The Smiling Heart

  Thought I’d take a picture of the new GF Honey Nut Chex box. I have read a lot of conflicting things on the blogs out there. The new boxes DO have the “Now Gluten Free” image on the front despite what General Mills is showing on their page. There is NO MALT FLAVORING in the ingredients list. I was at the Super Walmart that’s just down the road last night. I thought I would check the cereal aisle just to see if they had the new Chex cereals on the shelf. Sure enough, just as pretty as a picture, there they were!! I was surprised how excited I felt. I LOVE cold cereal, don’t get me wrong. I have other health problems though. I, also, have Juvenile Diabetes and because of this I have stayed away from a lot of cereal. Cereal would send my blood sugar through the roof and I would be sick all day long. No matter how much I loved cereal it was not worth the cost. So I would avoid it until the memory faded and then I would give in thinking it must not be that bad only to suffer miserably for my failing memory. After I was diagnosed with the Celiac I quickly put two and two together and thought perhaps it was the gluten that was having such a profound affect on my blood sugar. Sure enough, I can manage my blood sugar levels much easier now while eating gluten free cereals but the lessons of a lifetime do not fade away quite so easily. So I wasn’t expecting to be as excited as I was when I turned that corner and saw the Rice, Corn, Cinnamon, and Honey Nut Chex cereal boxes sitting there with those three beautiful words on them! I think I may have heard angels singing in the background, too. =) It was a sight to behold and then my eyes moved down and I saw the price tag on the shelf and I’ll admit I let out a tiny scream of elation. It said $2.58!! $2.58 for a whole, big box of cereal that I could find on the regular shelf in any grocery store no less!! Oh, it’s these small moments in life that bring happiness. String them all together and soon you have a large moment embracing a certain area of your life. This small moment was added to the small moment when I discovered Tinkyada pasta and knew I would never, never have to go without a good spaghetti dinner even if I was a Celiac. I’m still working on my large moment but I have no doubt it will get larger as Celiacs lose our special power of invisibility and the world has to deal with us. Eat up, friends!! Eat up!

Just a quick post to say that the General Mill’s Chex cereals are now gluten free!!! Yay!!! They have removed the barley malt flavoring and substituted with another flavoring. It’s TRUE, my Celiac friends! So run to the store, don’t walk, run! Buy some cereal off the regular cereal aisle and have a party! Okay…. maybe not a party, but you can do a little dance in your kitchen while you eat it. Don’t forget to call General Mills and thank them for their decision to reformulate in our favor. Hopefully, they will follow by reformulating some of their other cereals and then maybe Kellogg’s will wake up…… and then (!!!!) the world will be ours! *lol* Well, it’s a wonderful first step anyway. Remember to be careful the first few times you go to buy your Chex that it is the NEW formulation. The stores may still have some old product on their shelves. Read the label like we always do. It will now say “Now Gluten Free” on the front of the box, too. Here’s the number to call and thank them:

Call: 1-800-248-7310 between (7:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. CT, weekdays)

Fax: 1-763-764-8330

Write: General Mills, Inc.
              P.O. Box 9452
             Minneapolis, MN 55440

HAPPY EATING!!!