Because I really want to. I love oatmeal. It's so sweet. It is perhaps the most underrated breakfast food out there. Frosted Flakes and bacon-n-eggs can go fuck themselves.
Oatmeal is great for me. It's 100% whole grain, which means nothing has been stripped from it, unlike the hundreds of thousands of refined corn and wheat products that sell themselves with splashy brand names and clever marketing. There is nothing nutritionally redeeming about "whole grain" Count Chocula or Bisquick pancakes. Sorry, but it's true. Oatmeal, on the other hand, packs more than one punch of good grace:
1. Oats are an excellent source of both soluble and insoluble fiber, indigestible fibers that work as catalysts to stabilize glucose, lower cholesterol, and remove toxins from the intestine. But why the seeming contradiction? Well they actually act cooperatively and both serve noble causes in the body. Soluble fiber stays in the intestine and forms a gel-like substance which binds to fatty acids and regulates blood sugar levels. This is particularly helpful for diabetics. It also lowers "bad" LDL cholesterol levels while maintaining the "good" ones, HDL. This is particularly helpful for anyone with or at risk of heart disease, which includes most anyone on a typical American diet. Insoluble fiber is the stuff that sweeps the gut of toxins and moves them out. To put it simply, this fast-acting fiber makes you poop. Boy, does it ever. I almost always have a very satisfying crap shortly after breakfast. And if I have a cup of coffee to go with it? Fuhgeddaboudit!
2. Oats contain a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals. From Vitamin B6 to thiamin, magnesium, selenium, and iron, oats are full of it and more. You get the picture.
3. They fill you up! This goes back to the soluble fiber, which absorbs water and slows digestion. But how great is that? As someone who struggles constantly to find nourishing and filling foods so I won't eat so damn much, oatmeal is a godsend of a start to my day.
4. It's delicious. Healthy food does not have to be bland. You might be saying, "but oatmeal is by definition bland and tasteless!" and you would be right. But there are endless possibilities of yummy additions that do not involve refined sugar of any sort. Here's what I usually put in my porridge:
--sliced banana
--1/2 tbsp raw honey
--sprinkle of cinnamon
--small handful chopped nuts or pumpkin seeds
--raisins
I'm not the only one who enjoys a sweet breakfast, am I? Well you can feel good about whole fruits and raw honey (the healing properties of honey are cooked out of the filtered/processed shit). If you're sensitive to the sugar in honey or concerned about the glycemic index, raw agave nectar is a wonderful alternative. It doesn't have the medicinal qualities honey does, but it's a very tasty, all-natural raw sweetener. Substitute with less than half the amount you would use of sugar or honey; it's powerful!
Want to bulk your bowl up even more? Add a little milk. But let's keep this conversation cruelty-free, okay? Forget the factory-farmed cow's milk (not to mention synthetic hormones, antibiotics, and other drug cocktails that go along with it that are administered to the cows to keep them as complacent as possible in spite of the fact that their entire existence is spent pregnant and chained to a pole--oh yes, I was going to keep this conversation cruelty-free...) and try some almond, rice, soy, or coconut milk. I'm not too much for soy in any form, but I love almond milk. Honestly, and some might disagree, but I don't think it's too far a cry from the taste of cow's milk. I remember when I was experimenting with milk alternatives that soy has too much of that peculiar "soy" taste but rice milk was much lighter. Then I discovered almond, and it's even better. It tastes exactly the same in cereal and baking, of course. Coconut milk, which you may have experienced in one dish or another, is very rich and creamy. Super yummy and good for you, but you probably don't want to buy it regularly, as it's very high in fat (good fat, nonetheless), and, well, shit's expensive. I'm finally realizing that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.
On that note, I challenge you to find a milk alternative for one week! Just give it a try! It is a little more expensive than the falsely-marketed "Keep It Cheap By Any Means Necessary" gallons of highly toxic 2%, but if you end up liking your choice you may find after a while that you're just consuming less milk in general. I find it much more cost-effective to use applesauce and canola oil in baked goods and only have the occasional bowl of cereal than to put milk in everything.
Okay, whoa, I got way off track. Wasn't this blog about oatmeal? Well, actually, it looks like I've pretty much covered it. All in all oatmeal is one of the best breakfasts you can give yourself, so give it a try. Maybe take a week-long oatmeal and milk alternative challenge. Why not? It's a new year, and it makes life fun. No better way to clear some of the crap out of your dusty attic of an intestine (except a colonic--I won't go there, this time).
Much love!
No comments:
Post a Comment