The Challenge of Healthy Eating ? The What's for Lunch Project

You can lose up to 6 pounds in two weeks?without exercising.

That?s the claim made by Kellogg?s Special K Challenge, anyway, which asserts
that replacing two meals per day with Special K products helps consumers can result
shedding up to six pounds in the short span of two weeks. Special K?s meal replacement
options are vast?and their touted benefits are enticing. There are ten varieties of
breakfast cereals, snack bars, granola bars, and meal bars, protein shakes, protein water,
and even crackers and chips, all the designed to be low in calories and high in diet-
payoff.

And with product flavors like ?Chocolatey Delight,? ?Raspberry Cheesecake,?
and ?Brown Sugar Cinnamon,? the Special K Challenge seems like a pretty sweet deal.

But before you dig into that first spoonful of cereal, take a moment to consider the costs
of a low-calorie diet based on highly-processed foods. Consider that there?s more to lose
on the Special K diet than just six pounds.

For evidence, start with the most important meal of the day?and compare Special K?s
Fruit and Yogurt cereal to Post?s ubiquitous morning staple, Shredded Wheat.

With a half cup of skim milk added, a serving of Special K Fruit and Yogurt weighs in
at 160 calories, with 10 grams of sugar, 3 grams of fiber, and 2 grams of protein. It also
boasts an ingredients list that?s over 30 items long. Additionally, that ingredients list
includes seven types of sweeteners: sugar, corn syrup, brown sugar syrup, brown sugar,
confectioner?s glaze, honey, and molasses.

A one-cup serving of Shredded Wheat with the same amount of milk has a higher caloric
price tag, at 210. But for those extra calories, breakfasters get 6 grams of both protein and
fiber?and no sugar at all. What?s more? Shredded Wheat has a single ingredient: whole
grain wheat.

Special K?s cereal has less calories?but it?s also nutritionally poorer, with more of the
excess sugar that can contribute to diabetes and less of the satisfying protein and fiber to
fill a hungry stomach. Most Special K products are similarly guilty. The French Vanilla
protein shake packs 18 grams of sugar (nearly as much at a pack of Reese?s peanut butter
cups) and the Chocolate Caramel meal bar has 15.

Still, the promise of losing 6 pounds in two weeks coerces many consumers to purchase
and eat the empty, sugary calories provided by the Challenge-approved products.

And if two of your meals each day are bowls of cereal at only 160 calories each, losing
weight is almost an inevitability. But the Special K Challenge comes at a cost. In order
to achieve the average participant?s weight loss of 4.8 pounds, those who partake in the

Challenge sacrifice adequate nutrition from whole foods.

But it seems many Americans?especially those concerned with weight?believe that the
number of calories is the only nutrition statistic that matters.

This is the attitude behind the Speical K Challenge. It?s the attitude behind brands like
Lean Cuisine, and diet programs made entirely of frozen, processed food, like Jenny
Craig. And this attitude will not cure or counter the epidemics of obesity and diabetes in
this country.

Even worse, this attitude has already trickled into the regulation of products sold in
public school lunches. Many states have prohibited the sale of soda in cafeterias. But if
they?re only replaced by diet drinks with unnatural, artificial sweeteners, has the selection
really improved? Replacing soda with diet drinks is not a solution. Simply lowering
calories cannot be a solution.

Americans? relationship with food, with obesity, and with diabetes will change?only
if both consumers and manufacturers start to value caloric quality over caloric quantity.
Our nation will become healthier only if we Challenge ourselves eat better, instead of just
eating less.

Source: http://wflproject.com/2012/07/the-challenge-of-healthy-eating/

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