The Lie That Is Fiber One

It seems like everybody sings the praises of Fiber One cereal, and all of the other related products of the same line, as a good source of fiber. However, I would like to argue that nothing could be further from the truth. Here I am going to discus the original cereal and the new 90 calorie Fiber One brownies that everybody in the online diet food community is talking about.

Let’s tackle that ‘deliciously simple’ cereal first, shall we? Here are the ingredients and stats:

Now, on the surface it may seem healthy by just looking at the stats since it has no sugar and 14 grams of fiber, however if you slide on over to the ingredients it’s a different story. Look closely and you will see that it contains aspartame. So that’s why it has no sugar! To market their product and sell it to the diet crowd they created a concoction that bills itself as nutritious and yet contains a very controversial ingredient. I have been eating pretty healthy for the last six months and not once have I tried this ‘cereal’, because of that one ingredient. Doctors and nutritionists who recommend this cereal really ought to be ashamed of themselves for promoting it since aspartame causes headaches and stomach issues for a pretty good percentage of people. Also there is the ‘color added’ bit. What the heck is that? Where does that coloring agent come from and why does it even need to be there?  This fake healthy breakfast cereal has launched more products than you can shake a stick at, so let’s look at those brownies:

First off you can see that ‘wheat flour bleached’ is the first ingredient. That’s just another term for white flour with minerals and vitamins added to it. The process that creates it makes a product that is not as healthy or nutritious as regular whole wheat flour. Next there is our old friend chicory root which causes gas and bloating in a lot of people. There are a lot of people that complain about some Fiber One products making them toot night and day and this is why. Then there are the chocolate flavored chips. They are using fake chocolate chips! Personally, if I am eating a brownie with chocolate chips I at least want real chocolate chips in it. Overall it’s not a very healthy product and not especially good for you.

Instead of buying into the Fiber One hype think of more creative ways to add fiber to you daily diet. I add ground flaxseed to my cereal every morning. Two tablespoons contain 6 grams of fiber and it’s a natural way to get it into your system instead of combining it with another ingredient that could make you ill. So, along with my high fiber Kashi cereal I am getting just about the same amount of fiber than is in a serving of Fiber One.

Fiber One is nothing but a fake ‘health’ product that needs to be exposed for what it is; a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Websites and people who endlessly promote it as a healthy breakfast choice, and all around recipe ingredient, don’t care about your health if they want you to eat this.