Oatmeal Nutrition
The Facts about Oatmeal Nutrition
Many people have never even considered the benefits of oatmeal nutrition. That’s because some of us think of oatmeal as a food of the past. You might remember your mother making you oatmeal for breakfast, especially if you lived in a place with winter snow. She may even have told you that you needed something hearty to get you through to lunch. If you were like most kids, you probably weren’t very concerned that you get your share of oatmeal nutrition. You may even have begged for a sugary cereal like some of your friends are for breakfast.
Well, if you had oatmeal for breakfast, you were indeed having a healthy meal. If your diet has changed now that you are an adult and you no longer are taking the value of oatmeal seriously, you might want to take another look at oatmeal nutrition. One of the phrases that you hear everywhere today is that to eat healthy, you need to eat more whole grains. Whole grains are an excellent source of fiber and have many other benefits.
Most of us do not eat enough whole grains. People who grew up eating the soft, white “miracle bread,” can have a hard time switching to a thick, heavy, chewy bread as is the case with many types of bread made from whole grains. Many people think that the only way to eat whole grains is to choose a product like a multi- or nine-grain bread. For those who grew up with white bread and peanut butter, this is a big change.
And, maybe you just don’t like the taste of whole wheat, or the other whole grains you find in these breads and other foods. Perhaps you are just one of those people who don’t care to have seeds or nuts in their bread. The good news is that if you take a new look at oatmeal nutrition, you might find just the answer to the whole grain dilemma. That’s because oatmeal is a complete whole-grain food.
The FDA recommends that each individual eat a minimum of three servings of whole-grain foods every day. And, if we are conscientious about doing this, the statistics indicate that we can decrease our risk of heart disease by as much as twenty to thirty percent. Oatmeal is one way to meet this goal, and the great thing about oatmeal is that it is lighter and sweeter tasting than many of the other whole grain products you will find at the store.
You can have oatmeal for breakfast or sandwiches made of oatmeal bread. You can have oatmeal bars for snacks. That’s already three servings of oatmeal. Plus, when you add fruit and milk to oatmeal you make it healthier still. Oatmeal actually sticks to the bad cholesterol in your blood and takes it with it out of your body. Keeping good cholesterol and getting rid of the bad is one of the best ways to have a healthy heart and prevent heart attacks and strokes.
If you eat oatmeal, nutrition in your diet is going to improve dramatically. Oatmeal is a complex carbohydrate. It is not one of those simple sugars that is released quickly in your blood and raises your glucose level too high for a short period of time. Complex carbohydrates break down slowly, helping blood sugar to level off, and all the while increasing our energy and stamina. People who run marathons eat a ton of complex carbohydrates.
Another part of oatmeal nutrition is the fact that it is full of vitamins and minerals--vitamin A, B-complex vitamins, iron and calcium are just a few of them. The fiber contained in oatmeal benefits not only the heart but the digestive system as well. Fiber is just what you need to clean out your colon and get your digestive tract back to a healthy level.
If you thought oatmeal was just a breakfast food for little kids or you simply just haven’t thought of it as a whole grain, take another look at oatmeal. Nutritionally, you can’t go wrong.