Happy Sunday everyone, hopefully the week gone by has treated you well and you are enjoying a well-deserved break this weekend.
Today’s topic will go back to healthy foods, and I want to focus on oatmeal. Rich in fibre, oatmeal can also help to reduce the level of cholesterol in your body in addition to a host of other benefits. They also pack a pretty powerful punch nutrient wise.
What Are the Health Benefits?
As mentioned above, oatmeal reduces cholesterol levels which is very helpful when trying to lower the risk of diabetes or heart disease. Oats contain a special fibre known as beta-glucan. Studies have backed up the notion that this specific fibre is responsible for lowering cholesterol. If you consume 3g of soluble oat fibre daily, this can lower cholesterol by 8 to 23%. When you consider that a 1% drop translates to a 2% reduction in the risk of heart disease, you can see why many people have turned to oats!
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| Don’t like porridge? Have it in a cookie! (pic from keepinitkind.com) |
There is also some evidence that shows the consumption of oatmeal can lower the risk of heart failure later in life. Harvard researchers found that there was a 29% lower chance of heart complications developing in individuals that consume a single bowl of whole grain cereal. You can easily obtain whole grain oatmeal and fix up a tasty breakfast dish, benefiting your health greatly.
Oatmeal is also a low calorie food and is known to prevent cravings, reducing snacking in between meals which results in less weight gain. A single cup of oatmeal is only 130 calories, which is not a huge portion of the daily quota for healthy adults. Apart from being high in fibre, it’s also low in fat and high in protein, and has the highest protein content of any grain!
If all this is not enough, it also boosts your immune system’s response to any disease or bacteria! The beta-gluten helps neutrophils (a type of white blood cell) reach areas that are infected at a quicker pace in addition to boosting their ability to get rid of any bacteria found.
Versatile Food
There are many types of oatmeal out there, so be sure to pick up the ones that are the least processed – these will digest slower as well as retain more nutrients which can only be beneficial to your body.
Oatmeal can be made into many types of food, including porridge, cereal, cookies and more! This means there is bound to be some way you can sneak oatmeal into your diet. Even if you’re not a huge fan of oatmeal, you would be well advised to find a way to consume them as the health benefits are great.
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| Topping your oatmeal with fruits and nuts is a great way to add flavour (pic from silk.com) |
Just be sure to opt for regular wholegrain oatmeal instead of the processed oats if possible. Often time, these have been flavoured and sweetened with added sugars and other food additives, and may even contain added sodium or salt. Instant oatmeal is a good example of this, and while it does not cause any harm in moderation, consuming too much at a go may undermine your efforts in maintaining a healthy diet.
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| Try not to consume too much instant oatmeal in one sitting (pic from samsclub.com) |
In short, go for the oatmeal with the least amount of ingredients possible and make yourself a healthy meal out of that. You can’t go wrong with oatmeal and there’s plenty of scientific research to back that up!
Until next time, stay healthy!
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