Special KBreakfast Cereal Protein, 12.5 oz

This is my favorite "healthy" cereal - it's low fat and has protein to help off-set the carbs that usually come with a bowl of cereal. When I want something sweet but low-fat and am in a bit of a time crunch, this is the stuff I reach for. Amazon's Subscribe and Save has the best pricing I've been able to find. I order it for myself and my Mom!

First off my box arrived days late with a large hole in the back (yes the cereal box)... and secondly the nutritional label in the picture shown is different than the label on the box. It states that it is 19 carbs a serving and the box states 39!! This is very important to me as I am a diabetic and I can not have 39 carbs for breakfast. I purposely picked this Special K because of the lower carb and high protein amounts shown in the nutritional label pic here.. Just realized I can't even return it... Now I have to find something else....

I eat a lot of Special K and bought this one just to try a different flavor. High protein for us diabetics and tastes good. Still like the Red Berries better

The price wasn't great, compared to in-store, but I love this cereal so much that I splurged once when the local Safeway ran out. The taste has a mild cinnamon zest, and the (soy derived) protein is an excellent add-on for bulking season. The calorie content is typical of cereals, and the fiber/vitamin content is also good, but nothing exceptional. This is like a tastier, less superfood version of Kashi GoLean.

I've tried numerous high protein (approximately 1g/10Cal) cereals, and I rate this one as fairly good, 4/5 stars. I eat all my cereals with skim milk. You shouldn't eat too much soy protein, but as I only eat cereal in the morning, and it's my only source of soy protein, I don't knock stars for doing what every high protein cereal I've tried has done.Taste - 3.5/5-The taste is fine for the nutritional value, but it tastes almost like plain bran flakes (think Raisin Bran without the raisins). Apparently this went through a reformulation where they made it sweeter, but it's still not that sweet to me. The taste isn't bad, by any means, but it's not something I'm reaching for to snack on.Texture - 4.5/5-If you like bran flakes, you will like the texture of this cereal. I find that it holds its rigidness in milk longer than Frosted Flakes or similar cereals, which is a plus for me. I would like some more variety in the in the texture, but I knew I was buying a cereal that was only bran flakes.Nutrition - 4/5-This cereal loses a point for coming short of the golden protein ration (1g/10Cal) and for the relatively high amount of non-fiber carbs. 10g/120Cal is still a decent ratio. Some people may knock this cereal for the 7g of sugar, but unless you're diabetic, I really don't think sugar matters that much. It doesn't bother me and isn't enough to create any kind of "sugar rush."Serving Size - 4/5-100g of this cereal takes up a sizable portion of the bowl I typically eat out of, which is a definite plus. My favorite cereal, Hi-Lo Maple Pecan, takes up hardly any space, so I like to mix the two cereals together.TL;DR: Good cereal, great price ($2.98/box), but still kind of plain.

Ingredients: Whole grain wheat, wheat gluten, sugar, rice, soy protein isolate, wheat bran, defatted soy grits, contains 2% or less of salt, cinnamon, malt flavor, L-lysine monohydrochloride, sucralose, BHT for freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), reduced iron, vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol), niacinamide, vitamin b6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin b2 (riboflavin), vitamin A palmitate, vitamin B1 (thiamin hydrochloride), folic acid, vitamin B12."As you can see, the protein is sourced from soy. You can argue about the value of these soy ingredients (GMO, estrogen controversy, removal of beneficial nutrients through processing), but one thing is sure, they are not an integral part of breakfast cereal, and were only added to boost the marketability through protein.If you’re wondering about the strange sounding ingredient L-lysine monohydrochloride, it’s an amino acid. All proteins are made of amino acids. In fact, each type of protein (from beef, chicken, milk, soy, etc…) is composed of several types of amino acids. L-Lysine is industrially manufactured by microbial fermentation of sugar. It’s odd that it is added to this product because soy protein does contain L-lysine.By the way, a few other things we don’t like about this cereal:In order to keep the cereal sweet without raising the sugar level too much, the manufacturer has added an artificial sweetener, sucralose to the mix. Recent studies have shown sucralose to cause leukemia in mice.Instead of using natural preservatives, BHT is what’s keeping the flakes fresh. Unfortunately it is a potential carcinogen."Source: http://blog.fooducate.com/2013/07/08/special-k-protein-cereal-will-it-really-satisfy-your-hunger-longer/

While I generally try to avoid Soy protein isolate (the source of protein in this cereal, which has a link to increased risk of breast cancer), my nutritionist told me about this cereal and I've been eating it several times a week with almond milk. It is mildly sweet, and keeps me full for quite a while. It has an impressive protein count, and as I try to avoid carbs it's great for me.

This cereal is probably as low as they can go with the sugar and carbs and still have the good taste. It is a diabetics dream! I look forward to having this treat every morning. It is just sweet enough that no sugar substitutes are needed. My only complaint at this time is the small quantity of 12.5 ozs. in each box. When are they going to add the larger sizes? I find them in the grocery store at approximately a $1.50 per box more, thank goodness for Amazon.