Metroknow from AlmostFit made a blog post called Did Cereal Make Me Fat?. While reading this excellent article I immediately felt like saying something about the miracle food called oatmeal. Here's what I commented:

(...) For as far as my knowledge goes the ultimate breakfast cereal is … oatmeal. Really. It’s unbelievable stuff. Every day one bowl of oatmeal and you’re set for the day.

What I do is take one cup of oats and 2 cups of water and mix them in a pan. I cook it until it starts boiling a bit and then I quickly add some raisins while stirring a bit. Done! Of course there are many different ways to prepare oatmeal,... and some preparation methods take a bit more time. But if you want quality vs effort, this 2 minute preparation time is the way to go for a delicious bowl of healthy breakfast.

I started eating oatmeal about 2 years ago and still have them every morning. This grain is absolutely brilliant. Oatmeal has several health benefits. Most notable are its positive effects on cholesterol, but it also helps fight cancer, diabetes and weight loss. Now here's the really cool part. When you read the oatmeal ingredients label, there's only one: Oatmeal! No added sugars, preservatives, coloratives and more-crap-atives. Just quality unprocessed and natural food --  which is the way I like it.

In 100g oats there's 13 grams protein, 8 grams fat and 67 grams carbohydrates. There's a little bit of everything, which is perfect for a breakfast. Especially the carbohydrates in the morning are important. Usually, it's best to eat more carbohydrates early in the day and decrease carb intake by the evening. In the morning you recharge your battery with carbs. This energy source is quickly usable by the body making performance during the day optimal. By the evening these carbs are used up and there's no need to recharge since you're about to go sleep. If you do keep indulging in carbohydrate rich foods at this point in time you do risk storing extra fat.

Oatmeal, Low Carb and Weight Loss

Now some of the low-carb nitwits might say 67 grams is a lot of carbs. They might say that carbs are the reason why people are fat. Obviously, this is bullmacaroni. Sure, it is true that obese people don't fare well with a high carbohydrates diet, but it's also true that all the professional athletes in the world eat carbohydrate rich foods on a daily basis. Things aren't so black and white!

Check out these fitness guys and girls at bodybuilding.com. These people absolutely adore oatmeal. If there's any demographic that knows a thing or two about fat loss, it's them. Bodybuilders lose and gain body fat all the time. They know how our metabolism works, what energy sources can help fat loss and which don't. Bodybuilders reach body fat percentages way under the 10th percentile while still eating carbohydrate rich oatmeal on a daily basis. Or did you think these guys get rock solid abs by indulging on Jimmy Moore's livin la vida low carb Chocolate Bar?

Complex carbs in oatmeal

Carbs in oatmeal have a very low Glycemic Index which allows the carbs to be absorbed by our body very slowly. These complex carbs drastically decreases the cravings effect and supplies you with energy for several hours. That's why these carbs contribute to weight loss and why oatmeal also helps fight diabetes and cholesterol.

If you want to read more about the wonders of oatmeal I would gladly refer you to an article written by Rob, The Former Fat Guy, Oatmeal - Everything you wanted to know about Oats.

You can also check back later at Metroknow's Almostfit blog. My comment on his blog seems to have inspired him to write a little oatmeal recipe in one of his future posts:

I wanted to tell you - your mention of oatmeal got me to thinking about how I ate oatmeal growing up, and the only thing that made it good was a lot of milk and a LOT of sugar. Since then, my wife has introduced me to a whole new way of preparing oatmeal, so Friday's recipe will be just that.

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Comments (5)

Oatmeal recipe on AlmostFit - Thanks Nico!
written by Metroknow - AlmostFit.com , March 21, 2008

Hi Nico - I wrote an article on oatmeal that fits in well with your article here. Check it out:

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written by Nico , March 22, 2008

Thanks for the exposure :o) I appreciate it

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written by medicalhealthguide.com , April 29, 2008

Your articles are well written and the web design is light and simple. You have a great blog here. I am only wondering if I can borrow some of your articles and be posted to my site. I will keep the links to your site.

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written by Nico , May 01, 2008

You can use parts of my article as a quote, with a link to them. Just do not completely copy them. :)

Some articles are over 3000 words long and have more then 10 hours work in them. Copying those completely would just not be right.

I really appreciate your interest, though :)

Greetings,
Nico

oatmeal
written by oat meal rox , June 30, 2008

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oatmeal rox