The underrated benefits of always having oatmeal at lunch

3 days ago (hazn.com)

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.

  • 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 hacks are gymnema, berberine, thiamine, and benfotiamine supplements, all of which help with glucose regulation.

    • 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

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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...

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

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, 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.

  • 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.

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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"

  • 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.

  • 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.

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