Why America is OBSESSED with Cereal

Before cereal made it to our breakfast bowls, it spent decades as a fringe health food nobody would eat. What started as a sincere effort to get people to eat more fiber was quickly overthrown by the allure of sugar, and the commercial power of marketing to children. This is the crazy story of cereal.
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For further reading, check out the sources for this video here:
docs.google.com/document/d/e/...
Script: Jaz Papalapoudos
Editor: Kirsten Stanley
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Levi Hildebrand
Want to work with Future Proof? Suggestions? Hate mail? Get in touch with the project manager, Lu: [e-mail]

[@jaccch6281]

It all went downhill when they stopped including toys

[@FutureProofTV]

Okay the toys were awesome 💯

[@Ash_Wen-li]

and the computer games

[@trisholer9761]

😂

[@FingerinUrDaughter]

i miss the AOL free trial discs.

[@ChristianBehnke]

Amen to that!

[@EnriCherry]

In early 2000's I was one of those kids who demanded cereal for breakfast, but luckily my mom was wise and let me eat cereal only occasionally as a treat. Our standard breakfast was sandwiches or eggs in some form (fried, boiled or scrambled) with fresh bread and veggies. It is quick and easy to make, and also quite filling. To this day I consider it to be best breakfast options. Thanks, mom, for not caving in and teaching me how to feed myself properly.

[@mind-of-neo]

What kinds of vegetables do you usually eat for breakfast?

[@EnriCherry]

@@mind-of-neo Most often tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce.

[@jokerpilled2535]

@@EnriCherrythose are just toppings

[@EnriCherry]

@@jokerpilled2535 So?

[@Drawwithautomotive]

​@@EnriCherryDo you eat whole grain bread?

[@yourtubisfilled7164]

Haha, weird Americans with your cereal affliction **eats entire bag of chips while watching this video**

[@FutureProofTV]

Hahahaha but to be fair Miss Vickie never tried to sell CHILDREN her Salt n Vinegar chips as a meal

[@PNWGardener]

I used to have lots of nightmares as a kid and later in life I learned that consuming sugary foods right before bed gives me nightmares... guess who was allowed sugary cereal for dinner as a kid in the 90's?

[@FutureProofTV]

Cereal for dinner 😅😅

[@paulvalentine1483]

Nonsense.

[@phoenixmorphix]

Literally doing that rn

[@OceanAce]

I just had cake for dinner. Guess I'll die (in my dreams)

[@jokerpilled2535]

Shitty parents if they gave cereal for dinner ☠️

[@cdpalmer6854]

Ah yes. Cap’n Crunch. The cereal that would shred the roof of your mouth and made you love it. 😂

[@gregorypeterson9]

Yes it would hurt so good until the crunch became a soggy mess.

[@Chaoitcme]

Back when I was a kid and ate cereal I would let the Cap'n Crunch soak in the milk until it got mushy and then would eat it.

[@BM-rd4ms]

I love these videos. Thank you for going beyond the nonsense we're fed to make us consume mindlessly.

[@FutureProofTV]

Thanks for joining us here!

[@someguy2135]

Eating bacon and eggs is a result of the nonsense fed to us by advertising and tradition. Most people never overcome their indoctrination into the belief system called Carnism. Here is a short, engaging video (almost a million views) by a psychologist about Carnism. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6CVeH9pg6aKh7c

[@cweaver4080]

I ate cereal every morning as a kid and even into adulthood. I don't remember ever starting the day with a hoop-de-doo. I feel lied to.

[@FutureProofTV]

Might start my days with a hoop-de-do and see how far it gets me. Brand new productivity mental wellness hack

[@megan2176]

😂😂My first thought was, that poor kid who had to hoop de doo on the commercial!! Not sure if his friends would think he was cool for being on TV, or whether he was forever teased as the hoop de doo kid! 😢🤣🤣🤣

[@cryptowire]

🤣💯

[@rubberlover666]

From Behind the Bastards, cornflakes were also supposed to make you less horny which is part of that weird religious spa Kellog ran (he recommend staying in cold baths for days on end until you stopped lusting after people.) I was lucky to have some cereal as a kid but my parents drew the line at cereals like Cookie Crisp which were definitely the Icarus of breakfast cereals.

[@FingerinUrDaughter]

dont worry, you didnt miss anything. cookie crisps were rock hard for 5 minutes, then instantly turned into a slurry of vaguely flavored sugar. they were complete and utter garbage.

[@avsie2009]

BtB is actually correct. It wasn't about poop 😆

[@FutureProofTV]

Yeah dude another comment mentions how he popularized circumcision and discouraged masturbation.... this guy sounds like a quack but yeah Cookie Crisp was crazy can't believe we ate that and Oreo O's back in the day

[@ecoconatus8089]

Think also 'if ads where honnest' talk about how it was intended to remove lobido

[@TheChangB]

Correct about Kellogg. The very first episode of The Food That Built America does a pretty good job of covering the origins of cereal as a breakfast food in America, including the origin of Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Post's Grape-Nuts. Fun Fact: The origin of graham crackers is similar to that of corn flakes--bland food to minimize pleasure and stimulation.

[@Wotvr]

Cereal peaked when Chex Mix used to have CD-ROMs of Chex Quest included in them, since then its all been downhill. Two fried eggs on an english muffin with a small slice of cheese, chicken bacon and a little hot sauce is my daily breakfast. I look forward to it every morning and it jumpstarts my day.

[@NoZenith]

I've never heard of chicken bacon! What kind do you recommend? I used to like this fake bacon my mom would get when it was on sale that is no longer available called sizzlean or a sizzling or something like that. I can't actually remember the name but I know it disappeared and it was probably horribly unhealthy beyond my most wild imaginings compared to real bacon BUT chicken bacon sounds interesting

[@NoZenith]

Sizzlean popped up of its own accord when I was doing voice to text replying to your comment so I Googled it. Looks like it was beef bacon and was taken off the market in 2005 😂

[@ahriboy]

Doom is way better than Chex anyway

[@shaunpcoleman]

Magic Spoon can use all the marketing they want, but it is by definition impossible to have "grain-free cereal". The specific definition is "A cereal is any grass cultivated for its edible grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), which is composed of an endosperm, a germ, and a bran." Yes, there MUST be grain for it to be a cereal. I am always thankful that our government has health regulations in place to protect us from a lot of the stuff that is sold as food in the US.

[@salsamancer]

It's like calling that nut water "almond milk". Just more lies from marketers, fuck them

[@KellyS_77]

“Grain free breakfast food-like product” doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like the word “cereal” does though.

[@shaunpcoleman]

@@KellyS_77 Lying is lying. Just because something sounds better and is marketable doesn't make it right. Sort of sums up a lot of what is wrong with the US. Profits and marketing is more important than the health of Americans.

[@KellyS_77]

@@shaunpcoleman it’s a joke , I was trying to be humorous. :)

[@Enrico-]

Well, it's like soy milk or vegan leather. American call cereal some kind of food historically made out of proceeds cereal grains. Cereal-free cereal would be a more transparent definition but I think people understand what low glycemic "cereal" are made of. In Italian we refer to "nonwoven fabrics" as "nonwoven textiles" ("tessuto non tessuto" in Italian), of course there's no such thing as a nonwoven textile by the historical definition. In America Theraphosidae are called Tarantulas descriptive

[@deborahjames3113]

I really regret the years I bought my kids cereal (the trade off- I thought- was the convenience), now I don't buy it except for Christmas...like a box of chocolates, it should be a treat, not a staple. Now I have learned that I can make oatmeal in the microwave in 1 min, and scrambled eggs in less than 3 mins (yup, that time includes heating the pan), so there is no more excuse for convenience.

[@petelee2477]

Oatmeal isn't that great either. The problem with the typical American diet is the fact that we consume way too much sugar. Unless you are making really bland oatmeal.

[@deborahjames3113]

@@petelee2477 we put a mix of seeds and nuts in our oatmeal to bump up the fibre and healthy fats, and then add frozen berries for sweetness, or maple syrup if you really had a sweet tooth...we roll the oats ourselves, so we know there's no additives in that.

[@deborahjames3113]

...its also a trick to add a splash of vanilla...when we smell "marshmallows", we THINK it tastes sweeter! Works with tea or coffee, too!

[@petelee2477]

@@deborahjames3113 Might try that. Do you use the actual vanilla plant or do you use vanilla extract?

[@deborahjames3113]

I use a vanilla ben paste. You need very little as it's pretty potent!

[@MatthewJBD]

Please make a video on the recent findings of paper straws... How they're actually worse than plastic ones.

[@osmia]

+

[@FutureProofTV]

👀 you're gonna go BRAZY when we post next week

[@cougar2013]

Great video! Unplug from movies and pop culture. The feeling of not being bombarded by ads for things that are bad for you is awesome.

[@FutureProofTV]

Thanks! We agree 💯👍

[@cougar2013]

@@Noooodle816but I’m not Asian 😢

[@phoenixmorphix]

​@@cougar2013That sounds a bit illogical. Imagine if China, India, Great Britain, the countries of Africa, etc. stopped watching American films because "they weren't american." Not trying to start a fight. I just found your comment weird.

[@cougar2013]

@@phoenixmorphix thanks for the comment. I’m just very against the vast majority of movies and pop culture. If you think about it, it’s actually scary how much time people spend immersed in completely made up worlds. I’m sure that being disconnected from reality every single day for multiple hours cannot be good for the human mind. I’m so glad that I stopped watching all movies about 25 years ago.

[@phoenixmorphix]

@@cougar2013 yeah... escapism has prevented the world from moving forward and lowers the amount of people who put action to make the world a better place.

[@wadenickerson97]

Fun fact: John Kellogg is also a big part of the reason that circumcision became so popular outside of the religious community because he led a campaign trying to convince parents that it would stop their children from masturbating. Guy was a grape nut

[@FutureProofTV]

"guy was a grape nut" goes hard

[@ttopero]

Cheerios was the most sugary thing my mom let in the house. We mostly had cooked cereal or fruit with yogurt. I feel your pain LMAO

[@jokerpilled2535]

How do you “cook” cereal?

[@ttopero]

@@jokerpilled2535 cooked cereal *grains* (oatmeal, porridge, cream of wheat, mush, cooked grains normally eaten after breakfast in west, etc) have been eaten for millennia. What we’ve been convinced is “cereal” is a ‪corporate, highly processed food-like-substance that significantly lacks the benefits of cooked grains

[@jellylion8569]

I stopped eating cereal years ago since it was never filling for me.

[@FutureProofTV]

Almost like it isn't a meal or something 😅

[@raifikarj6698]

​@@FutureProofTVwhat about cereal with 4 tablespoon of oatmeal with milk?

[@ttopero]

The “breakfast” item I’m most disgusted by is the donut & its cousin the pastry. How did we allow deep fried cake & hand held pie to be considered a food-like-substance for our first meal of the day? At least some shops have recognized its appeal beyond breakfast & are available in the evening or post-bar as a dessert.

[@specialingu]

italians have actual cake for breakfast...

[@aclstudios]

A pie could be healthy if it's a savory meat/egg pie like a quiche.

[@randombro89]

you know what I used to say the same thing all the time I’m glad someone else said it. I hate the fact that I have to wake up at 6 AM at my local donut shop to have all the choices presented to me because if you go after 9:30 AM, half of the inventory is gone. In reality a donut shop should open after 3 PM not closed by noon. You’re not getting any nutrients you get a coffee and a doughnut you’re really giving yourself brain fog from all the sugar and the bread doesn’t help much either since it’s fried.

[@tiqx]

Also Dr Kellog was very against the idea of kids masturbating, so he developed the blandest of foods (corn flakes) because he believed that kids would be too sad to masturbate if they ate that 😂

[@87alock]

I'm in my 30's, been lifting for years, eat a pretty balanced diet and have a nice physique but still have a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Apple Jacks and that Oreo cereal sitting in my food pantry right now. Loved cereal since I was a kid and still now as adult its a guilty pleasure of mine.

[@RIPmichael22]

i love apple jacks! i’m from australia but spent time in america as an exchange student and i have thought about apple jacks every day since

[@gaillewis5472]

Levi, my family calls shredded wheat blocks 'bales of hay.' Then there's 'sugar frosted bales of hay.' Those are for special occasions. 🎉

[@goodspeedko1]

WOW seeing that honey nut cheerios commercial at 7:12 just brought back a wave of nostalgia. I miss my childhood.

[@carolynmcintosh8824]

I too had a mother who thought Cheerios was too sweet. I remember when we went on summer holidays and she would buy the tiny boxes of cereal, was it a pack of 8 cereals?(you cut the box open and added the milk to it and then ate it directly out of that) There were wars over the "better"cereals like Fruit Loops and such. That was the only time we got that kind of stuff. I appreciate it now but didn't then. 😀

[@cathymushock8412]

I remember the variety packs, loved them!

[@zig131]

My standard breakfast is 3xBlack Pudding Slice, 3xPotato Cake, and a can of tinned plum tomatoes :D It started during Covid when all the sausages disappeared but I noticed black pudding was still available. It's hard to under- or over-cook it so ideal for when you're not quite with it. Potato cakes go in the toaster and tomatoes in the microwave so nice and easy but still somewhat nutritious.

[@brookejohansen1681]

What the heck is black pudding???

[@zig131]

@@brookejohansen1681 It's kind of like a sausage but made with the blood of the animal instead of the meat and it had more bulking/grain content - usually barley. Also spiced to a varying degree. It's a sometimes excluded/neglected part of a Full English or Full Irish breakfast but is great on it's own too. Traditionally made as a way to preserve and avoid wasting blood which is otherwise a by-product of slaughter houses.

[@munkyenima]

For me, magic spoon added to plain Greek yogurt with fruit before bed gives me the protein and energy I need for my jog in the morning. It's by no means a magic bullet, just another tool in the toolbox.

[@sirknightjcb9310]

I used to eat Magic Spoon for a brief phase, cause I love to eat cereal or a food similar to the experience. Good thing I moved away from it and didn't missed much of it.

[@azizkash286]

Creal is closer to dessert than a whole meal

[@gernhartreinholzen3992]

Cereals like Kellogg's Smacks, Lion, Frosted Flakes etc. are literally just sweets, sold as "healthy breakfast for kids". You can give them a bunch of Snickers or a bowl of Skittles to eat, and it wouldn't be any worse.

[@tisjester]

Yea actually it would be worse. A simple nutrition count between them would show you that. Sheesh.

[@ourfamilyaccount]

My parents served my sibling and I cereal for breakfast but the key was to have it as a small side dish. They also wanted to the limit the sugar so they always buy a bag of plain Cheerios and the honey. Then take out a large salad bowl and pour a the vast majority of the plain Cheerios in with a bit of the honey Cheerios so at least us kids had sone sweetness. I tended to prefer fresh veggie omelette for breakfast but cereal is okay every once in a while.

[@HudsonBeGood]

Would love to get your thoughts on Three Wishes, wholeheartedly agree Magic Spoon are just ground up protein bars. Three Wishes is much simpler, straightforward and doesn’t use “blends”.

[@user-df3kp9nn7b]

I watched this video over a bowl of their cocoa cereal lol

[@reneegpatrick]

Hi, today I just happened to stumble across one of your video's in search of a good coffee maker. First, thank you for very valuable information and second, this is my third video of yours and i've had to pause every one of them just to finish laughing! Thank you. Laughter is my medicine!!

[@kookykiddo]

I just knewwww we related on something so strongly, I did not expect it to be our hippy parents healthy food habits 😭

[@FutureProofTV]

PTSD from the wheaties !!!

[@kookykiddo]

@@FutureProofTV literally trauma

[@jayplay8140]

"breakfast was crunch time" i see what you did there 😆

[@js3883]

It is rare anything makes ma laugh, you did in with your descriptions. Pretty funny.

[@flaval24]

Lol. I was raised in pretty much the opposite of a hippie household but organic "health foods" were still on the menu & that certainly did not include cereals. I didn't care though, besides an occasional bowl of Cocoa Krispies creating "chocolate milk" at the bottom of the bowl scarfed down at a neighbor's house I thought cereals were nasty & still do. And while I wasn't quite as strict with my own kids, the truth was they didn't care for cereal either. Guess it runs in the family.

[@lineikatabs]

You need to eat 50 gr of protein if you weigh 62 kg. Most people should eat around 80 gr. People who train - 150 gr at least. Try eating 30 gr of whey protein with kefir or yogurt and some frozen blue berries. This is how you eat healthy ice cream for breakfast.

[@olliesears1963]

I’m surprised you didn’t talk about how many times cereal companies have been sued for being overpriced, it’s a little ridiculous

[@RhymesWithSpark]

There was a film made in 1996 called "The Road to Wellville" about Kellogg, his 'spa', and the cereal. Even with a remarkable cast inclusing, Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Broderick, Bridget Fonda, John Cusack, Dana Carvey and Colm Meaney - it was critically panned.

[@mahogany_honey]

I've given up sugar...I mean cereal years ago....I still walk down that aisle and marvel at the new flavors and memories of old favorites...as I make my way to the oatmeal lol

[@skartimusprime4779]

I grew up on Weet-bix which is an Aussie thing, basically logs of wheat you usually have 2-4 of and break up or leave intact. They are not bad by cereal standards, 3% sugar by weight, but everyone adds honey so that gets shot to shit pretty fast.

[@MarlonOwnsYourCake]

You cannot convince me not to love cereal

[@chrismiscellaneous]

I legit thought this was heading towards an ad for magic spoon 😂 I'm glad that wasn't the case I got worried when you initially brought them up lol

[@TheOnlyTaps]

The script on this episode was superb. The perfect blend of educational and hilarious

[@PS1212]

"My parents were hippies" I knew it

[@dameneko]

I rarely ate cereal growing up because it was expensive, as were other things like pop tarts. My mom bought Cheerios sometimes because she genuinely enjoyed them. But most days we had rice porridge or ocha-zuke, which is basically tea on rice. Egg on top for protein!

[@mahogany_honey]

Your humor is on full display in this video 😂😂😂

[@vice2792ocl]

After going down the breakfast aisle at my local Walmart. And now they have Dunkin donuts mocha cereal/ Twinkies and ding dongs cereal/ and my favorite Wendy's frosty cereal. And don't get me started on the Minecraft creeper crunch, Mario and Sonic cereal. The kids stuff is ok, but the stuff before had no right being a cereal but they did a good job

[@ColleenJoudrey]

I'm an older millenial and that people kibble habit is a tricky one to break. Cereal was a daily breakfast when I was a kid and now at 38, I still find myself buying it reguarely.

[@FirstNameLastName-di7wk]

You may have complained about the wheaties, but you KNOW you had the healthiest bowels of anyone in your class

[@jonettheonly]

I ate cereal literally every single day (sometimes multiple times a day, 3-5 bowls) from kindergarten until middle school graduation, in high school it was more sparse because I was constantly running late in the morning and had to skip breakfast, but would still usually eat it once I got back home or on the weekends, and I still eat it now at 28 though much less often, and I've actually lost taste for the more sugary cereals like Lucky Charms. Now I prefer something like Raisin Bran which I hated as a kid, but my cereal preferences have always varied. I feel like I have an addiction. Cereal is the food I resort to when I don't know what to eat or cook. I would literally die without it because I'd have nothing to replace it with. I'm no chef. I can barely boil rice let alone cook anything else, cereal is all I have. I love cereal so much.

[@cobykonneor]

Im autistic... and hypersensitive with food allergies. Cereal saved my life. 😆 its the only food i can eat with no problem. No digestive issues. No allergies. Im allergic to eggs and dairy plus hateee most foods. Cereal was the compromise food. I still have bad issues digesting most things. But cereal is always there for me

[@Noredlac_]

I was so sad when I moved to the US in 08 and cereal didn’t have any toys while cereal in Mexico still came with toys back then.

[@trisholer9761]

Educational entertainment I can watch! This was great, thank you.

[@FutureProofTV]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@christopherhicks8107]

As I've been around my nieces and own children for 9 years now, very much appreciated the Koo Koo Kangaroo drop. I took my niece to see them live in Brooklyn when she was 4. My first and only concert and got to meet them lol

[@NickB-Philly-UI-Guy]

Funny, I’m sitting here eating cereal as a night time snack 😂

[@craesh]

You can make your own cereal breakfast. I mix rolled oats with dried fruits and nuts. It's a pretty good mix of everything and only takes a few seconds to get mixed in a bowl. No toys included, though.

[@danlove12k]

When Saturday cartoons stopped it was the end of cereal commercials to kids 😂

[@bikeny]

I'm older than you and we had those temptations before the 1990's. My 3 brothers and I were allowed only the original cheerios and rice krispies. Mom also made us breakfast on occasion. Pancakes, etc.

[@elvistrompf317]

I like it how you mentioned the positives of magic spoon and framed them as negatives 😂

[@TaraMolohon-lb1zn]

I totally agree with this video and I hope we can just get it right in the future. ⁉️😬

[@BlackHand531]

God bless the man John.

[@ChandlerScarborough]

The funny thing is that, while people focus on the added sugar in cereal, ALL cereal is high in carbohydrates which our bodies convert into glucose (sugar) in no time. So eating a bowl of any cereal is like eating a bowl of sugar.

[@ylilit]

This was informative and hilarious 😂

[@ilariacicconetti2365]

I’m from Italy and I’ve never had cereals for breakfast 😅 as a kid my mom was very strict with food

[@sarahwatts7152]

Levi mentioned sponsors not liking the content, and I was just waiting for the Magic Spoon mention. Not disappointed!

[@gregorydaines]

I remember eating horrible cereal as a kid after promising my parents I wanted it to get the toy in the box.

[@BCarnes]

Don't you try to tell me my cereal is bad for me!

[@cougar2013]

“Grain free” ah yes, let’s get all of those nutrients out of the food and replace it with nutritious names 😂😂

[@szantolaci123]

Excelent video, congratulations.

[@niccilefevre]

"Part of a healthy breakfast" is where they get you lol notice how all of those presentations usually also have toast, and og, and bacon and eggs etc. Theyre like yeah its healthy if you eat it with all this other stuff as a breakfast dessert 🤣

[@mschrage618]

Hoping that Future Proof does a video on Monk Fruit and other sugar replacements soon. I’ve tried everything from sugar alcohols to Stevia, and Monk Fruit is the only thing that works for me.

[@allnonethevoid1487]

My family literally only bought cereal for Christmas for a few years. Now, as an adult, I never buy cereal

[@Matty002]

now that we know about microbiomes in our intestines and that they are powerful yet sensitive, whenever something doesnt get fully digested and ends up in our intestines, we should really be looking at its effects on our microbiomes. until something highly processed, like large amounts of allulose in cereal, gets proved as safe, ill stick to low sugar + high fiber cereal, as we know fiber is necessary for good microbiome health

[@databoy2396]

I love your videos Levi, but you might want to look into the amount of protein a person needs per day. And even what’s recommended doesn’t take into account activity level or muscle loss associated with aging, which would ramp up requirements.

[@Rainygirl3100]

Since my teen years I've switched to granola for breakfast, sometimes homemade. It actually keeps me full for a few hours and you can mix in seeds and nuts and fruits that add to the flavor without giving empty calories. PS I'm surprised you left out the fact that Corn Flakes were partially made to be so bland that they'd stop people from being horny

[@user-rc2yf8kt7i]

NGL I absolutely love cereal. Shredded wheat with drizzled honey.

[@phynx2006]

Hahaha the "Shit Show" I love it. I stopped eating cereal about 15 years ago, now it's just Wasa Crispbread and peanut butter and of course a coffee with no sugar😍👍 Great video as always guys👍

[@Oscart2000]

I would love to see a video on Ultra processed food or a sub topic (as this video alures to). I recently read a book called Ultra Processed People by Chris van Tulleken and I could just see a Fututre Proof video being done about it!

[@Britbec]

Cheerios?! Lucky! I got unsweetened museli, porridge, weetabix, or shredded wheat. To be fair, I still really like those options, even after having moved to the US. The first time I had Capn’ Crunch was system overload lol

[@sundiva7642]

So im Nigerian and things like processed foods are more expensive here. I remember the first time i ever ate Froot Loops. I tell you the worst things ive ever put in my body was energy drinks and friit loops, my body almost shut down and i was even ab adult when i took both

[@saviordream]

I was born in the 70's, and while I always had my favorite cereals, I never really branched out beyond the maybe half dozen or so I really liked. As I've grown older, I still like those same ones but I try to be a little more selective on which ones I eat now, and only have the really sugary ones on very rare occasions (maybe once every year or two). It still surprises me to see just how many different "novelty" cereals are at our local grocery store. I think there's more choice now than there ever was, although I'm not sure how many are just limited-time releases. Also, I can't remember the last time I've seen cereals advertising prizes in the box. Did the government outlaw that practice, or was it a voluntary stop by the industry?

[@c0riinthehouse]

I was one of those kids that didn’t like cereal. My husband thinks I’m so weird, but even as an adult I don’t touch it.

[@tadzio30]

I can tell you that in my country (Chile) Food laws prohibit placing images of the mascot or child's cartoons or figures on the box, and they cannot offer gifts inside either. This is valid for all cereal brands.(including imported ones). Maybe cus food industry is not that strong here...or sometimes our regulators make their jobs..

[@boburiinchankludho]

Same thing is going in Mexico for the past couple of years. Some imported cereals put a sticker on the front of the box to cover the mascot.

[@brainstem2023]

The US also had an exploding population which needed to be fed. It wasn't only the people which needed to be fed, but the livestock. Manufacturers didn't need to create a cereal industry to get rid of excess grain. There were plenty of buyers.

[@gregatkinson7276]

So funny the ad pic and words for this video. It is a truly BRILLIANT observation realizing that Fruit Loops are "marketed to kids." LOL.......Darwin Award winner by chance?

[@XaqNautilus]

Another thing that peaked in 1996 was Saturday morning cartoons. It was the absolute perfect vehicle of delivery for advertising to kids. (Well and adults too really. When we only had 3-15 channels we all were pretty much a captive audience compared with today.) It was impressive. Some of the commercials were so well made they were better than the cartoon they ran with. I remember the adventures of Snap, Krackle and Pop being rather compelling in Rice Krispies commercials. It's sad that today Mexico leads the best example for how cereals should be handled; without mascots and not targeted at children.

[@Laz3rCat95]

I would say if you have to have cereal sometimes, just get regular cereal and have it as a rare splurge treat. Your normal breakfast should consist of primarily whole foods. Have some fresh produce, eggs, meat, nuts, etc.

[@Errcyco]

I’m 37 and still eat Fruity Dino Bites (w Marshmallows) for breakfast and dinner a lot. Cereal is perfect.. a lot less sugary than it was, sweet but has some crunch.. then you get that milk-fat flavor. It’s perfect and easy. I’ll go all out cooking for others but for me? Cereal and Lunchables.. and again, I’m almost 40.

[@hassanmohamoud7671]

UK cereals was always trash compared to the US

[@Jpg700]

Ironically because they aren't allowed to add the trash.

[@idlewildwind]

Marketing directed at children is literally illegal in my country. And seeing this, I'm happier than ever before about that. (Also, my parents were like yours; not a single sugary flake in the house. We had muesli. And sometimes weetabix.)

[@samuelhorsfall3862]

Way ahead of ya. Have ALWAYS hated cereal.

[@courtneypuzzo2502]

many of these cereals were released in the 1950s or 1960s when dietary rules were different than they are now and recipes have been tweaked at least a couple of times since the early 1970s, hell I still have cereal as an afternoon snack or dinner sometimes

[@d.j.miller2679]

When I seen that Magic Spoon isn't dairy-free, I was like, "Nooooope!"

[@Cathowl]

I eat cereal a bunch because I have problems preparing food sometimes, and something quick and simple is important. Better a questionable meal than skipping a meal. Also I just like the taste and the crunch. But when I do eat my cereal I actually often prefer it at lunch time instead of breakfast. I like a good hearty breakfast with proteins and fats that leaves me feeling fuller for longer.

[@MsSagittariusA]

I love a bowl of cereal. I like "healthy" and unhealthy cereal. I will say those magic spoons is pretty terrible lol the chocolate was mid at best.

[@FingerLicknLuv]

An outsider critiquing a culture can offer fresh perspectives, but there's a fine line between constructive criticism and exploiting another's societal issues for personal gain.

[@NateBit64]

Me every Wednesday. “YES LEVI RUIN IT FOR ME”

[@williambaldwin9346]

Never was much of a cereal person, as a kid sure, but as an adult I much prefer eggs/ bacon/ sausage/ french toast/ pandcakes, etc. I feel full much longer with real fresh eggs, over a bowl of suger cereal. I may eat one, and be hungry like 20 minutes later as if I did nothing. I eat eggs sausage and toast, and feel full like 6 hours. Just saying real food is better.

[@DrDavelope]

Marshmallows in cereal - Strangest thing ever.

[@idraote]

In my area, supermarkets sell oat flakes sold by a firm called Kolln. There are several varieties, I buy the small, full grain ones. You put them in a bowl with hot water and let them rest for three minutes or so. The final result looks a lot like ordinary porridge and tastes bland, but the thing is, you can season it. I use salted hot water and add olive oil extra when they are ready. It sounds horrifying but it is tasty if you like savoury foods. You can add sugar of course (I wouldn't do that, though) or soft fresh cheese or whatever. You can add eggs, either raw (if they are safe) or boiled, you can do anything really. It is quick, filling and reasonably healthy.

[@specialingu]

might steal that for overnight oats :o

[@user-gl9qm4hb4n]

Eating protein at body builder level has completely warped my sense of what a normal amount of protein is. Normal people are only eating like 50 grams per day? I need to eat at least 60 grams per meal to hit my daily goal.

[@Ajv516]

FDA: Is allulose food? Magic Spoon: It certainly would leas to believe it might be!

[@lopataaable]

Yo, great content! Love it! Did you think about revisiting allbirtds? I found your old vids, but I think that it would be cool to know if they stick to their enviro-conscious fair labor goals. I even think at least I would enjoy the deep dive to their brand inner working like you did with Patagonia or NorthFace... Just an idea tho. Keep it up :)