Posted on 08/20/2008 5:13:26 PM PDT by Marie2
You better eat your . . . Frosted Flakes?
Olympic legend Michael Phelps will appear on boxes of the Kellogg's brand sugar cereal, drawing sharp criticism from health experts worried about the message he'll be sending to children across America.
"I would not consider Frosted Flakes the food of an Olympian," said nutritionist Rebecca Solomon of Mount Sinai Medical Center.
"I would rather see him promoting Fiber One. I would rather see him promoting oatmeal. I would even rather see him promoting Cheerios."
The announcement yesterday that Phelps, 23, winner of a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, would grace Frosted Flakes and Corn Flakes boxes instead of the traditional athlete's choice of Wheaties left many perplexed.
Frosted Flakes has three times the amount of sugar as Wheaties and 1/3rd the fiber.
This doesn't matter much to a virtuoso swimmer who consumes 12,000 calories a day.
Still, in a country where childhood obesity is an alarming issue, Phelps' iconic image sharing space with Tony the Tiger sends the wrong message, experts say.
"For a guy like Michael Phelps who isn't worried about obesity because he's burning thousands of calories as an athlete...eating Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes every so often is not an issue," Solomon said.
The Phelps-emblazoned cereal boxes hit supermarket shelves in mid-September.
And I would not consider Rebecca Solomon a bona fide nutritionist, but she sure is a fruit.
Frosted Flakes was my favorite cereal when I was a kid.
I didn’t usually give my kids sugared cereal, but once in a while I would let them have it for a treat, but my daughters and daughters-in-law are super strict about never giving their kids cereal with any sugar in it. Something to do with ADHD.
Lets see in the old days kids ate Frosted Flakes everyday and they were not fat, hmmmmm.
More Frosted Flakes - I say.
Raisin Bran Per serving (1 cup): 190 calories, 19 grams of sugar, 350 mg of sodium, 1.5 grams of fat.
Frosted Flakes Per serving (3/4 cup): 110 calories, 11 grams of sugar, 140 mg of sodium, 0 grams of fat.
Frankly, whoever that woman was on Neil's show, and she was the head of some BS organization against obesity, I'd say she's got too much fat in her head to even know what she's talking about.
And I would not recommend eating a heaping plateful of spaghetti to the average American, but athletes have different nutritional requirements and need fuel for their hours of strenuous exercise.
I guess the critics have not seen what huge amount of foods Micheal Phelps has to eat to make up for all the calories he burns swimming.
I think its great Frosted Flakes and burn off the sugar swimming.
And BTW how dumb because Hone Nut Cheerios claims to lower cholesteral and those are high in sugar too.
One of my favorite movies.
Maybe if Wheaties had outbid Kelloggs for sponsorship of the US swim team they wouldn't have this problem. Kelloggs has been involved in swimming for years. It isn't like they both just came sniffing around Phelps this week.
I wish they'd make Frosted Flakes with Splenda for diabetics. I eat Cheerios and Corn Flakes and add Splenda to sweeten it. I see Kellogg's makes a reduced sugar Frosted Flakes, but it still has 8 grams of sugar per cup versus only 1 gram in a cup of Cheerios.
Ah the good ole days when kids were told to go out and play/ride bikes untill dinner.
At least he wasn't endorsing Cracklin' Oat Bran: 221 calories, 17.6 grams of sugar, 170 mg of sodium, and a whopping 7.6 grams of fat
Children, here is the message: Sell yourself to the highest bidder.
That's the message, and as a high school teacher, trust me, they know that big time.
Yikes! When we were kids we’d eat Shredded Wheat, and Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice, and Rice Krispies. Then when they came out with Sugar Pops, we ate those too. My kids were into Count Chocula, Cookie Crisp, Cocoa Puffs, anything with chocolate in it. I’ve never liked cereal with fruit or nuts in it.
What's wrong with Sun Flakes? My mom used to make me eat these as a kid--sweetened with Aspartame, but didn't taste bad...oops, just checked; they're discontinued.
“I’d like to see an athlete endorse packaged chocolate donuts.”
I believe John Belushi did on a Saturday Night Live commercial spoofing Bruce Jenner back in the 70’s.
I also agree with the fact that there weren’t many obese kids when I grew up in the 60’s and early 70’s and all those cereals were loaded with sugar .... even had it in their names; Sugar Frosted Flakes, Sugar Smacks, etc.
Send that Bruja: Biscuits and Sausage Gravy and Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs - food police alert!!!!!!!/Just Asking - seoul62......
I see visions of Berkley in her face.
If Rebecca Solomon or Mount Sinai Medical Center is willing to pony a Million Dollars, she can get Michael Phelps to promote Cow-Dung-In-A-Box. If she isn't willing to part with the money, her opinion is not worth much.
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