Special K Protein Plus, anyone?

Food
1

Anyone else tried Special K Protein Plus?

At 14 gr of carbs per 3/4 cup (I don't like it when they don't give you whole units for a serving), this is the lowest carb counts I have seen in a cereal. It's the first one I have for breakfast that doesn't cause a huge sugar spike by lunchtime.
2

Thanks for the info Manny! I haven’t seen this one in stores yet, but I’ll certainly look next trip.

3

Manny,

The major problem with that kind of cereal is that it is full of soy. The soy industry has done a masterful job of convincing people that soy is health food, but it isn’t true. Soy can depress thyroid function, it mimics estrogen compounds which can promote cancers and mood problems, it also causes food allergies as well as many other problems. This is all documented in a book called The Whole Soy Story, written by a phD nutritionist who documents the heck out of every claim with peer reviewed literature.

I was eating a soy cereal for breakfast years ago when I was low carbing very strictly, and I ended up with a very intense mood disorder–extreme depression. . Reseraching it I found other reports online of soy toxicity leading to depression. I am very sensitive to hormones, so I figured the hormone mimic effect might be to blame. Whatever it was, eliminating the soy eliminated the mood problem and I went back to being my usual cheery self.

So I have stopped eating soy products, no matter what their effect on blood sugar.

4

This is avalable in my local supermarket. I tried it and liked the taste but I can’t easily manage 14g of carbs at breakfast since I don’t take any basal insulin. Plus 3/4 cup is not enough of a serving for me so I would have to supplement with something else which would up the carbs some more. The Rosedale diet book has a great recipe for “Nutola” cereal which is made with toasted nuts instead of grains. I haven’t made it yet.

5

Manny, Does this taste like the original Special K or an evil twin made from cardboard?

6

it’s so good! they make vanilla almond too…and strawberry…I eat them all =D

7

I had no idea about the problems with soy. :frowning:

8

wow…i’m glad I read this and did a little research…I was drinking vanilla soy milk religiously…

9

Kellogg’s Special K protein plus cereal is my easy to prepare breakfast of choice when I test high. Also, I’ve substituted Special K protein plus cereal for Kellogg’s® Rice Krispies cereal to make the Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Treats recipe, reducing the amount of marshmellows in the original recipe by 1/2. Yummy.

10

Special K Granola is yummy!

11

So I hear…my hubby eats Special K Granola: 39 carbs in 1/2 cup.

12

Niece loves Spec.K with chocolate which she does have to take more insulin for. I’m going to try half and half Protein and chocolate and see if she’ll eat it.

13

Personally, I’ve been trying to cut back on highly processed foods and grain based products. Just so that everyone is clear, take a gander at the ingredients:

WHEAT BRAN, SOY GRITS, RICE, WHEAT GLUTEN, SOYBEAN OIL, WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, SUGAR, SALT, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, MALT FLAVOR, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), SUCRALOSE, ALPHA TOCOPHEROL ACETATE (VITAMIN E), REDUCED IRON, NIACINAMIDE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), VITAMIN A PALMITATE, FOLIC ACID AND VITAMIN B12, TO MAINTAIN QUALITY, BHT HAS BEEN ADDED TO PACKAGING.

The primary sources of protein are wheat gluten and soy protein isolate. Certainly this is better than Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms, but I’m not sure it is much better.

14

So, bsc, what do you eat for breakfast? I alternate eating eggs fixed different ways with a slice of of high fiber/low carb bread and processed cereals topped with 2T flaxseed, such as the Special K protein plus or GoLean instant hot cereal (Protein 8 g; Fiber 5g/7 whole grains). I always include some kind of fresh fruit unless my bs is over 125. I walk in the morning; I don’t have much time to prepare anything fancy. After I walk, I usually eat 1/2 apple with peanut butter or a piece of cheese. Some weekends when I don’t walk, I’ll take time to make flaxseed/almond meal crepes.

15

Your breakfast sounds like a much more balanced meal. I eat low carb, my standard breakfast is a cheese omelette. On weekends, I’ll round it out with a bigger breakfast typically, a couple of easy over eggs, sausage and either a piece of whole wheat toast or an english muffin. In the past I have eaten oatmeal with breakfast, my favorite being steel cut, but I cut back on that more than a year ago.

And while I am harsh about the Special K, for a diabetic, it does have a much better profile (than almost all processed cereals) of being low carb and high protein.

16

Great information. It is almost impossible for us to control the blood sugar spike from a cereal breakfast and difficult at other times of day, yet children and a lot of adults love cereal. I consider cereal more like a snack or desert than a meal. But she will eat cereal. Now if only they would flavor the protein mixed boxes. The Special K chocolate version (which certainly produces a BS spike) flavors the flakes to taste like chocolate. It tastes like chocolate even without the chocolate chips in the cereal. They could do this with the Protein flakes as well. In any event, we are going to half and half the mixture between the protein and the chocolate which I probably would not have tried had I not seen this post.