When and how to take oats

It is hard to find reasons why we should not eat this cereal. The truth is that we can add it to our daily diet without any issue, although it is advisable to eat other cereals as well in order to follow a balanced diet. It is also important to know how and when to eat oats.

If we had to choose, breakfast would be a perfect time to eat oats. It is when the organism is most willing to receive nutrients, especially energy, in order to face our daily tasks and to improve our health. Oats are the cereal par excellence in order to obtain a source of fiber, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates which are rich in beta glucans. This is why it is important to know when and how to eat oats correctly.

How should we consume oats?

One of the main advantages of oats is that they can be eaten raw, boiled after being previously soaked, or with liquid. Now, we will see a varied selection of formulas and recipes so that eating this cereal does not become monotonous:

There are some products like oat bread and oat cookies that are becoming more and more popular lately. You can easily cook whole oat bread at home with some cinnamon, nutmeg and, obviously, baking powder. You can add raisins, dry grapes, nuts and seeds if you want. We tell you all the advantages and types of Oat Flour in the following entry.

How to combine Oats

We need to be careful if we plan to consume oats regularly, since we will need to drink a lot of water (around two liters per day). We also will need to limit those foods that are rich in fiber, since we could exceed the fiber threshold that can be tolerated by the organism. Otherwise, this could lead to digestive disorders in which our intestinal tract would be unable to absorb nutrients, which can result in some deficiencies. Let’s pay attention to the extraordinary properties of a classic cup of oats and yogurt, which can help us lose weight and encourage the proper functioning of the heart. On its own, yogurt is an important source of proteins, calcium, zinc, vitamin A and complex B vitamins. Oats complete the picture by providing a source of carbohydrates as well as fats, most of them polyunsaturated, which are also the healthiest. We can prepare excellent oat shakes with apple, banana, pear, toasted almonds and milk (four times more than oats). Drink them at any time of the day to give a healthy boost to your body. Use honey instead of sugar for a healthier shake. Half a cup of oats is enough for 2 cups of milk. If you want to make some pancakes, you will need a cup of plain flour, half a cup of uncooked oat flakes, a cup of skimmed milk, one egg, a teaspoon of vegetable oil, a cup of blueberries, a banana, a teaspoon of nutmeg, one apple, chopped walnuts, baking powder and cinnamon powder. Add chocolate if you want them sweet or salt if you like them salty! Another option would be cooking pancakes with egg white powder, whose protein has an excellent biological value and which is perfect to make purely anabolic breakfasts.

Add oats to your salads in order to get a very tasty meal, once we have boiled the oats in water for half and hour, we can combine them with some sliced onions, tomatoes, beans, sprouts, potatoes, cucumber, lemon, salt and a touch of aromatic herbs such as mint and parsley. You can even cook meat balls without meat. How? Using onion, spices, potatoes and rice milk. Add oat flakes to this blend and, with some patience, make little and homogeneous balls. Just like that, they are ready to be fried or baked in the oven. If we want to eat them for dinner, it would be ideal to combine them with fruit, vegetables and skimmed milk or yogurt. A way to consume it that is gaining more and more followers each day consists of drinking a glass of water little by little on an empty stomach, which is an effective way of activating the organism; then, drink a vegetable juice without fiber in order to detoxify the body. After 15 minutes, cook one of the previous recipes for breakfast and eat it! We should bear in mind that there is a difference between those who do physical exercise and those who don’t.

When should we eat oats in order to gain muscle mass

Eating oats in order to increase our muscle mass is a correct choice. In order to achieve this, we can eat it as a pre-workout so that we have enough energy and also as a post-workout to recover the glycogen (backup carbohydrates from muscle fibers) which has been spent during the workout session. However, we should measure our energy requirements first, since it will only be possible to enhance the growth of muscle mass by producing a caloric surplus between the calories we take and the ones that are spent. The qualitative factor is also relevant: it is not the same to eat a determined number of calories from sugar, proteins or slow-absorption carbohydrates. The latter is much more beneficial for our health.

When should we consume oats in order to lose weight

One of the things that is indispensable in order to lose weight is to increase the metabolic rate through natural processes. Apart from ensuring easy digestions, oats can be a very efficient element to lose weight. In fact, those who suffer hypothyroidism and who, logically, need to stimulate their metabolism, are advised to consume oatmeal or oat flakes. A very interesting and practical way to do this consists of drinking oat water regularly on an empty stomach. Put a cup of oats inside a shaker or a blender, a cinnamon stick, and two liters of water, shake until you get a homogeneous mixture. Strain it in order to remove any solids. Many people like to sweeten it with honey or stevia, the choice is yours. Drinking oat water consistently for a month will help us lose some extra weight, as long as we do not follow counterproductive practices. Its function consists of prolonging a feeling of satiety while being full of the energy and fiber that our body demands for its proper functioning. Keep it on the fridge and drink a couple of glasses (a quarter of a liter) before the main meals from the afternoon onward. We are going to suggest a diet plan to lose weight in which oat water is the axis:

Oat water provides excellent benefits if we truly want to lose weight, since it acts as a detoxifying, satiating, and diuretic agent. Moreover, oats have a lot of vitamins that we can include in our daily diet through several recipes.

How much oats should we consume daily

Most nutrition experts advise an intake of at least four spoonfuls of oatmeal daily. There is a super simple formula to do this, which consists of scattering it over vegetable and fruit salads or adding it to the dough of bakery products if we like cooking.

However, the amount of oats that has to be eaten for breakfast depends on our goals. Half a cup of oat flakes may just be enough if we simply want to stimulate our metabolism and stay fit. Oats expand after being boiled, increasing their volume up to three times. There is no need to look for a special reason why we should eat oats. They are a product that should be consumed simply because of their richness in terms of nutrients and benefits for our health. It should be a must for those who are at risk of suffering cardiovascular diseases, such as high LDL cholesterol, hypertension or obesity. As it usually happens with any food (and we could also apply this to any aspect of our lives), it is not positive to consume oats disproportionately. Despite all their benefits they are mainly a source of carbohydrates and our body would not be able to absorb all the energy from an uncontrolled intake of oats. This would end up leading to the formation of fat deposits, causing just the opposite effect to what we were looking for.

What happens if we eat oats at night?

We tend to be hungry at night, but we should remain cold-headed and put our digestive instincts under control. This is the only way to avoid eating what we should not and only the amounts that we should. Dinner must consist of light foods in order to achieve a restful sleep, otherwise two things can happen: either the digestive system is forced to carry out an unnecessary effort, which can result in a bad digestion. Or, the fat that we eat will be deposited where it should not since we barely spend any energy while we sleep. This will result in an energy unbalance for our health and for our weight-loss objectives. Consequently, we can claim that eating oats for dinner is a habit that can be more beneficial than harmful. There are a few simple ways of following this advice, for example: drink a bowl of oat water before dinner, prepare a salad with whole oat as the main ingredient along with some vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, and carrots. For those who are not used to eating whole grain cereals and fibrous food during the day, eating oats for dinner can cause a readjustment in their nutrient levels which will result in a balanced diet. Oats also have a series of disadvantages that have to be taken into account as well.

Oats for sportspeople, how to consume them

Far from being boring, oats are quite versatile and they can be added to a wide range of dishes so that you will not get tired or fall into traditional recipes:

A very quick choice is macerating oats: you just simply have to put the amount you will eat for breakfast in a bowl the night before, and fill it with water. Leave it in the fridge. Then, in the morning, you will only need to heat it or eat it like that, or even mix it with some proteins or a drink of your choice.

Recipe: Oat Pancakes with banana and blueberries

Related Entries:

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• Do Oats have Gluten?