Lucky Charms Anyone?

Remember when you were a kid and you enjoyed cold cereal at breakfast? Every day was a new eating adventure. Whatever happened to that? When's the last time as an adult you ate a bowl of Lucky Charms? I just did. And another, and another, and another. Finally I disposed of the pitiful remains. I do not remember the cereal tasting that good. Good meaning sweet. Lucky Charms used to taste like Cheerios to me only with the little marshmellows. Guess what? Not any more. Now the 'cereal' portion is 'frosted' the marshmellows are littler and there are more of them than ever in all the colors of the rainbow.

These changes are to accommodate the 'new' cereal audience. Those born in the "New Millenium". But this wreaks havoc with one's "cereal memories". We all have "cereal memories". Memories of the cereals that you ate each morning for breakfast. Cereals that you thought were handed down to Moses with the Ten Commandments. Cereals that you thought would always exist just the way you knew them. And when you least expect it you start to daydream about the crackling and popping of Rice Krispies or the chocolatieness of Cocoa Krispies or the intense maplie-ness of the Quaker Instant Oatmeal steaming at the table before rushing off to gradeschool. Who can forget the martian on the box of Quisp or the creatures on the box of Freakies? Or the 'cool' of Sugar Bear on Super Sugar Crisp. These aromas, flavors and images permeated a time and a place in our lives. Some of the cereals are gone and some remain stocked on the shelves of our local grocery stores. Those were simpler times; before high fructose corn syrup made us all obese and the "Nutrional Highlights" tab took its place at the top of the cereal box. We didn't care if it was good for you back then we just wanted it to taste good and to have great prizes inside.

I recall once getting "Tiddly Winks" from a box of Trix and an orange Saber Toothed Tiger from a box of Cocoa Krispies and I still have the green plastic head of Wilma from the Flintstones with a metallic silver ballbearring in it. As an adult I no longer regularly eat the 'kids' cereals of my childhood or of today although some of the television commercials do make them look tempting. You may be wondering what aberration caused the gorging of the Lucky Charms tonight? You got me? They were in the house!!! That's what I have been wondering as a binge eater for many, many years. What is it about cereal that causes one to lose control and devour large quantities in a single sitting? Who hasn't sat down thinking they would have just one bowl and consumed the entire box? Is it the crunch, the mingling of the cereal and the milk, is it the way the cereal absorbs the milk and gets soft or rubbery, or all of the above. Was I perhaps 'thirsty' for 'milk'? When I eat oats at breakfasttime I rarely pour milk on it, but rather eat it practically dry with just a little cinnamon and a big mug of coffee.

Lucky Charms with 110 calories, 0 grams of saturated fat, and 1 scant gram of fiber may still be "magically deliscious", but for an adult they are not the most bang for the buck. I will stick with my long cooking oats that do not "spike" my blood sugar or cause a 'binge', but I may now and again daydream about pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars and green clovers.