Unfortunately as a diabetic, oatmeal is one of the most difficult foods to control. I question how healthy it is given how high and how fast my blood sugar spikes after eating some. Oats are converted to glucose very quickly it seems, and that's without all the added sugar OP recommends. I won't dispute that it's delicious though.
Are we talking of steel-cut oats here? The glycemic index for steel-cut oats is moderate. Instant oats, on the other hand, raise your blood glucose very rapidly.
Oats are about 15% calories from protein, 85% from carbs.
High protein foods would be:
egg white (90% calories from protein), chicken breast (80%), lean fish such as cod (90%)
medium protein foods would be:
fatty beef (e.g. ribeye) 50% calories from protein, cottage cheese (60%), fatty fish like salmon (55% calories from protein), whole eggs (fatty yolk plus white, 36% calories from protein), soybeans (36-40%)
low protein foods would be:
lentils (30%), 2% milk (26% calories from protein), lima beans (22% protein), parmesan cheese (30%), summer squash/zuccini (24% protein), most mushrooms (25-30%).
very-low protein foods would be:
rice (9%), onions (9%), winter squash (10%), red bell peppers (12-13%), sweet corn (12%)
Here, by very low, I mean if you try to get your protein from these sources, you will end up obese unless you expend extreme amounts of energy exercising or maintain serious protein deficiencies (muscle loss). You can get decent amount of protein if you are downing lentils, whole milk, parmesan, soybeans, salmon, etc, e.g. you don't need to eat high protein foods, but this is about the bottom level to get reasonable protein while maintaining reasonable weight unless you are a day laborer or expending massive calories.
At only 15% calories from protein (the rest being carbs), oats would be not much better than corn in terms of protein content per calorie consumed. Nothing wrong with eating some corn on the cob, but that's not gonna be a major source of protein for anyone unless you are willing to consume huge amounts of carbs.
I assume they mean non animal sources of protein. Of course it'll be hard for plant based foods to compete. Out of non animal sources, oatmeal is pretty good, especially as a cheap staple food no less
The human body does not grade on a curve. There is as much protein in oatmeal per calorie as there is in red bell peppers and obviously people don't cite red bell peppers as a high protein food, this is true even if for some reason they really prefer to eat red bell peppers.
If you want something from non-animal sources, go for mushrooms and soybeans, which have twice as much protein per calorie as oats. Mushrooms are an under-rated source of protein, as is cottage cheese.
Use thicker oats. Do not add sugar or any sweet milk. Also, if you sprinkle ceylon cinnamon and fenugreek powders, the impact will be less. For more effect, I used to microwave it in black tea instead of water.
Heating and then cooling oatmeal should allow it to form some resistant starch of type RS3. This will spike glucose a little less, but it causes much more gas.
Other effective hacks are gymnema, berberine, thiamine, and benfotiamine supplements, all of which help with glucose regulation.
Acacia fiber powder in oatmeal could be a worthy hack too, but I have yet to try it.
I used oatmeal with water and it has always spiked - every body is different. How much less did it spike when you used fenugreek ? What other blood sugar spike hack do you use?
Others that I know of — frozen bread changes starch, or extra virgin oil and almond butter are high in oleic acid so with the right amount it won’t spike as much
I have now updated the parent comment with more hacks. As for a quantification, I don't have one. The only related metric I quantify is HbA1c that I measure at home every few months.
I do the same, I think I've had it for breakfast almost every day for the last year. My wife can't stand having the same thing more than a few times in a row (not sure how common this is), but I don't mind it at all.
All the accompaniments suggested are sweet so I'll say something I've said before: oatmeal works fine with savory accompaniments. If it's made at the normal porridge-like thickness, any toppings or add-ins that work with Asian rice porridge recipes (congee, dakjuk, etc.) will work with it. If it's made with a very thick consistency, it can be treated similarly to mashed potatoes or polenta
Great point! Also, steel-cut oats can replace grits in dishes such as grits and eggs. An improvement health-wise obviously, but arguably also taste-wise.
Organic soy milk powder by Now Foods is extremely underrated as a milk substitute. It goes very well with oats. Unlike milk, it practically doesn't expire, it doesn't have sugar, and you don't need to maintain a fresh supply.
I recently started eating oatmeal a few times a week and really enjoy it.
I was diagnosed as celiac last summer, so I had to give up a lot of my old breakfast foods like bagels and such. I'm lucky that I found a really good gluten free oatmeal that I can buy at Costco. It's really good and good for you! I'm happy about that.
I haven't really lost any weight since my diagnosis, which is a shame. I figured that cutting out bread and pasta would be good, but it hasn't changed much. Too much rice I guess
Just a few hours ago while celebrating Easter, I had a discussion about oatmeal with my girlfriend's husband's dad about all the ways oatmeal can be enjoyed. My favorite way to make it is let the oatmeal sit overnight in vanilla soy milk, then mix in peanut butter, coffee, and cocoa powder or chocolate protein powder, and microwave. It's so good. I eat that at work maybe two or 3 times a week.
I do roughly the same thing -Just oats with nuts and berries, no coffee or powder- but I haven't landed on what kind of oats to use yet for soaked oats. There are a ton of different kinds out there.
Quick oats are typically just rolled/cut to be smaller, so that they have a higher total surface area and so soak up liquid more easily. The downside is that this also makes them easier/faster to digest, so they have a higher glycaemic index (i.e. deliver a higher blood sugar spike) and give a shorter period of satiety.
Rolled oats are the uncut variety, which don't cook quickly for convenient porridge, but are great to soak as overnight oats. You can also get some which are basically in the middle - cut a bit so good for reasonably quick porridge (~5-7 minutes) but a bit more filling.
Interesting. Unless we have different standards for what constitutes a cooked oat, maybe we're talking about slightly different things? The full-size rolled oats (sometimes called 'robust') here in Germany are nowhere close to soft (and are still distinctly floating in the milk) after simmering for 20+ minutes. The alternative is also described as rolled oats (sometimes called 'tender') but are visually smaller; that's what cooks in 5-6 minutes.
This must be different, the "old fashioned rolled oats" sold in America would be more than done after 20 minutes of simmering.
Going by Bob's Red Mill, which is an excellent brand, we've got:
* Old Fashioned rolled oats, 10 minutes: https://www.bobsredmill.com/product/regular-rolled-oats [the store brand I always see, on the other hand, is 5 minutes]
* Steel cut oats, 15-20 minutes (this is a lie, it takes longer than 20 minutes for them to get sufficiently soft in my experience, for any steel cut oat brand): https://www.bobsredmill.com/product/steel-cut-oats
They also have a second species of oats that are significantly higher in protein, and they take 15+ minutes to cook in "rolled oat" form, which from personal experience is accurate: https://www.bobsredmill.com/product/protein-oats
Alton Brown did a great episode of good eats about oats.
Basically, the faster they cook the fewer vitamins and minerals and good things there are in it for you
That’s begging the question, you have to first establish the need for protein at every meal. And I’m not even going to begin to address that digression.
So there’s a kind of filter in your kidneys that handles protein.
Over a lifetime that gets worn out.
Once it is perforated by too much protein, or if there was a problem with it, very bad things start to happen.
Having too much protein, especially the amount pushed by certain industries here in the United States, is maybe not healthy, no.
You just googled or asked a chatbot to find you an article and haven't actually read it, have you?
#1 literally says
> For people with healthy kidneys, higher protein intake is generally safe.
#2 addresses the issues of some specific diets ("very-low-carb or ketogenic diets") that "may be low in fiber-rich carbohydrates". I did not advocate for "very-low-carb or ketogenic diets". Also, it doesn't say anything about potential harms of protein itself.
#3 "It Can Crowd Out Other Nutrients"
Again, no mention of supposed "harms of too much protein", only harms of "too little everything else". I never suggested to go crazy and stop eating other foods.
#4 deals with "type of protein" that "may be just as important as the amount of protein" and is irrelevant to your argument.
#5
> A very high-protein diet, particularly one high in animal foods, can increase the risk of kidney stones, especially for people with a history of these conditions or those who don’t drink enough water.
Well, just drink enough water then. Also, I was talking about generally healthy people. I am not qualified to discuss diet choices of people "with a history of these conditions".
#6 "Protein Bars and Powders Can Backfire"
I never suggested any of this. Also, this doesn't address supposed harms of protein itself, so it is irrelevant again.
No, I'm interested in nutrition, I backed up the risks with a link. Complex carbs and simple carbs are not the same (your original dismissal). Fiber is important for everyone, there's studies that show too little fiber is the cause of a lot of nutrition issues (possibly including IBS, which is a strange relation). Too much protein is not healthy and has risks (despite your unbacked claim). Protein rich unprocessed food is fine, it'll come with fiber.
Unprocessed fiber-containing carbs are fairly healthy. I get protein in lunch and dinner, and I don't need my oatmeal breakfast to be protein heavy. Oatmeal for lunch doesn't make much sense in isolation.
> Unprocessed fiber-containing carbs are fairly healthy.
I never said that oats are unhealthy or that carbs are unhealthy. I said that a meal without protein is not the best idea.
My critique was not directed at a particular food item but at the meal composition as a whole.
> I get protein in lunch and dinner, and I don't need my oatmeal breakfast to be protein heavy.
TFA suggests to eat oatmeal for lunch.
> Oatmeal for lunch doesn't make much sense in isolation.
I agree!
I guess, it is possible to make oatmeal for lunch work if you up the protein and somewhat reduce carbs in breakfast and dinner, but way? I think that it is much easier to just make a habit to include a high protein food item in every meal. There is basically no downsides to eating too much protein and there are a lot of potential problems if you eat too little.
> There is basically no downsides to eating too much protein
A more nuanced opinion from the Harvard Medical School:
"Can too much protein be harmful?
The short answer is yes. As with most things in life, there can be too much of a good thing and if you eat too much protein, there may be a price to pay. For example, people that eat very high protein diets have a higher risk of kidney stones. Also a high protein diet that contains lots of red meat and higher amounts of saturated fat might lead to a higher risk of heart disease and colon cancer, while another high protein diet rich in plant-based proteins may not carry similar risks." [0]
> A weight-based recommended daily allowance (RDA) of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight.
> However, for the average healthy person (who is not an elite athlete or heavily involved in body building) it's probably best to keep total protein intake to no more than 2 gm/kg of ideal body weight
So, you can increase your protein intake about 2.5 times above RDA without any issues? I would call this "basically no downsides".
Oatmeal is for breakfast, lentils are for lunch. Here's a good lentil recipe: https://web.archive.org/web/20200309092143/https://www.washi...
Unfortunately as a diabetic, oatmeal is one of the most difficult foods to control. I question how healthy it is given how high and how fast my blood sugar spikes after eating some. Oats are converted to glucose very quickly it seems, and that's without all the added sugar OP recommends. I won't dispute that it's delicious though.
Are we talking of steel-cut oats here? The glycemic index for steel-cut oats is moderate. Instant oats, on the other hand, raise your blood glucose very rapidly.
When using a continuous glucose monitor I found that oatmeal would spike my glucose except when I would add protein powder and chia seeds.
Oats are already one of the most protein dense foods
Oats are about 15% calories from protein, 85% from carbs.
High protein foods would be: egg white (90% calories from protein), chicken breast (80%), lean fish such as cod (90%)
medium protein foods would be: fatty beef (e.g. ribeye) 50% calories from protein, cottage cheese (60%), fatty fish like salmon (55% calories from protein), whole eggs (fatty yolk plus white, 36% calories from protein), soybeans (36-40%)
low protein foods would be: lentils (30%), 2% milk (26% calories from protein), lima beans (22% protein), parmesan cheese (30%), summer squash/zuccini (24% protein), most mushrooms (25-30%).
very-low protein foods would be: rice (9%), onions (9%), winter squash (10%), red bell peppers (12-13%), sweet corn (12%)
Here, by very low, I mean if you try to get your protein from these sources, you will end up obese unless you expend extreme amounts of energy exercising or maintain serious protein deficiencies (muscle loss). You can get decent amount of protein if you are downing lentils, whole milk, parmesan, soybeans, salmon, etc, e.g. you don't need to eat high protein foods, but this is about the bottom level to get reasonable protein while maintaining reasonable weight unless you are a day laborer or expending massive calories.
At only 15% calories from protein (the rest being carbs), oats would be not much better than corn in terms of protein content per calorie consumed. Nothing wrong with eating some corn on the cob, but that's not gonna be a major source of protein for anyone unless you are willing to consume huge amounts of carbs.
I assume they mean non animal sources of protein. Of course it'll be hard for plant based foods to compete. Out of non animal sources, oatmeal is pretty good, especially as a cheap staple food no less
The human body does not grade on a curve. There is as much protein in oatmeal per calorie as there is in red bell peppers and obviously people don't cite red bell peppers as a high protein food, this is true even if for some reason they really prefer to eat red bell peppers.
If you want something from non-animal sources, go for mushrooms and soybeans, which have twice as much protein per calorie as oats. Mushrooms are an under-rated source of protein, as is cottage cheese.
If you wouldn’t mind indulging me, I’m very curious how you came to be of that opinion
Steel cut oats or groats solves this problem.
Use thicker oats. Do not add sugar or any sweet milk. Also, if you sprinkle ceylon cinnamon and fenugreek powders, the impact will be less. For more effect, I used to microwave it in black tea instead of water.
Heating and then cooling oatmeal should allow it to form some resistant starch of type RS3. This will spike glucose a little less, but it causes much more gas.
Other effective hacks are gymnema, berberine, thiamine, and benfotiamine supplements, all of which help with glucose regulation.
Acacia fiber powder in oatmeal could be a worthy hack too, but I have yet to try it.
I used oatmeal with water and it has always spiked - every body is different. How much less did it spike when you used fenugreek ? What other blood sugar spike hack do you use? Others that I know of — frozen bread changes starch, or extra virgin oil and almond butter are high in oleic acid so with the right amount it won’t spike as much
I have now updated the parent comment with more hacks. As for a quantification, I don't have one. The only related metric I quantify is HbA1c that I measure at home every few months.
It should look something like this.
https://www.runningwithspoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06...
Or Quaker rolled oats, that's probably fine too.
I eat oatmeal for breakfast every day. Can’t imagine skipping it though.
I do the same, I think I've had it for breakfast almost every day for the last year. My wife can't stand having the same thing more than a few times in a row (not sure how common this is), but I don't mind it at all.
There's also a subculture of savoury oats. All sorts of recipes involving adding veg, eggs, cheese, spices...
Reminds me of Norway's Matpakke, the "Most boring lunch in the world":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlNmeVK_zLg
All the accompaniments suggested are sweet so I'll say something I've said before: oatmeal works fine with savory accompaniments. If it's made at the normal porridge-like thickness, any toppings or add-ins that work with Asian rice porridge recipes (congee, dakjuk, etc.) will work with it. If it's made with a very thick consistency, it can be treated similarly to mashed potatoes or polenta
Great point! Also, steel-cut oats can replace grits in dishes such as grits and eggs. An improvement health-wise obviously, but arguably also taste-wise.
Why are you all heating it?, eat it raw with milk unheated
As I recall, raw oats are not edible. All of the "raw" oats that you can buy are not actually raw, they are at least steamed.
Cumin powder goes well in oatmeal as a savory addition.
Adding a small amount of protein powder unlocks a whole slew of flavours too!
Organic soy milk powder by Now Foods is extremely underrated as a milk substitute. It goes very well with oats. Unlike milk, it practically doesn't expire, it doesn't have sugar, and you don't need to maintain a fresh supply.
Quinoa base can be good too. With a bit of cinnamon/maple syrup/vanilla etc to take the edge off the bitterness (on top of rinsing well).
I recently started eating oatmeal a few times a week and really enjoy it.
I was diagnosed as celiac last summer, so I had to give up a lot of my old breakfast foods like bagels and such. I'm lucky that I found a really good gluten free oatmeal that I can buy at Costco. It's really good and good for you! I'm happy about that.
I haven't really lost any weight since my diagnosis, which is a shame. I figured that cutting out bread and pasta would be good, but it hasn't changed much. Too much rice I guess
Just a few hours ago while celebrating Easter, I had a discussion about oatmeal with my girlfriend's husband's dad about all the ways oatmeal can be enjoyed. My favorite way to make it is let the oatmeal sit overnight in vanilla soy milk, then mix in peanut butter, coffee, and cocoa powder or chocolate protein powder, and microwave. It's so good. I eat that at work maybe two or 3 times a week.
> with my girlfriend's husband's dad
With your what now?
I can’t figure out which is worse, a girlfriend’s husband’s dad, or a husband’s girlfriend’s dad.
My girlfriend is married but they been split up for like 10+ years, just never got divorced. We're all friends and it's all good.
I appreciate the world building in this oatmeal comment
that was an unexpected Occam!
I do roughly the same thing -Just oats with nuts and berries, no coffee or powder- but I haven't landed on what kind of oats to use yet for soaked oats. There are a ton of different kinds out there.
I usually just get the quick oats. I dunno the difference between em all. Texture doesn't really matter to me.
Sometimes I like to put a banana in there or some blueberries.
Quick oats are typically just rolled/cut to be smaller, so that they have a higher total surface area and so soak up liquid more easily. The downside is that this also makes them easier/faster to digest, so they have a higher glycaemic index (i.e. deliver a higher blood sugar spike) and give a shorter period of satiety.
Rolled oats are the uncut variety, which don't cook quickly for convenient porridge, but are great to soak as overnight oats. You can also get some which are basically in the middle - cut a bit so good for reasonably quick porridge (~5-7 minutes) but a bit more filling.
"old fashioned" rolled oats are the standard afaict and I always cook them in 5 minutes
Interesting. Unless we have different standards for what constitutes a cooked oat, maybe we're talking about slightly different things? The full-size rolled oats (sometimes called 'robust') here in Germany are nowhere close to soft (and are still distinctly floating in the milk) after simmering for 20+ minutes. The alternative is also described as rolled oats (sometimes called 'tender') but are visually smaller; that's what cooks in 5-6 minutes.
This must be different, the "old fashioned rolled oats" sold in America would be more than done after 20 minutes of simmering.
Going by Bob's Red Mill, which is an excellent brand, we've got: * Old Fashioned rolled oats, 10 minutes: https://www.bobsredmill.com/product/regular-rolled-oats [the store brand I always see, on the other hand, is 5 minutes]
* Steel cut oats, 15-20 minutes (this is a lie, it takes longer than 20 minutes for them to get sufficiently soft in my experience, for any steel cut oat brand): https://www.bobsredmill.com/product/steel-cut-oats
* Quick cooking rolled oats, 3 minutes (in my experience this is consistent across all store brands, down to 2 minutes): https://www.bobsredmill.com/product/organic-quick-cooking-ro...
They also have a second species of oats that are significantly higher in protein, and they take 15+ minutes to cook in "rolled oat" form, which from personal experience is accurate: https://www.bobsredmill.com/product/protein-oats
Oh, so I should switch since I'm usually soaking them overnight anyway.
Alton Brown did a great episode of good eats about oats. Basically, the faster they cook the fewer vitamins and minerals and good things there are in it for you
Oats are just carbs.
> You can enrich it with bananas or goji berries for extra nutrients.
"extra nutrients" are more carbs.
> it’s healthy
I don't think that a whole meal without a good protein source can be considered "healthy"
Oats are soluble fiber, which the vast majority of people are deficient in.
Okay, but it doesn't address the issue of having a whole meal with barely any protein.
That’s begging the question, you have to first establish the need for protein at every meal. And I’m not even going to begin to address that digression.
There is basically no downsides to eating too much protein and there are a lot of potential problems if you eat too little.
Of course, you can carefully design other meals to be more protein-heavy, just because of your weird idea of a having an (almost)no-protein meal.
But it is much easier to make it a habit to include at least one high protein food in every meal.
So there’s a kind of filter in your kidneys that handles protein. Over a lifetime that gets worn out. Once it is perforated by too much protein, or if there was a problem with it, very bad things start to happen.
Having too much protein, especially the amount pushed by certain industries here in the United States, is maybe not healthy, no.
Err.. what? Kidney damage, inflammation, constipation, bloating, nutrient deficiency, potential heart problems, kidney stones. There's lots of downside of eating too much protein.
https://www.health.com/too-much-protein-side-effects-1189485...
You just googled or asked a chatbot to find you an article and haven't actually read it, have you?
#1 literally says
> For people with healthy kidneys, higher protein intake is generally safe.
#2 addresses the issues of some specific diets ("very-low-carb or ketogenic diets") that "may be low in fiber-rich carbohydrates". I did not advocate for "very-low-carb or ketogenic diets". Also, it doesn't say anything about potential harms of protein itself.
#3 "It Can Crowd Out Other Nutrients"
Again, no mention of supposed "harms of too much protein", only harms of "too little everything else". I never suggested to go crazy and stop eating other foods.
#4 deals with "type of protein" that "may be just as important as the amount of protein" and is irrelevant to your argument.
#5
> A very high-protein diet, particularly one high in animal foods, can increase the risk of kidney stones, especially for people with a history of these conditions or those who don’t drink enough water.
Well, just drink enough water then. Also, I was talking about generally healthy people. I am not qualified to discuss diet choices of people "with a history of these conditions".
#6 "Protein Bars and Powders Can Backfire"
I never suggested any of this. Also, this doesn't address supposed harms of protein itself, so it is irrelevant again.
No, I'm interested in nutrition, I backed up the risks with a link. Complex carbs and simple carbs are not the same (your original dismissal). Fiber is important for everyone, there's studies that show too little fiber is the cause of a lot of nutrition issues (possibly including IBS, which is a strange relation). Too much protein is not healthy and has risks (despite your unbacked claim). Protein rich unprocessed food is fine, it'll come with fiber.
2 servings of rolled oats: 300 calories, 10g protein. Barely any?
I add a little bit of protein and fat with a tablespoon or two of crunchy peanut butter and a handful of walnuts. Then banana or raisins for flavor.
Oats are 1/8 protein. Dismissing "extra nutrients" as just more carbs is how you get scurvy.
Unprocessed fiber-containing carbs are fairly healthy. I get protein in lunch and dinner, and I don't need my oatmeal breakfast to be protein heavy. Oatmeal for lunch doesn't make much sense in isolation.
> Unprocessed fiber-containing carbs are fairly healthy.
I never said that oats are unhealthy or that carbs are unhealthy. I said that a meal without protein is not the best idea.
My critique was not directed at a particular food item but at the meal composition as a whole.
> I get protein in lunch and dinner, and I don't need my oatmeal breakfast to be protein heavy.
TFA suggests to eat oatmeal for lunch.
> Oatmeal for lunch doesn't make much sense in isolation.
I agree!
I guess, it is possible to make oatmeal for lunch work if you up the protein and somewhat reduce carbs in breakfast and dinner, but way? I think that it is much easier to just make a habit to include a high protein food item in every meal. There is basically no downsides to eating too much protein and there are a lot of potential problems if you eat too little.
> There is basically no downsides to eating too much protein
A more nuanced opinion from the Harvard Medical School:
"Can too much protein be harmful?
The short answer is yes. As with most things in life, there can be too much of a good thing and if you eat too much protein, there may be a price to pay. For example, people that eat very high protein diets have a higher risk of kidney stones. Also a high protein diet that contains lots of red meat and higher amounts of saturated fat might lead to a higher risk of heart disease and colon cancer, while another high protein diet rich in plant-based proteins may not carry similar risks." [0]
[0] https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-nutrition/when-it-co...
> A weight-based recommended daily allowance (RDA) of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight.
> However, for the average healthy person (who is not an elite athlete or heavily involved in body building) it's probably best to keep total protein intake to no more than 2 gm/kg of ideal body weight
So, you can increase your protein intake about 2.5 times above RDA without any issues? I would call this "basically no downsides".
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