Healthy and Nutritious Oatmeal

Monday, 01 December 2008 13:39 Written by Elements4Health

-Picture courtesy, Chotda-

• Oatmeal is used to make porridge, as an ingredient as in oatmeal cookies and oat cakes, or as an accent as in the topping on many oat bran breads and the coating on Caboc cheese.
• Oatmeal is also used in some alcoholic drinks, cosmetics, soaps, external medical treatments, and is sometimes added to animal feed products.
• Due to the carbohydrates in oats they are absorbed by the body slowly, therefore, you feel full for longer after eating a bowl of oats.
• Like all grains, rolled oatmeal should be kept in an airtight container to discourage moisture and vermin intrusion.
  
• Store in a cool, dark cupboard up to three months or refrigerate up to six months. Due to its high oil content, oat bran should be refrigerated.
• Oats contain a natural antioxidant which discourages rancidity, thus oat flour has a bit longer shelf life than whole wheat flour.
• A study of adults with type 2 diabetes who consumed foods high in oat fiber, experienced a much lower rise in blood sugar than other participants who ate rice or bread. The beta-glucan in oats increases the viscosity of the contents of the stomach, thereby slowing down digestion and prolonging the absorption of carbohydrates into the bloodstream.
• Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, supported previous reports that a diet rich in whole grains such as oats is beneficial in the prevention of coronary heart disease.
• In another study at Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, it was determined that consumption of whole grains may contribute to favorable metabolic alterations that may reduce long-term weight gain.
• Avenanthramides are phenolic antioxidants, which are present in oats, and have the potential to reduce plaque build in the artery wall.

Continue reading: Oatmeal, Breakfast of Champions.

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