I always cringe when I turn on the TV and see a commercial where outrageous claims are made about a breakfast cereal.

Sometimes, they tell you that replacing meals with cereal will help you lose weight.

The latest ones, for Cheerios, promise to lower your cholesterol.

And while these toasted little carbs are usually dunked in milk, right now they’re in hot water over that claim.

The FDA says the packaging blurbs that claim the cereal can lower your cholesterol levels by 4 percent in six weeks make it sound like a drug. And Cheerios, the agency notes, is not approved as a drug.

I don’t know what the more ridiculous part of this story is: the fact that the FDA is ignoring Big Pharma’s worst offenses and targeting a breakfast cereal, or the fact that anyone really would believe that Cheerios is the right way to lower their cholesterol.

Why the FDA is throwing its resources there is beyond me, especially when you consider the big problems we’re having with food and prescription drugs in this country. The only thing I can imagine is that some of those statin makers are starting to get a little nervous.

After all, lowering cholesterol is supposed to be their game – so I wouldn’t be surprised if Big Pharma quietly put some pressure on the FDA behind the scenes. Those statins are some of their biggest moneymakers, and they don’t want a cheap breakfast food muscling in on their turf.

Now, the fact is loading up on cereal is not a great way to reduce your cholesterol. To me, even a cereal as seemingly harmless as Cheerios is little more than a box of carbs, and most of us don’t need any more of those.

Sure, if you replace one extremely unhealthy meal per day with a less unhealthy meal, you might see some minor improvements – and that’s where cereals get to make these claims.

But you can do so much better by making some real changes to your lifestyle, which is the only way to truly get your cholesterol levels under control.

Avoid carbs, stick to fresh meats and healthy veggies – organic if you can – and move around a little more. I guarantee you’ll see some improvements over time.

Some of you might need a little more help than that – but that’s no reason to turn to some cereal-based diet or, worse yet, medications.

If you find that lifestyle changes alone haven’t quite made enough of a difference on your cholesterol levels, be sure to check out the July issue of Health Revelations, where I’ll have a detailed plan to help you control your cholesterol levels on your own, without drugs or fad diets. Subscribe now and get complete access to our online archives, too.

Now, go eat a real breakfast – but skip the cereal.