Uncle Sam Cereal Review and Prelude to a Contest

Just over a month ago I won a contest that Carissa had on her blog Fit To Indulge. The prize was a coupon from Attune Foods for a free box of Uncle Sam cereal. A few things came into play when I decided to try to win:
I am a sucker for "Uncle Sam" things. If the product was called "Uncle Sam's Sandpaper based Toilet Tissue", I probably would still want to win it.
Carissa is a dietitian who practices what she preaches. I can't take advice from people who aren't willing to put their money where their mouth is. Like overweight doctors. What?
I had never tried anything with Flaxseed before, and, well, if i could do it for FREEEE? Bonus. Alright, here we go.....
My typical breakfast consists of some fat free plain yogurt with GoLean Crunch  some other crunchy cereal and either banana ("blub-blubs"!) or strawberries or blueberries or nothing, and a cuppa coffee (I hope I win some in Neil's contest!). Simple.
When I got the box of Uncle Sam, the first thing I noticed on the top lid was this warning:
"PLEASE NOTE: TURN PACKAGE UPSIDE DOWN AND SHAKE BEFORE SERVING. THIS PROMOTES EVEN DISTRIBUTION OF FLAXSEED IN EACH SERVING"  (good to know!).
So I shook it. Like a polaroid picture. For the first 'test' I used 2% milk. Batman helped make sure that I used the right portion of cereal (serving size 3/4 cup (55g)). I think that this is the first (and last) time I have ever measured cereal. Breakfast looked like this:

I don't like soggy cereal so I started to eat right away. I did NOT add any sugar to it, although some honey drizzled on top might not be bad. Or perhaps some Real Vermont Maple Syrup. (That link serves as the aforementioned 'prelude'). Right. So....The flavor is mild, earthy, but not at all like most of those highly marketed high fiber high bran cereals that fill supermarket shelves. No twigs and bark here! Just tasty, mild flakes. And seeds. Did I mention the seeds? No? Well......
Flaxseeds. This was my first experience with them, so I didn't know what to expect. They are a bit crunchy, but then again they almost seem to 'pop' when you bite them. I did notice that there was a slightly 'oily' feeling on the roof of my mouth when I was done, but the hot coffee took care of that. What the java didn't take care of was the seeds stuck between my teeth. For this reason, Uncle Sam is not really first date material. (Although, if you ARE sharing it for breakfast, chances are you have already had the first date). In a word: brush your teeth. Or swish the coffee around like I did. Saves time!
The second day I ate the cereal, I tried it with yogurt. I put in too much, and it turned my yogurt to cement. Tasty cement, but cement none-the-less. My advice? Go lytely. I mean LIGHTLY. whew. (big, BIG difference there....)
I honestly enjoyed this cereal. I didn't eat it every day, and the box lasted me about a week and a half. One caveat, though. If you are lactose intolerant, I suggest using yogurt with this cereal. The combo of fiber and my 'intolerance'....well.....sped things up a bit after the second day. With yogurt? No problems. Regular readers of this blog know my sentiments toward cow's milk anyway. What? You don't? Read this.
I have yet to come up with my rating system for reviews, but if I had, Uncle Sam cereal from Attune Foods would rank way up there. On the simple scale of 0-11 (0 being worst), I give it an:

(for you youngsters out there, this is an EIGHT track cassett. go ask your parents....)

I found the cereal in the 'healthy foods' section of our local Shaw's supermarket. Well worth trying out!