit whilst serving the public good, that’s something corporations just can’t get into their heads. Nestlé in Europe has made a few versions with more whole grains and less sugar, with no detectable change in taste. For a while, I was eating rice-based low-sugar breakfast cereal with added vitamins, simply because the alternative was a pastry and coffee (very busy work weeks). I despise Nestlé, but, hey, at least here’s a healthier version of our product — not healthy, healthier. The race to the bottom in terms of sugar and additives might also be a factor as to why breakfast cereal is in decline. Make better products and we’ll buy them.
- dsnr 3y ago
  Cereals have a high glycaemic index even without any additives, so they’re objectively not good food.
  - justinclift 3y ago
    That would vary depending on the cereal though. They're not all high. https://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/glycemicIndexDetails.php?id=345 https://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/glycemicIndexDetails.php...
    - amanaplanacanal 3y ago
      That is an interesting chart. Apparently the breakpoint between medium and high is 70, and some just barely squeaked in under that in the upper 60s. That doesn’t inspire a lot is confidence.
      - clnq 3y ago
        It depends on the person, I suppose. For me, GI=55+ is quite high. Soda and cola is 60, and those are go-to for raising blood glucose in people with type 1 diabetes. Something that has emergency use properties for raising blood glucose fast and by a lot doesn't feel like it is very healthy to consume all the time. And besides, I think we all decided that sugary soda is unhealthy. But we still consider cereal healthy. They both seem to trigger a similar metabolic response, and have a similar satiety profile. Everyone chooses for themselves, in their own circumstances, though. Even straight up eating glucose with caffeine makes for a great pre-workout mix in a pinch.
rewmie 3y ago
> The "breakfast of champions" slogan, given how popular it became, sounds like it would make for an interesting case study where people agreed to marketing (...) I thought it was pretty clear that the "breakfast if champions" slogan was simply a reference to how they paid athletes, specially olympian medalists, to endorse their product.
fortran77 3y ago
And do you think Olympic Champions really ate this crap? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj6S1tmSVmc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj6S1tmSVmc

by clnq 3y ago

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago

I’m a lazy guy that is part of one of those elite gyms (kind of by accident, but it is what it is). As a result I get to see what actual elite athletes eat by virtue of being around that and I can assure you that these elite sports champions are not eating any form of cereal at all as part of their daily regimen.

thaumasiotes 3y ago
They all eat at the gym?
- ffhhttt 3y ago
  Presumably people occasionally still talk to each other
  - plugin-baby 3y ago
    > I get to see...
kenjackson 3y ago
Elite athletes often eat pretty poorly. But they can get away with it because they work so hard. I know a lot of D1 football players not only eat cereal for breakfast but also as a late night snack.
maccard 3y ago
I was a borderline elite athlete at one point, training with actual elite athletes. Most of what we ate would be considered a "wildly unbalanced diet", and when we were competing it was just large volumes of calorie dense food, be it pasta, protein bars or milk.
refurb 3y ago
That seems an odd claim. Do elite athletes eat all their meals at the gym?
ilyt 3y ago
Diet is not something you can scale linearly with calorie usage of your job

coffeefirst 3y ago

To make matters more absurd, we took this product, dressed it in bright colors, marketed it towards children, and without a hint of irony, told their parents it’s the most important meal of the day?

xctr94 3y ago

It could be good food. You can make a profit whilst serving the public good, that’s something corporations just can’t get into their heads. Nestlé in Europe has made a few versions with more whole grains and less sugar, with no detectable change in taste. For a while, I was eating rice-based low-sugar breakfast cereal with added vitamins, simply because the alternative was a pastry and coffee (very busy work weeks). I despise Nestlé, but, hey, at least here’s a healthier version of our product — not healthy, healthier. The race to the bottom in terms of sugar and additives might also be a factor as to why breakfast cereal is in decline. Make better products and we’ll buy them.

dsnr 3y ago
Cereals have a high glycaemic index even without any additives, so they’re objectively not good food.
- justinclift 3y ago
  That would vary depending on the cereal though. They're not all high. https://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/glycemicIndexDetails.php?id=345 https://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/glycemicIndexDetails.php...
  - amanaplanacanal 3y ago
    That is an interesting chart. Apparently the breakpoint between medium and high is 70, and some just barely squeaked in under that in the upper 60s. That doesn’t inspire a lot is confidence.
    - clnq 3y ago
      It depends on the person, I suppose. For me, GI=55+ is quite high. Soda and cola is 60, and those are go-to for raising blood glucose in people with type 1 diabetes. Something that has emergency use properties for raising blood glucose fast and by a lot doesn't feel like it is very healthy to consume all the time. And besides, I think we all decided that sugary soda is unhealthy. But we still consider cereal healthy. They both seem to trigger a similar metabolic response, and have a similar satiety profile. Everyone chooses for themselves, in their own circumstances, though. Even straight up eating glucose with caffeine makes for a great pre-workout mix in a pinch.

rewmie 3y ago

> The "breakfast of champions" slogan, given how popular it became, sounds like it would make for an interesting case study where people agreed to marketing (...) I thought it was pretty clear that the "breakfast if champions" slogan was simply a reference to how they paid athletes, specially olympian medalists, to endorse their product.

fortran77 3y ago

And do you think Olympic Champions really ate this crap? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj6S1tmSVmc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj6S1tmSVmc