BF Review: Hi-Lo Vanilla Almond Cereal

I’ve been meaning to do a review on this for a looong time. It seems almost too good to be true. A cereal that is higher in protein than in net carbs??? How could this be? It has to be nasty, right?

I decided to find out for myself.

My grocery store carries several different varieties of this cereal, of which I remember two: Flakes with Strawberries and the one I bought, Vanilla Almond.

The stats:

Serving size: 1/2 c.
Calories: 90
Fat: 2g (from the almonds, I presume because there is no saturated or trans fat)
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 120mg (that’s damn good btw)
Total Carbs: 13g
Fiber: 7.0g (so 6g net carbs)
Sugars: 1g
Protein: 12g

Yeah. You can see why I might be skeptical.

Now since a) I had the munchies and b) I had been wanting to try these so long, the box didn’t even make it home before I gave it a try.

My “hand-in-box” impression: the cereal is small flakes with little slivers of almonds mixed in. To me, it tastes sort of like a graham cracker and the consistency supports that. I didn’t get a lot of almond flavor. To me, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I don’t dislike almonds but I am of the opinion that almond is a background flavor to begin with.

The flakes were crunchy and lightly sweet. I like that in a cereal. I don’t do cereal and milk. Technically that is eating and drinking together, among the chief roux-en-Y “no no’s.” Besides, cereal and milk leaves me feeling overfull and I don’t like that either. I like to feel pleasantly satisfied which, to me, is halfway between “just satisfied” and “full to bursting.”

The cereal is sweetened with Splenda, so there is no sugar alcohols to worry about BUT I did notice a slightly sour aftertaste by the time I got home. Considering that I went home and got to cooking (and tasting) a fresh batch of curried tilapia stew, that too was not a problem. If you are one that is bothered by food aftertastes, though, you might take note.

So this morning I decided to try the cereal another way. I measured out my requisite half cup and put it on top of some flavored Greek yogurt. Usually I do this with Fiber One (same amount, half cup). I like the crunch and something about a parfait makes me feel indulgent. Somehow, Kashi doesn’t do the same thing for me unfortunately. There’s some sort of weird moisture thing that always happens with it that makes it chewy instead of crunchy. I like Kashi…just not for my parfaits.

But this worked pretty nicely. The yogurt paired well with the cereal, which was hearty enough to retain its crunch. And it felt good knowing that the cereal boosted my yogurt protein count by an additional 12g without adding so much volume to my meal.

So…with the good comes the not-so-good. This box of cereal was expensive! Granted I am the cheapest person alive and I LIVE for Fiber One sales at CVS (seriously…they were on sale three weeks ago and I bought five of them and then gave the divas money to buy five each because there is a five box per person limit). Those of you who are independently wealthy…I am intensely jealous of you…I leave the decision to your discretion. But for this cheap gal, the more than $4 a box pricetag for a small box is prohibitive.

Still, it’s a good alternative and you can rest assured that if I get a coupon or these babies go on sale, I will be stocking up!

Verdict: Diva Says Divine!