KnockBack, Episode 64: Breakfast Cereal

To this day I buy a box of rice Chex and a box of lucky charms. I remove the marshmallows from the Lucky Charms and mix them in with the rice Chex to recreate my favorite cereal of all time.

Joey Wren

Really?! That's so weird. Though I do understand the issue of texture.

Colin Moriarty

No one is listening to KnockBack for nutrition advice. Appreciate the feedback.

Colin Moriarty

This was such fun to listen to. I have NEVER had a bowl of cereal with milk. Ohhh - the sogginess of it. Yikes. I’d much prefer just eating it dry- right out of the box and really dig fruit loops or trix- and Frosted Flakes, of course. Because...They’re geeeeat! 😉

BettyAnn Moriarty

I am largely in agreement with BarPG’s statement regarding Joe and nutrition experts. He grabs from a very narrow slice of what is available. I love Rogan, but the people that rise to the surface and get his attention are often at the extremes on any given issue. For example, he regularly features a guest (who I won’t name out of politeness) who is widely regarded as a quack by the scientific community. He has a history of featuring guests who do not publish peer-reviewed research in their area (nutrition, for example)—they do not expose their ideas to critique from experts and do not have to answer for what they put out there. This can give the impression that nutrition sciences are far more chaotic than they actually are. When it comes to the fundamentals, the vast majority of people in the field agree about calories, macros, etc. And that’s where the best science is. Unfortunately, small studies that claim to find this or that get a lot of heat from journalists. That’s what attracts eyeballs and makes it seem like no one knows what they are doing. The boring but good stuff gets lost in the shuffle.

I dig the show, but man, you guys unloaded tons of misinformation in this episode. Dagan - calcium is readily available from a variety of plant-based and animal sources. If you eat vegetables, nuts, seeds, and beans at all, you probably get plenty already. Colin - dietary cholesterol and saturated fats are not "fine." They contribute to the development of atherosclerosis, which is the underlying mechanism of heart disease. Carbs are not "bad" - the brain runs on glucose, and carbohydrates are the most efficiently-utilized macronutrient source of glucose compared to protein and fats. You're partially right - the lesser quality, refined carbs in cereal aren't usually dense sources of nutrition, but they don't have any business falling into the same basket as high-quality, nutrient-dense carbs like fruits, vegetables, beans, etc. Please do some research before parroting today's deluded "truths" about nutrition and dieting.

Stefan G.

That's a good point, but again, a pretty unusual move.

Colin Moriarty

Hahaha. That's funny. I guess no Castlevania for you!

Colin Moriarty

Possibly. I don't really recall.

Colin Moriarty

That-a boy.

Colin Moriarty

As a supplement, I can understand it.

Colin Moriarty

Listening to this on the way home from work. I took a detour and bought milk and my 2 boxes of fav cereal as a child. THAT is how nostalgic this episode was!

Daniel Schiffer

I have ordered cereal at a diner probably 20+ times as a kid. It was always alongside the typical diner breakfast food - sausages, bacon, pancakes. Perhaps I was brainwashed into trying to have my complete breakfast.

Dustin Goncharoff

Colin, I’ll tell you who gets cereal at a diner. And I’m somewhat disappointed this slipped your mind. Jerry Seinfeld. This psychopath was out here ordering Cheerios at the diner for 9 seasons of serial television.

Justin Hamilton

Count Chocula use to scare the hell out I'd me. I'd eat Boo Berries all morning long but that Vampire Cereal and The Count on Sesame Street always inspired terror in me. Looking back, Franken Berry was always the best for me.

Fynn

I might be old and feeble minded, but I seem to remember almost all of the licensed cereals being basically Cap'n Crunch in flavor, just different shapes.

Jason Stafford

To be fair, I don’t think Joe’s nutrition guests are exclusively bad, but most of them are (at least moderately) famous, or they wouldn’t have made it onto the podcast. Nutrition, at its core, is boring to most people, and dieting, at its core, is just hard. Simplistic approaches to nutrition, like keto, meat-only, Paleo, etc., sell well, make headlines, and sometimes make their proponents famous. Balanced approaches, which recognize the value and effectiveness of MANY ways of dieting but don’t offer an “easy” or “best” way to lose weight, don’t grab the average person’s attention, much less Joe Rogan’s. That’s not a knock on him because I think he tries his best to be open-minded. I’ll go ahead and cut myself off there. I hope that kind of answered your question and didn’t seem too pretentious. Lol.

Cody Howell

That's crazy, dude. I think I had pancakes for breakfast at home as a kid like 10 times in my life. LOL.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks! Out of curiosity, why do you think that people who hold more mainstream views about nutrition don't go on Rogan? I find it strange that there are even more sides than what's been represented there!

Colin Moriarty

I had to laugh about the “Part of a balance breakfast” or whatever that marketing line was. My gf and I were watching some sitcom and the family before school had this huge spread of pancakes/eggs/juice/milk and I asked, what kind of family lives like this? Turns out she had a complete sit down breakfast with her mother, brother and sister every morning...

Ingberg

I’ll stand by my original comment that Joe’s guests don’t represent the majority of nutrition experts. I think we agree that the government gets more things wrong than it gets right. There is no magical diet. I hope that most people who have studied nutrition extensively would agree with that statement. If they don’t, then they’re probably selling something (hence the 5,000 diets). The driving force behind any successful diet is a caloric deficit (or a caloric surplus for someone trying to gain weight). There’s no way around that. I realize that the internet is the worst possible place to try to change anyone’s mind; it’s not an appropriate topic for this thread, and that’s my fault. You’re a smart person and are obviously capable of coming to your own reasonable conclusions. This was an awesome, light-hearted podcast about breakfast cereal.

Cody Howell

You're welcome for the response... but... really? I mean, I just listened to a debate from October on Rogan just last night about meat-based diets, paleo diets, carb diets, etc. The government was wrong about this for 50 years. Seems to be there's very little agreement (hence there being like 5,000 diets), but I digress. I'm no expert!

Colin Moriarty

I don’t think that’s true and would be very surprised if Rogan’s guests represented the majority, but I digress. Thanks for the response, Colin.

Cody Howell

Codeman, I've listened to enough nutrition PhDs, health experts, dietary experts, and other doctorates on Rogan alone for years to know that no one seems to agree on much of anything, in this regard.

Colin Moriarty

I see...

Colin Moriarty

That doesn't sound familiar to me, but I'm in no way an expert.

Colin Moriarty

I suspect it didn't, because it probably had 500 grams of carbs per serving.

Colin Moriarty

You're a psychopath, William.

Colin Moriarty

Yeah dude, I really like Pittsburgh. Cool city.

Colin Moriarty

It's in the pantheon, for sure.

Colin Moriarty

Yes!

Colin Moriarty

It was literally impossible to believe. I still can't believe it, and I was there for four years. LOL.

Colin Moriarty

I assure you, it was most certainly a conspiracy.

Colin Moriarty

LOL.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks, JEFF.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you so much. And believe! Three a week! =)

Colin Moriarty

Oh, wow, I hadn't even considered that move at Five Guys. Kinda bold.

Colin Moriarty

Please believe it.

Colin Moriarty

Yes, you're insane.

Colin Moriarty

Then rest assured, this episode is for you.

Colin Moriarty

That's bonkers. And awesome.

Colin Moriarty

That sounds vaguely familiar, actually. Who comes up with this shit?

Colin Moriarty

This is a strong proclamation.

Colin Moriarty

Hey, guys, I’ve refrained from commenting on this in the past because it’s clearly not a central topic to the podcast or one that either of you would claim to be an expert on, but your nutrition discussions in this episode, particularly the ones about carbs and fats, made it difficult for me to hold my tongue. Weight gain is caused by over-consumption of calories, not a particular macronutrient. Recent studies, including meta-analysis (which I’d be happy to cite) support that statement. Certain macronutrients and the calories they contain are simply “easier” for some to over-consume. If protein and total calories are controlled, diets high or low in carbs can absolutely be effective and healthy. If total calories aren’t controlled, any diet variation, including one high in fats and low in carbs, can cause weight gain and become unhealthy. Again, I know you guys aren’t claiming to be authorities or soliciting nutrition advice to anyone, but I’m leaving this (likely unimportant) comment, anyway. All of that aside, I really enjoyed the episode, as always, and look forward to the next one. It’s incredibly clear that your intentions are good, and I hope it’s clear that mine are, too. I apologize for bogging down the comments section! - Cody

Cody Howell

For our livessssss to be overrrr

Andrew Christensen

90108

Andrew Christensen

I too also can’t fucking stand Scooby Doo.. I love you Colin, always with the correct opinions besides your love of mayo which can fuck right off.

Craig Carter

Is Wheetabix a thing in the US or elsewhere? There is a precious few minutes of crunchy joy before a splodge of gunk.

Scott MacLure

The Special K with Strawberries cereal did not help me lose weight as a teenager. What ever bullshit marketing they used worked to help sell boxes, but it personally did nothing for my weight loss. It's still delicious, though!

James Kinslow III

I never put milk in any cereal of any kind. Never have, don’t plan on ever starting.

William Emery

Hey, I was born in Pittsburgh! So cool to hear you have such a high opinion of the place. Dagan's right though; it will unfortunately always be second fiddle to Philadelphia.

David Graham

honey bunches of oats are the undisputed best cereal of all time.

Andrew

Shout out to those dope-ass old Count Chocula & FrankenBerry commercials where they put the characters into the old Universal Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff movies!

Justin Matkowski

Colin your explanation of the college cafeteria was like describing my experience as well. I was aghast that they would just let you have that much food for that little money. Ours used to offer a to go box if you didn't want to stay and I used to cram it full of 7 or 8 sandwiches. Once I was told I couldn't take it because the container was stretched to the max and still quasi open. I looked the guy dead in the eye and squished the box closed, my food along with it, and walked out the door. Ah memories

Brian Borlaug

Lol us that true, did he think 5 year olds were jacking off?. I kinda feel like watching porn and eating cornflakes now.

Ryan Murdoch

My favorite thing about the original cornflakes is how the guy who invented them, thought they would stop kids from jacking off...

Brandon Hardman

I don't remember the TMNT cereal, but I know it was a thing because all my life growing up I had a Leonardo bowl that came with a box of cereal. I used that bowl well into my teenage years. I remember how bummed I was when it cracked.

Nate McKinney

I was born in '86, so this topic definitely resonated with me. Now that I'm an adult, I firmly believe the cereal people, Saturday morning cartoon networks and toy advertisers were totally conspiring together. Fucking genius scheme. My go to cereals were: Cinnamon toast crunch, Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, Honey Nut Cheerios, Cocoa Pebbles, and Apple Cinnamon Cheerios.

Nate McKinney

Holy shit I can't believe Dagan brought up Ka Boom hahaha awesome!!

Jeremy Cochran

Just a little correction for one of the "It's About Time" answers. Queen Elizabeth II began her reign in 1952. Her coronation was in 1953.

Jeff Pollard

Finally signed up to Patreon, on the $1 tier but after the amount of content I was getting I immediately upped to $5. Can't belive how many podcasts you put out. Never thought I needed a podcast on breakfast cereal but here I am :) keep up the good work.

Michael Robinson

Honey Bunches of Oats is also my favorite cereal. Had to stop buying it because it became so addicting, and would give me tired itis throughout the day. If they somehow made Frosted Flake milk, I would buy it all the time. Hi-C is still great. Get it every time I go to Five Guys. lol

Brandon Soto

Before I start this, let me just say I can’t believe this episode on cereal is nearly two and a half hours long. This is why I love you guys.

Ian (616Entertainment)

I might be insane, but I haven't eaten cereal with milk for maybe a decade. I typically get a bowl full of cereal with a plastic spoon (so I don't taste the metal) and eat it alongside drinking a bottle of water. I mostly eat granola, but I treat it as a sweetened snack rather than a breakfast. I'm not a healthy person by any stretch of the imagination, so I'm not sure why I do this.

Whoa, I am way too excited for this episode! I am a man with strong cereal opinions.

Collin Sparling

Looking forward to listening to this. My dad was (is) a bit eccentric when it comes to breakfast cereal. He would get fixated on a certain type of cereal and only eat that type - for years. He even installed an extra shelf in the pantry to fit the two dozen boxes he would buy at a time. When I was a kid, it was Honey Bunches Strawberry, and when I visited him last month it was Cinnamon Cheerios.

Connor Rhude

Cinnamon Toast Crunch was my fave growing up. Remember that urban legend that Mikey from the life cereal commercials died from eating pop rocks and soda!

Dennis Sparta

Captain crunch Berries is the lord of cereals. All others bow down.

Will Ellis