"Focusizer" My Butt
Have you seen the ads for Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats? They're pushing this highly processed, sugar-sweetened cereal as some near-medical marvel to improve your child's classroom performance. Talking sugar-frosted wheat biscuits insist that they're your child's "miniature focusizer," as they jump companionably into the book pack.
Now they've taken it a step further. Kellogg's ads state that "independent clinical research" shows that Frosted Mini-Wheats improve children's classroom focus by "nearly" 20%. Wow! Frosted with Ritalin, mebbe?
This claim tripped my BS Meter big-time, so I went to Kellogg's website and read what information they gave. It was very instructive.
First of all, this "independent" research studied no other breakfast, only Frosted Mini-Wheats. Are we to believe that some truly independent researcher, with no input whatsoever from Kellogg's, woke up one morning and thought, "I've got it! I'll study Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats!" The idea that Kellogg's was not behind this research doesn't pass the laugh test.
Secondly, the website states that a breakfast of Frosted Mini-Wheats improved children's "focus" (no elaboration) by "up to 18%." Ignoring entirely that 18% is not 20%, this is still a hinky sort of statistic. As an advertising man's daughter, I can tell you that "up to" is a classic weasel phrase. "Up to 18%" could mean that the kid's focus was 1% better or 5% better or 10% better -- or no better at all. It means that the kid's focus was no more than 18% better. Doesn't sound anywhere near as impressive as "nearly 20% better!," does it?
But here's the most important thing I learned from the Kellogg's website: This "independent research" compared the behavior of children who had Frosted Mini-Wheats for breakfast -- presumably with milk, which has nutritional value of its own -- to the behavior of children who had a glass of water.
Stop the presses! Kids who had a bowl of cereal for breakfast did better than kids whose stomachs were growling!
Are you thinking what I am? How does Frosted Mini-Wheats compare to other breakfasts? Yeah, I thought you were.
?In 2007 a study was published in the journal Physiology & Behavior, regarding the effect of the glycemic load of breakfast on childen’s memory, attention and frustration tolerance afterward. Glycemic load is defined as the glycemic index of a food or meal, multiplied by the actual number of grams of carbohydrate in it. The breakfasts all had similar caloric content, so the blood sugar impact was the notable variable.
The children who ate a breakfast with a low glycemic load scored better on all three measures of performance – memory, attentiveness, and frustration tolerance – than did the children who had eaten the same number of calories, but with a high glycemic load.
Frosted Mini-Wheats, which have a fairly high glycemic index, and contain 39 grams of digestible carbohydrate per serving, have a high glycemic load – not as bad as a donut and a coke, but nowhere near as good as, say, bacon and eggs, or even natural peanut butter on 100% whole grain toast. There’s little question that testing Frosted Mini Wheats against other breakfasts, with fewer carbohydrates and more protein and fat, would not have yielded results to brag about.
Give your kid protein for breakfast, will you?
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Picky children
My father always told me that a new food might be my most favorite food I ever tasted. Wouldn't it be a shame to go through life never having tried it?
I taught this to my own (homeschooled) kids and thank goodness. Two of them have traveled the world and found themselves eating local and loving it.
Parenthood is like life,marriage, school and anything else that matters. The more you pay attention and particapate, the more good you get out of it. For me, homeschooling gave me a close relationship with my kids and now that they are adults, we all keep in touch and really like as well as love each other.
DANA
Three years ago as I was approaching my 50th birthday I was exercising and thanks to your book, about 20 pounds lighter than any other time in my adult life. I did your "diet" for about a year and then slowly slipped back into old habits. Now I am approaching 53 and want to get back there again. Have you written any new books, not cookbooks, and how has YOUR life been going since you wrote the one in 2003. I don't see any "contact us" spots on any of your web pages so I am trying this. Thanks.
Yes, many
I'm not Dana, but she's written a bunch since then. The easiest way to see them is to click on the book to your right, then scroll down. Or, once you're on that cookbook's page, click on her name.
So far I have her original cookbook and diet book; plus the Slow Cooker, 15 Minute Meals, and Barbecue. My kids love them and I want them all!
Now on April 1 ????
Hey one might think that this post was an April fools joke, if they don't think that the commercial is.
Of course one thing that cereal has going for it, is that the parents don't have to do anything in the morning to get it into the mouth of the kid. Kids can dump cereal in a dish and pour on milk without leaving to big of a mess. They really can't directly injure themselves and it takes very little time. Any they will in fact eat it.
I wonder if this is just not a symptom of our allowing kids to basically raise themselves. A few years ago I was simi-dating a woman with kids, and visited her and hung out in her neighborhood. This was a very "interesting" neighborhood, where among other things it was not unusual to see someone on the lawn or front step cutting the heads off of matches and then playing with the striker pads from books of matches. While the results you saw in this neighborhood was probably not that different from other places in our nation, just more extreme. Many of the kids did indeed only eat one meal a day and only on week days (the free one at school).
On the science issue, come on today about everything we have is junk science. I had a science teacher in jr high who used to teach that "doing the same experiment as all the other classes throughout history and getting the same result is not science. Doing the same experiment as all the other classes throughout history, getting a different result and figuring out why, --- that is science!!!!". That is not the science of today. Today's science consists of determining the results that are "scientific" and then keep doing the same "experiment" varying exactly how you do it, rejecting all of the previous attempts as being "scientifically flawed" for not getting this result, until you get these "scientific results".
For those who actually do parent
You're right: cereal/poptarts/Little Debbie bars are options that don't require contact with the child. Sadly enough.
For those that do put effort into parenting, there are options. I like Dana's sausage/egg/cheese casserole; perhaps in the slow cooker and on and warm for breakfast? How about hardboiled eggs for something they could grab on the way out the door? Or actually get up and make a scramble or an omelet. Or maybe some nice low-carb leftovers from the night before!
Believe it or not, there are some people who homeschool who include one of the reasons as being improved control over their child's diet. When they're spending the majority of their waking hours somewhere else, they're spending the majority of their eating hours elsewhere, too. And the elsewhere has vending machines.
Those who parent -- the minority
Exactly. Now there are those who can and those who in reality can't actively parent. Most of the people do fall into the first category. There are reasons especially in single parent homes where the children must do these kinds of things. But this is largely not the case.
I will say that the one thing that does happen with children who are home schooled in the environment you mentioned, they do frequently become food fussies. The parent does cook/serve healthy food, but because of the commitment of home schooling it is generally the simpliest thing they can make, and is about the same thing every time. So they get stuck in a food rut.
That is one thing about Dana, even with the restrictive nature of the diet, she is still one of the more adventuresome people with regards to food I know. They needs to also be part of child's education.
Food choices and kids
I do love the variety of your recipes, Dana! We've eaten almost nothing but for a week now, and every single one my kids said "Do this one again!" It's so cool to me that they are eating much healthier this way. They eat more fruit than we do, and cookies etc. when they're offered at Scouts.
We are homeschoolers, and I'm not sure there is more pickiness in homeschooled kids vs. others. Mine are more adventurous because I have always expected them to be. If there was balsamic vinegar on the table at the restaurant, that's what they had as a dip, even if they were toddlers. Which probably explains why we've had the same small container of ketchup all year, but have gone through one large Trader Joe's jug of balsamic vinegar since Christmas.
Just like in any group of people, there are probably some homeschooling families where Mom does all the cooking, even where there are kids old enough to do some of it. I do know that there is a segment of homeschooling families who consider learning to cook, care for a house, handle money, and (where possible) garden are important parts of growing up, and teach these "subjects". I'd suspect those families have a bit more variety in their diet. I'm also in with a very large group food buying co-op, who go out of their way to provide an organic, whole-foods, "traditional nutrition" diet. It's about half and half on homeschooling.
But I'm sure there are plenty who just throw some Hamburger Helper on the stove!
Fantastic Post Dana!
I really enjoyed this post. I just love it when cruddy food companies try to push their products with junk science. It makes it so much more fun (and easier) to point out the the holes in their proclamations, as you have just done. I'll be linking to your post on my blog. EVERYONE should see the kind of deceptive practices companies like Kellogg employ to push their products.
Amy Dungan
www.healthylowcarbliving.com
www.lovinglowcarblife.blogspot.com