Special K Nourish Apple Raspberry Almond with Quinoa

I saw this new cereal today and noticed it contained quinoa, the trendy grain that's been around forever but is now making the foodie rounds as it is high in protein compared to most grains.
(Quinoa is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a grain crop primarily for its edible seeds. Quinoa is not a grass, but rather a pseudocereal botanically related to spinach and amaranth (Amaranthus spp.). Wikipedia)   
Quinoa is popular with vegans as a good source of protein. As consumers become more conscious of their supposed need for protein, you find more products attempting to capitalize on that.  Just look at the  yogurt aisle. Greek yogurt, high in protein, is now the most popular yogurt. Protein bars are big sellers. Even a notoriously high carb cereal, high glycemic index cereal like Special K has gotten into the act with this new offering. 

Hmm.. five grams of protein in one cup of this cereal. One cup of plain cooked oatmeal has 6 grams of protein. The fat content looks reasonable, but holy moley, check out the carbs!  44 grams, 40 net grams. The aforementioned oatmeal has 23 net carbs per cup of cooked oatmeal. Okay, I get it. Not everyone likes oatmeal and for those who do like cold cereal, this could be a decent choice if you're specifically looking for a cold cereal with a slightly higher protein content. 10 grams of sugar is also kind of high as well as the 180 grams of sodium. Confession - I love cereal. I could literally eat it for every meal and be super happy about it. However, unless it's plain shredded wheat or Cheerios or some other healthy, low-sugar cereal, I have come to view cereal as a treat, not as a meal. 

What is quinoa flour?  So, there is no whole grain quinoa in this. I smell false labeling. At least there are whole grain wheat and whole grain oats. Did you notice the FOUR different kinds of sugar/sweetener?  Yikes!!  

Here is approximately one cup of the cereal. I took out a couple pieces of dehydrated fruit, a "cluster" and something that reminds me of that awful Kashi cereal. I looked around in the bowl for an almond, but I didn't find one. I opened the bag and saw that they kind of settled at the bottom. I guess it wouldn't hurt to shake the box around a little before opening and pouring it. As you can see, there are very few raspberries, but quite a few apple pieces. 

The taste was good, but it was pretty sweet. I reminded me a lot of the original Special K but with a slightly crunchier texture. The apple pieces were a nice addition. The "Kashi-ish" pieces were relatively tasteless, but the clusters were sweet and nutty. 

I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk on my bowl, just for reference. The cereal held up well and didn't get soggy too quickly. That was definitely a plus because I really dislike soggy cereal. 

Final thoughts - I probably won't buy this again. It's tasty, but it's high in calories, carbs and sugar. If I want a sweet cereal, I can buy someting legitimately unhealthy and cut the calories and carbs in half. Frosted flakes would be a good option. Don't buy this thinking it's healthy just because it's called "nourish" and has quinoa in it. Quinoa is very easy to prepare and it's good cold with raisins and milk, kind of like rice pudding. There are better products out there that are less processed and much healthier.