Sometimes I experience a real jubilant feeling about news dealing with nutrition. For example, evidence that people are increasingly choosing whole grains, or more rarely, a food company actually does the right thing. But just possibly my jubilation is a bit too rambunctious and I get smacked down by woeful evidence of blatant arrogance in the food business that comes to my attention.

We stopped by my daughter’s home for a few days after our cruise in Alaska and had a lovely visit. While there she introduced us to a new cereal that she and the children enjoy immensely. Of course, I stuck my hand in the package and grabbed a few; and in all honesty, a few more and a few more. I’m not sure if it was first runner up to my all time favorite General Mills’ Cinnamon Toast Crunch or tied with it. But it is certainly one of the tastiest candied junk foods – called breakfast cereals. What, you ask, could possibly tie with my Cinnamon Toast Crunch favorite? The new challenger for the top spot is Kellogg’s Krave. Holy Cow! It has a great crunchy texture and is filled with chocolate candy – you know I love chocolate.

Let’s be clear. I think these boxed highly processed cereals are fine for dessert, or a special once in a while breakfast. (See my story about cereal for camping - Twinkies for Breakfast.) But it really bugs me that they sell sugar, sugar, and sugar as breakfast cereal. Eating candy along with a vitamin pill would certainly not taste as good; but is close to the same outcome nutritionally. You know from past blogs, that there are numerous nutrients in a primarily grain-based cereal that are not in sugar and refined flour. They include some whole grains in Krave, and add oat fiber and corn bran to drive the fiber up on the label so the consumer will think it’s loaded with healthy ingredients.

Seriously, it’s mostly sugar. There are eleven grams of sugar in ¾ cups. Ouch! My spoon size Shredded Wheat has zero. When I put blueberries or whatever fruit I have on top, along with some sliced almonds, I’m fine without sugar. Even if you sprinkled a little sugar on top, it would probably be less that the 11grams (barely under 3 teaspoons – that’s a full tablespoon) for each and every ¾ cup serving.

I don’t want to be a crab; but honestly I’m kind of shocked with the name - Krave. It spells it out – exactly what the goal is. Craving is another term that smacks of addiction. Craving is why you buy something again and again, and eat more of it than your mind tells you ever should. We’ve written about Food Hedonics research for craving in our blogs. Hedonics is supposed to be the ethical study of pleasure. Krave is a poster child for design to induce craving. It combines crunchy texture with chocolate injected into a hollow interior. Sugar is infused carefully through it all. The crunchy toasted grain texture and the candy flavors get you eating more and more, craving more and more. Believe me, I know about craving. I got into eating desserts and plenty of sweet stuff on that two-week cruise. I don’t know about you; but for me, getting in the habit of a frequent little treat, is a very easy habit to create, and hard to break.

We’re back home now. Back to not craving a special treat after each meal. Frankly, it took a few days of effort to switch back to real healthy eating, without the sugar load. Be careful when you pick up a box of so called cereal. Do not allow this post to perversely become a commercial for Krave. We are not pushers of products (especially blatantly unrepentant ones) that might prove addictive to some people. Please use portion control and keep only strictly limited amounts of such products in your environment except under rigorous portion control with group assistance for your most craving-prone family members.