Eating oatmeal for breakfast to control weight is equally effective whether boiled or soaked?

Office workers are busy and have no time to make breakfast. They can just soak oatmeal in milk or soy milk and add some fruit. It can be easily done. It can not only quickly replenish nutrition and vitality, but also achieve long-term health benefits such as improving constipation, helping weight loss and regulating blood lipids. However, there are many types of oats on the market. Which one should we choose? Nutritionists have something to say!

Eating oatmeal is good for your health, controlling your weight and lowering your cholesterol

Wen Zhaoming, a nutritionist at Miaoli Daqian Hospital, said that oats contain nutrients such as vitamin B group, C, E, folic acid and minerals, and are also rich in dietary fiber. They can improve the ecology of intestinal bacteria, promote intestinal peristalsis and help defecation, and can also increase satiety, avoid overeating at the next meal, or hunger between meals, thereby achieving the effect of assisting weight control.

Moreover, the β-glucose contained in oats can also regulate blood lipids, help lower blood total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and blood triglycerides, make it less likely to form body fat, and prevent the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases.

How to choose between oatmeal grains, oatmeal flakes and oatmeal powder?

However, there are many types of oatmeal products on the market. How can we eat them healthily? Nutritionist Wen Zhaoming said that there are three common forms of oats: raw oatmeal grains (granular), oatmeal flakes (flakes), and instant oatmeal powder (powdered), each with different tastes and nutritional values.

Raw oatmeal: the most fragrant and freshest, can be cooked with white rice. Because it is minimally processed and does not contain too many additives, it has the highest nutritional value. In addition, before eating oats, Europeans will directly put the raw oats into a crusher to press them into flakes, which is called "raw oatmeal", which needs to be cooked before eating. Compared with oatmeal grains, oatmeal is easier to gelatinize when cooked into porridge, and more β-glucose is dissolved.

Instant oatmeal: Most of the oatmeal bought in the market is instant oatmeal, which has gone through the maturation process and can be eaten directly by soaking in water or milk. The nutritional value of instant oatmeal depends on its degree of processing. If it has not been processed too much, its nutritional value is similar to that of raw oatmeal. If it is processed more, or if ingredients such as sucrose, salt, and flavors are added, its nutritional value will be reduced.

Instant oatmeal powder: Because it has been ground into powder and some starch, spices or sugar are added, not only the nutritional value will be reduced, but the glycemic index will also increase.

If the children or the elderly have poor chewing ability, sugar-free pure oatmeal powder can be the first choice; if you are losing weight, it is recommended to choose raw oatmeal grains or less processed oatmeal. However, no matter which oatmeal product you choose, you should read the food label before purchasing, and try to choose products without other spices, refined sugars and other additives.

Don’t eat too much healthy oatmeal! Excessive intake will still make you fat

Although oatmeal is widely known as a healthy food, there are some tips on consuming it so as not to burden your body! Nutritionist Wen Zhaoming reminds us that oats are one of the six major categories of food, namely "whole grains and root vegetables". Like white rice, pasta, steamed bread, etc., they have calories and we should avoid consuming too much of them. Otherwise, our weight will not only not decrease but increase instead. Since the calories in a bowl of soaked oatmeal are relatively lower than those in a bowl of rice, it is recommended to replace part of the rice with oatmeal when taking staple foods, so that the calorie intake can be relatively reduced.

The recommended daily intake of dietary fiber is 25 to 35 grams. Excessive intake of dietary fiber may not only cause constipation, but may also interfere with the absorption of minerals. Therefore, even if oats are healthy, they should not be consumed in excess.

In addition, oats contain gluten, so people who are allergic to gluten should not use them to avoid causing allergic reactions. The phosphorus content of oats is relatively high, so people with poor kidney function need to be particularly careful when consuming them to avoid electrolyte imbalance.