Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Are they "cerious"?? Get it? "Cerious"? Like, Cereal plus Serious = "Cerious." Okay, I think you've got it.

In America's oh-so-weight-conscious society today, it is only natural that companies try to cash in on the trend. If you are somehow able to stomach food after seeing Anna Nicole's endorsements for Trim Spa, you can hop on the healthy grains bandwagon, since everything from Kraft Mac & Cheese to Teddy Grahams is now labeled as "a good source of whole wheat." I have to say, though, that my personal favorite weight loss quick-fix is the cereal diet. The brand that comes to mind first is Special K, but I think there are others out there with the same absurd idea -- dieters substitute a bowl of their cereal for two meals a day, and eat the third meal "as they normally do." After two weeks on this ingenious plan, they claim you will have a smaller waist. Special K's website says the average dieter loses five pounds.

Five pounds??? Is eating cereal for two meals a day for 14 days really worth an almost neglible weight difference? I could eat Lucky Charms for two meals a day and lose five pounds in two weeks. Heck, I could eat a Hershey Bar for two meals a day and get the same result. It's a simple equation -- starving yourself = weight loss. Kellogg's is definitely not the first one to figure that one out.

Though the cereal diet has its obvious flaws, I am sure there are women out there who have tried it and liked the results. I'd also be willing to bet those same women gained back the five pounds, and maybe even a few additional ones, the second they started eating regular meals again. So, here we have another American illogicalism that I can sum up better with someone else's words rather than my own -- "After two weeks of dieting, often the only thing you lose is 14 days."

No comments: