Curves Cereal. Whole Grain Crunch, and Honey Crunch. $3.49 per 11-ounce to 16.5-ounce box.

Bonnie: Curves is that fitness franchise designed for women to spend 30 minutes, three times a week, at their gyms. Combined with a Curves workout, these two new Curves cereals from General Mills can purportedly help women manage their weight.

I like it that Curves combines exercise and diet, with the boxes offering helpful tips to help you lose weight and keep it off. That includes the self-serving advice to "eat breakfast" and include more whole-grain foods in your diet because, according to a General Mills dietitian, "Women who have diets rich in whole-grain foods tend to have healthier body weights ... and gain less weight over time."

I say self-serving because these breakfast cereals are rich in whole grains. Still, these statements are generally true, and these cereals are generally good for you.

Both varieties contain about 200 calories, 1 gram of fat, 5 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugar and 28 grams of whole grain per realistic 53-gram serving. The Honey Crunch tastes better, although I can recommend both.

Carolyn: These cereals are one of two sets of new General Mills products sold under the name of those enormously popular women-only gyms (the other product is granola bars).

Curves cereals are similar to Total and Special K, except that these are puffed flakes that stay crunchy longer in milk. Like the Curves program of exercising

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three times a week in 30-minute sessions, these cereals are sensible, reasonably healthy and fairly appealing. In fact, they're much more sensible, healthy and appealing than the shakes, nutritional supplements and diet foods sold at the gyms.

Could that explain the glaring absence of any reference to the gyms on these Curves cereal packages and press materials?

Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and profes sional speaker. Car olyn Wyman is a junk-food fanatic and author of "Better Than Homemade: Am azing Foods That Changed the Way We Eat" (Quirk). Each week they cri tique new food items. For previous columns, visit www.supermar ketsampler.com, and for more food info and chances to win free products, visit www.biteofthe best.com.