scmrak's Full Review: Benefit Nutrition Simply Fiber, All Natural Crunch...
I try to be healthy, really I do. For example, there's the daily exercise (walking instead of running, unfortunately), the low -fat and -sodium foods, and the two decades since the last time I was in a fast-food restaurant (if you don't count Subway and Schlotzsky's). I also try hard to meet my daily requirement of fiber, with lots of fruit and vegetables - and a high-fiber cereal at breakfast. When I shop the cereal aisle, I always read labels and if it doesn't say at least 5 grams of fiber, I ain't gettin' that box. That's a no to Rice Krispies (less than 1g), no to Cheerios (3g), and a yes to All Bran (10g). So when I came across a sale on Simply Fiber at the grocery not long ago, I figured I'd have a look - especially since the label claimed 14g of dietary fiber... so I took a box home and, a couple of mornings later, gave it a try.
The downside of high-fiber cereals has always been the taste: if you eat high-fiber cereals, you know you're probably not getting loads of sugar or other sweeteners to make them more palatable. I've already heard all the jokes about sticks and twigs, Euell Gibbons, and cardboard; but my initial bite of Simply Fiber brought every joke back in a flash. I almost had to look to see if I'd accidentally run the box through the shredder and poured the confetti into the bowl. Let me tell you, I'm used to high-fiber cereal, but this stuff definitely raises the bar!
Though not labeled as organic, Simply Fiber is "natural" (whatever that's supposed to mean), containing only whole grain wheat and corn with added wheat and corn bran to raise the fiber content. Nutritionally, that translates to 1g fat, 31g total carbohydrate (14 of fiber, of which one is soluble), and 4g of protein per 37-gram serving. There's zero sodium and zero sugar (as opposed to All Bran, with both sugar and high fructose corn syrup).
Sadly, there's zero taste as well. Actually, there is some taste - it's not necessarily something I'd want to repeat (though I suppose one could acquire it). The little grayish (cardboard-colored?) Os - they're more like short tubes of macaroni than teensy lifesavers - are so far from the sugar-laden cereals of my youth; like Sugar Pops, Sugar Smacks, and Frosted Flakes; that they might as well be from another planet. I did find a bowlful more palatable when I tossed in some dried fruit - a natural sweetener, but a sweetener nonetheless.
We eat fiber ostensibly for its health benefits; a bowl of Simply Fiber provides more than half the USRDA of 25g of fiber in a single sitting. As for the sitting part? Well, there's a good reason that this product's page on Amazon (see the link above) advertises "Hot deals on diapers, wipes..." 'Nuff said? I thought so.
It may taste like you're eating the box, but boy! is Simply Fiber healthy! If you regularly eat All Bran, some Kashi cereals, or unsweetened whole grain cereals, you can get used to this after a bowl or two. If your idea of breakfast cereal is Cocoa Puffs or Count Chocula, however, give it a wide berth.
Fantastic prices with ease & c...(Stock status: N/A)
Crunchy Bran O’s with tasty whole wheat and corn with NO SUGAR or SODIUM! Once in a rare while a food comes along that can really make a difference ...More at Amazon Marketplace
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