The Special K Weight Loss Scam!

My husband was out of town. And my daughter at a friends. Time for me to have some fun. I decided to do what any self-obsessed, deranged nutritionist would do - go and read labels at my local grocery store! I felt like a detective, elbow deep into the candies, crackers, margarine, and frozen foods, notebook in hand. Quantifying how many times I saw 'high fructose corn syrup' and 'partially hydrogenated' anything. "They still use this stuff?" I said in my head. "YOU still buy it?" I thought, brow crinkled, as a man reached around me to buy a tub of Gold N' Soft margarine. I should get a basket and start throwing stuff in.. you know, just to blend.

I found my way to the candy aisle. So beautiful, colorful, and shiny. A couple steps further and I saw the "diet" section. Sugar-free candies, low-carb crackers, and diet bars. I must be on to something, because diet food, sandwiched next to, and looking a lot like, the junk food? Hmmmm... something is fishy (or more like that smell of 6 month old, oxidized plasticized hydrogenated oil).

My victim of choice - the Special K Protein "Feel Fuller Longer" (yes, this is verbatim what is on the front) Chocolate Peanut Butter naturally and artificially flavored Bar. Why? Because it is one thing to make a candy, and clearly advertise it as that (a treat) but it is another to promote a product based upon its supposed ability to curb your appetite and help you lose weight, when it is actually just a candy bar.

This bar is good. I know because my husband told me. I left this experiment next to the computer by mistake, where my guinea pig partner so bravely consumed it in a feat of extreme hunger (and was ultimately NOT satisfied).

This bar is basically hydrogenated candy, injected with soy-sludge by-product protein. Here is the list of ingredients with my usual sarcastic comments in green:

COATING (SUGAR (the first ingredient, meaning there is more sugar in this bar than anything else), PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED PALM KERNEL OIL (hydrogenated oils, or trans fats, have been linked to excess weight gain, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and have been proven to be harder to burn off, or lose, than healthy fats )†, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, WHEY, NONFAT MILK, SOY LECITHIN, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE (a synthetic wax), SALT, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR (possible MSG), POLYSORBATE 60), SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, PEANUT BUTTER (PEANUTS, HYDROGENATED RAPESEED AND COTTONSEED OIL (hydrogenated oils have also been linked to lower testosterone levels, and immune deficiencies), SALT), CORN SYRUP (a sugar that turns into fat faster than any other sweetener, linked to obesity), INULIN (FAKE fiber), FRUCTOSE (3rd type of sugar), SUGAR (4th type of sugar), RICE STARCH (5th sugar, because processed, white grains and starches turn right into sugar in your body), POLYDEXTROSE (FAKE fiber), RICE CEREAL (RICE, WHEAT GLUTEN, SUGAR (6th sugar listed), DEFATTED WHEAT GERM (all the healthy oils, and some vitamins, have been taken out), SALT, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP (7th sugar listed), WHEY, MALT FLAVORING, REDUCED IRON, NIACINAMIDE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE [VITAMIN B6], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE [VITAMIN B1], FOLIC ACID, VITAMIN B12) - (synthetic vitamins are put back in, not because the food manufacturers feel guilty, but because they are legally required to), DEXTROSE (8th sugar listed), CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF CALCIUM CARBONATE, SOYBEAN AND PALM OIL WITH TBHQ (an antioxidant that actually can be damaged very easily, and small amounts have caused nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium and collapse - 5 grams is a fatal dose) FOR FRESHNESS, GLYCERIN, SORBITOL, SALT, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR (possible source of MSG), ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), SOY LECITHIN, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES (similar to trans fats), XANTHAN GUM, POLYSORBATE 80 (a toxic emulsifier that has been linked to infertility), D-ALPHA TOCOPHEROL (VITAMIN E), NIACINAMIDE, ZINC OXIDE, REDUCED IRON, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), VITAMIN A PALMITATE, RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), ALMOND FLOUR, PARTIALLY DEFATTED PEANUT FLOUR (stripped of its healthy oils and vitamins so it lasts longer on the shelf), WHEAT STARCH, VITAMIN B12, FOLIC ACID, BHT FOR FRESHNESS, VITAMIN D.
† LESS THAN 0.5g TRANS FAT PER SERVING

Sugar, in its many forms and disguises, is the real component of this food (3.5 teaspoons worth in each!). If you were to grab all these ingredients and mix them up in a bowl at home, it would be a gooey mess of sugar-laden oils. And why does that not promote weight loss? Here are a couple reasons:

1.  Blood Sugar Spikes - When consuming the above processed sugars (did we count 8 different types?) we get an immediate energy lift, followed by a deep and depressing low. This is what is one of the significant reasons why people feel out of control with food. Their blood sugar levels are so low after the body's insulin as shuffled the dangerous amount of sugar into the cells, that they are more hungry than before, and reach for yet another snack without regard for source. These fluctuating blood sugar levels are the cause of the classic binge eating sessions.
   
2.  Nutrient Depletion - Another downside of sugar-obsessed foods like the Special K Protein bar, is the lack of proper nutrients. If your body were a bank account, every time you eat free sugars like this you would be taking out a withdrawal of energy and resources, rather than adding in a much needed deposit. That is because the body has to give up vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, that were supposed to come along with the food, to digest the flux of artificial substances. You end up more empty than before you started (you know, like Goodfellas roughing you up for money, and you always leave broke). You can see that they try to add in synthetic vitamins, but because they are not in the whole food form, your body does not respond to them as it would to the naturally occurring life-giving substances in a regular, alive food.
3. Inflammation - That full-on assault from excess sugar causes inflammation in the body. Your immune system goes on high alert, trying to kill off or repel the dangerous food you have just eaten. This can cause premature aging (along with those trans fats), energy depletion, skin disorders, and eventually it can lead to degenerative diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis. What is the point of losing weight, if you are old, tired, and cranky all the time?
4. Cravings - The more you eat these bars, the more your body gets used to excreting the hormones in response to the sugar spikes. The result? You end up craving more sugary, processed foods than before you began!
   

How could a product containing mostly chemically-derived and produced food-like substances, that all have been linked at the forefront to increased appetite and obesity rates, be marketed as a diet food??

The answer lies in the legalities surrounding health claims on food products. When you go to the Special K website, they specify that this protein bar is a part of a specific diet, consisting mostly of these nutrient-depleted products, in small amounts. Their disclaimer states: Diets high in protein and fiber may aid weight loss. Yet we know that the fake fiber that they inject into the food does not have the same weight-loss, cholesterol-lowering effects of their whole food counterparts, and that the added sugar content does quite a doozey to the declared formula. Here are their instructions for being successful with the plan:

Meal 1: Start your day with a bowl of Special K, 2/3 cup of skim milk.
Meal 2: Replace the second meal (lunch) with a bar like above.
Meal 3: Eat a regular meal like you usually do for dinner
Snacks: Enjoy 2 Special K snacks (like the bars above) a day.
And lose up to 6 lbs. in 2 weeks!

Here is the link to the above: http://www.specialk.com/challenge/instructions

This works only because it decreases the amount of calories consumed. It only can be advertised this way because the FDA allows health claims that are shady, at best, with many assumptions hiding behind the food companies websites and promotional materials, that no self-respecting consumer would spend time researching and reading.You could very well add any food into the above formula for that matter (lets say... a bag of Circus Peanuts) to replace Kelloggs products and come up with the same results: Weight loss for those who are desperate enough, followed by energy and nutrient depletion, and subsequent metabolic breakdowns, leading to added rough weight.

It must feel frustrating for people trying to lose weight. Eating candy bars along with a bowl of cereal makes them only more hungry and depleted, and lacking radiant health more than ever before. My empty basket lays lonely in the aisle, as a woman swoops by me, darting to grab the Strawberry Protein Meal Bar (hey, I would have chosen the chocolate peanut butter, hands down). Unfortunately, the only form of nutrition education that the average American receives is through television and print advertisements, in which case this woman made the most informed decision she could. But I believe that we can do a lot better, in no time.