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America's appetite for natural food is changing, and General Mills noticed.

Artificial ingredients be warned: Your approval ratings are taking a hit.

General Mills just made a big decision to make its cereal products more ... well, like real food.

It's a pretty huge move for the company, which sells a ton of cereal (like, more cereal than any other company in the U.S.), and it was prompted by one simple fact: Americans are demanding better.

“We're simply listening to consumers and these ingredients are not what people are looking for in their cereal today," Jim Murphy, president of General Mills' cereal division, explained.

The cereal giant announced that it's aiming to have artificial flavors and colors removed from every last one of its cereal brands by the end of 2017.

Cool! But wait, will my breakfast taste less delicious?

You really don't want to mess with a man and his breakfast cereals. Image via Thinkstock.

According to General Mills, "The goal is to match the taste that consumers love."

Phew. Image via Thinkstock.

Over the next two years, they'll replace artificial products with more recognizable and familiar ingredients (aka foods you can actually pronounce).

Take, for instance, everyone's favorite kids-only cereal, Trix.

To keep those bright hues in what's arguably the tastiest cereal around, General Mills will swap in things like fruit and veggie juice and turmeric extract (OK, so "turmeric" might not be the easiest to pronounce, but at least it's something that grows in the ground).


Image via General Mills, used with permisson.

General Mills isn't flying solo in switching things up to meet America's evolving taste for natural ingredients.

This year alone, fast-food giants Taco Bell, Subway, and Chipotle and others announced sweeping changes to rid their menus of artificial products, too.

The adjustments shouldn't be a surprise to anyone paying attention. Nielsen's 2015 Global Health and Wellness report found that to roughly 30% of North Americans, it's "very important" an item doesn't have artificial colors or flavors when they're making decisions at the grocery store.

So bravo, General Mills, for helping breakfasts all over America go au naturel, one bowl at a time.

Joy

Sorry, Labradors. After 31 years, America has a new favorite dog.

The American Kennel Club has crowned a new favorite.

via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

The sweet-faced, loveable Labrador Retriever is no longer America’s favorite dog breed. The breed best known for having a heart of gold has been replaced by the smaller, more urban-friendly French Bulldog.

According to the American Kennel Club, for the past 31 years, the Labrador Retriever was America’s favorite dog, but it was eclipsed in 2022 by the Frenchie. The rankings are based on nearly 716,500 dogs newly registered in 2022, of which about 1 in 7 were Frenchies. Around 108,000 French Bulldogs were recorded in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing Labrador Retrievers by over 21,000.

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Pop Culture

Author is causing debate over theory that we've 'tricked' ourselves into loving lobster

"Lobsters are like diamonds. Bad product, great marketing."

via JasonKPargin/TikTok

Jason K. Pargin shares his controversial theory on lobster.

Novelist Jason K. Pargin has inspired an online food fight after his video about lobster received over 500,000 views on Tiktok and nearly 6 million on Twitter. Pargin believes that we’ve all been tricked into liking lobster and that people only like it because it’s considered high class.

Pargin is the author of the “John Dies at the End” and “Zoey Ashe” series and the former editor of Cracked.com.

"I don't think anyone actually enjoys eating lobster. I think they've just been convinced that it's a high-class food for a really specific reason,” Pargin says in his controversial video. He then describes how just a few centuries ago lobster was once used as prisoners' food and ground into fertilizer.

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Joy

An 8-year-old snuck his handwritten book onto a library shelf. Now it has a 56-person waiting list.

Dillon Helbig's 81-page graphic novel— written by "Dillon His Self"—captured the hearts of his local librarians and their patrons.

KTVB/YouTube

Dillon Helbig's 81-page graphic novel captured the hearts of his local librarians.

Writing a book is no easy task, even for adult professional writers. Many would-be authors dream of a day when their work can be found on library shelves, unsure if it will ever come.

But for 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, that day has already arrived—in truly unconventional fashion—thanks to his own determination to make it happen.

Dillon wrote his 81-page graphic novel, "The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis" (written by "Dillon His Self") in a hardcover journal with colored pencils over the course of a few days. He even put a label on the back of the book that reads "Made in Idho" [sic] and put an illustrated spine label on it as well. Then, without telling anyone, he brought it to his local library in Boise, Idaho, and slipped it in among the books in the children's section.

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family
Pop Culture

This 1940s guide on 'how to be pretty' for teen girls has some surprisingly modern suggestions

In a resurfaced video from the 1940s, Mary Stuyvesant, a Ponds beauty consultant, spoke to a group of high school girls about "how to be pretty."

Glamourdaze/YouTube

1940s guide on "how to be pretty" is surprisingly modern.

Often, when we think of the 1940s and the messaging that was sent to women and girls back then, we tend to imagine lessons about how to get and keep a husband. But it turns out that all messaging wasn't the same and some girls were receiving a much more progressive message about their appearance.

In a resurfaced video from the 1940s, Mary Stuyvesant, a Ponds beauty consultant, spoke to a group of high school girls about "how to be pretty." Surprisingly, the advice is rather timeless and not at all focused on becoming the best wife and mother you can be, but on learning to care for yourself. Stuyvesant refers to your physical appearance as icing on a cake and that good icing tastes nice but the cake is the most important part.

She goes on to explain to the girls that who they are as people is the cake and that's the part that needs the most attention.

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how to be pretty
Joy

Weatherman rescues a chicken in a blizzard and now they're an unlikely best friend duo

"Now that she's a part of the family, she's a total diva!"

The Dodo/YoutTube

Weatherman rescues a chicken in a blizzard and now they're friends.

There's a little-known saying that every weatherman needs a chicken. OK, it's little known because I totally just made it up, but you have to admit, it's just random enough to make you wonder if you missed out on a weird colloquialism. But in this case, it may be a new saying because weatherman David Neal found a stray chicken while reporting on a blizzard, and they've somehow become best friends.

The chicken, now named Penelope, was running around in the snowstorm while Neal was filming, so he tried to catch her so he could make sure she was warm. Penelope had other plans and gave Neal a literal run for his money. Eventually, with the help of a bystander who was likely as confused as the chicken, Neal was able to get Penny in his arms.

Of course, he had some explaining to do once the cameras were rolling again, and he handled it like the pro he is, holding a live chicken.

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Pop Culture

Taylor Swift wows fans by diving below the stage of her Eras Tour concert

Even non-Swifties agreed that this move was next level.

Today Info/Youtube

Taylor Swift "diving" below the stage of her Eras Tour concert

The highly anticipated, Ticketmaster-bustingTaylor Swift Eras Tour has officially begun. And it’s looking like the pop star is pulling out all the stops to deliver a heap of spectacle.

Case in point—a video from the “Anti-Hero” pop star's kick-off concert that’s making quite the splash online.

In a mesmerizing blend of live performance and hologram wizardry, audiences saw Swift, clad in a flowy red dress, dive into a pool built into the stage. She then swam across to emerge through waves in a shimmery jumpsuit, just before climbing a ladder and disappearing into a cloud.

Basically, it was like a romantic fairy tale brought to life.

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