Ask a Food Blogger: All About Oatmeal

by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger

07 May 2008 04:26 AM

Question: I'm trying to makeover my diet and so I started eating oatmeal. But someone said instant wasn't good enough if I want all the nutrients--is this true?

Yeah--pretty much. There are several different types of oatmeal and as far as oats go. . .instant is a distant last in the grand hierarchy of oatmeal products. The essential different in oatmeal is the processing. Like most foods, the more its processed, the less nutritious it is as the processing depletes many of the nutrients. Here is a quick primer on oats.

The Problem with Instant Oatmeal

As I mentioned before, these are highly processed. Consequently, they are not nearly as nutritious as their heartier cousins. However, what concerns me more is the amount of sugar in instant oatmeal. The sugar contained in most instant oatmeal negates any other of its health benefits.

Quick Oats

These are slightly above instant oatmeal, but health wise differ in one important aspect: the sugar. They are, as the name implies, super quick to cook and that's an added bonus. The reason however, that they are super quick to cook is that they are super processed. Consequently, if you can give the extra time to cooking real oats--it's well worth the effort.

Old Fashioned Oats

These generally take five minutes to cook after the water is boiling. They are less processed than quick oats and have a substantially better nutritional value in my opinion. If you're short on time, but want the most nutritional value possible--this is the way to go.

Steel Cut Oats

(Or Irish oats. . .) I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of steel cut oats. If I do them, I usually do them in the crock pot because rest assured it takes quite awhile to cook them. However, I do need to say that by far, this is the most nutritionally dense type of oatmeal you can buy. When they're raw, they look like little pellets. To get them edible, you have to cook them for about 30 minutes. . .or a little more. They are also, in fairness, more flavorful than their more processed cousins.

Hopefully that gives you some ideas on how to choose your oatmeal more wisely!

Related Blogs:

Pumpkin Oatmeal

Sugar Free Canberry Orange Oatmeal Cookies

The Sneaky Mama and Her Oatmeal

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with Orange Zest

Valorie Delp shares recipes and kitchen tips in the food blog, solves breastfeeding problems, shares parenting tips, and current research in the baby blog, and insight, resources and ideas as a regular guest blogger in the homeschooling blog. To read more articles by Valorie Delp, click here.

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Learn more about Valorie Delp

Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line.

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