The Special K Diet: Does it Work?

Is it true that I can eat cereal and cereal bars twice a day and lose weight? That question probably goes through most people’s minds when they see ads for the Special K Challenge and the seemingly tasty treats that come with it. Let’s really check out what makes this concept work, and what is so very wrong with this thinking.

The Special K Challenge gives you a meal plan for the week, based on Special K of some kind for breakfast, a balanced lunch and dinner, and two snacks, at least one being a Special K treat of some sort. Why it kind of works is that it’s based on 1800 calories per day – and very small portions over the day. Anyone can lose weight (in the short term) restricting calories. But what’s is your body actually getting? What kind of nutrition is found in Special K? Is this maintainable? Are you getting your healthy carbohydrates from whole grains or refined sugars? Are you getting any healthy fats at all, that keep us satisfied and produce healthy mood hormones? These are all questions you should ask yourself before jumping on board.

There are all sorts of fancy flavors of Special K cereals, but their ingredients aren’t something I would want to make my body out of. Every flavor has many types of refined sugars in their ingredient list, as well as many artificial chemicals and preservatives. The second ingredient in Special K Red Berries is sugar (though they do seem to use whole grains); the Special K Fruit and Yogurt Flavor (Flavor is part of the title) contains modified milk ingredients, yogurt powder, and shellac; and Special K Satisfaction contains sugar/fructose-glucose, simulated flavors (since when did we stop saying ‘artificial’?), sucralose (Splenda – an artificial sweetener that actually increases our appetite), and BHT (a preservative that is meant to keep pests out of the packaging that happens to cause birth defects when fed to rats). Even the Original Special K has sugar/fructose-glucose as the third ingredient, and contains BHT is well.

The Special K Bars, like the Almonds & Peanuts, contains sugar, sugar/glucose-fructose, fructose, dextrose, sorbitol, and glycerine. The Strawberry Flavored ones don’t even contain strawberries – they have sugar and oil coated strawberry flavored cranberries. The Mocha Bar contains 46 ingredients – all in a tidy little 90 calories. I challenge you to identify the root food of all 46 of those ingredients. Cause if you can’t, how is your body going to know what to do with them?

We put all of this in our food in an effort to lose weight – but is it really worth it and does it actually work? A small percentage of people may lose a couple of pounds from restricting calorie intake, but in the long term, that extra sugar will stress out your pancreas and translate into extra fat cells. It is important to follow a much more balanced, holistic approach, focused more on where the calories are coming from than thinking that all calories are created equal. Does it logically make sense that our bodies will do the same thing with 90 calories coming from a Mocha Special K Bar as it would 90 calories of grapes?

Feed your body well and it will look after you for life. Put in what you would like to be made of. Think for yourself – and don’t let the marketing from multi-million and billion dollar companies decide what is right for your health.