Why America is OBSESSED with Cereal 

It all went downhill when they stopped including toys

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

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.

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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 😂

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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. 😀

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.

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.

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.

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

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!!

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.

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!

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”.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

You cannot convince me not to love cereal

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

"My parents were hippies" that explains A LOT, honestly.

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

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

UK cereals was always trash compared to the US

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.

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.

God bless the man John.

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..

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.)

"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 🤣

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?

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.

Future Proof: the channel you watch to feel bad about using everything in your house day to day! :D

This was informative and hilarious 😂

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.

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.

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.

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.

"My parents were hippies" I knew it

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.

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

Way ahead of ya. Have ALWAYS hated cereal.

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👍

Definitely thought this might have been a sponsorship for magic spoon. I tried a bite of it and immediately threw the box away from the aftertaste

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

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

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!

I grew up eating a lot of Cheerios and Wheeties with very occasional sugary cereals. I would often eat a cheese stick in addition. Once I got to high school, though, my metabolism skyrocketed and I would melt down if I didn't get enough protein (this runs in the family coming from my dad's side, lol); I still get basically anxiety attacks to this day if I don't eat a ton of protein. So now my breakfasts are either a Greek yogurt/protein powder/pea protein/flax seed/frozen fruit shake or eggs. My husband loves cereal, but I've definitely won him over to the side of protein-rich breakfasts! Cereal is a sometimes-food for him and only a dessert for me!

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

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

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.

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

Excelent video, congratulations.

90's? Dude, I remember these same characters in commercials in the 70's. Tony the Tiger has been around since 1952. In the 70's there were less viewing options. I lived in a suburb of Chicago. We could tune into 8 television channels with a standard set top TV antenna. Of those, only 4 channels were responsible for the majority of content consumed by children. By the time you were born, the number of viewing options were exploding. The characters haven't changed; they're now just distributed over an ever larger population.

Healthiest breakfast? Oatmeal and ground flax with fruit and soy milk without added sugar. Alternate with tofu scrambles plus Ezekiel toast and fruit. Coffee or tea optional.

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

I loved cereal since i was a baby practically ❤❤❤❤

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

I visited the Philippines with my partner and breakfast there is amazing! fried garlic Rice, Sausage, eggs and more. way better then cereal. I never go back to eating cereal

It's important to note that Cheerios increased its sugar content in the 90's and early 2000's to keep up, such that I saw it in the news in the early 2000's.