FitSugar

What's With All the Different Kinds of Oats?

FitSugar — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:00:31 -0700

Need a little extra fiber and protein? Then reach for some oats. You can make oatmeal, use them to make cookies, add them to smoothies to thicken them up, or grind them to make flour. There are a few different kinds of oats, so how do you know which to choose? Check out the chart below.

	Steel cut oats	Old-fashioned oats	Quick oats
Description	Also called Irish or Scotch oats, these are cut, not rolled. They look like chopped up rice, take the longest to cook, and have a slightly chewy consistency.	Sometimes called rolled oats, these look like flat little ovals. When processing these oats, the kernels are steamed first, and then rolled to flatten them. They take longer to cook than quick oats, but are quicker than steel cut oats.	Also called instant oats, these oats are pre-cooked, dried, and then rolled. They cook in a few minutes when added to hot water, and have a mushy texture.

Want to know how they compare nutritionally? Then keep reading

Back on Track: Start Cooking Your Steel Cut Oatmeal Tonight

FitSugar — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 05:00:00 -0800

Breakfast is truly the most important meal of the day. It fires up your metabolism and sets the tone for your day. A nice warm bowl of steel cut oats is a great way to fuel up in the morning, but the 30 minute plus cooking time is a little daunting for any morning, especially Monday. However, I have a great work around to this time consuming problem. It does require a little bit of pre-planning, but I am sure you have it in you to think ahead to tomorrow's breakfast.

Before you head to bed:

Boil water in a heavy saucepan – four cups for four servings of oatmeal and two cups for two.
Remove water from heat when the water is a full boil. Add oats – 1 cup oats for four servings and 1/2 cup for two.
Cover and forget about your pot of oats until morning. Sweet dreams.
Upon waking, with the lid on bring oatmeal to a boil (at this point I usually add a fair bit of cinnamon).
Once your oatmeal is boiling, remove the lid and stir occasionally for five to eight minutes, or until oatmeal is the desired thickness.

Try it tonight to start your week off right!

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Breakfast: The Most Important Meal of the Day

FitSugar — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 04:00:00 -0800

Did you skip your breakfast? Well don't. You need the meal to set the energy tone for your day. Eating first thing in the morning helps to stabilize blood sugar levels, which regulate appetite and energy. So without breakfast, people crash mid-morning and generally reach for quick energy food like sweets or drink an extra cup of coffee. In turn, these food make you crash. So by lunch you're crabby. Eating breakfast can help you keep a positive attitude throughout the day.

Plus, skipping breakfast is NOT a good dieting technique. For the reasons listed above and studies have shown the people who eat breakfast have an easier time maintaining their weight. It all seems to go back to the idea of lifestyle changes and creating healthy habits.

The study also found that whole grain cereal had the most healthful affect on participants.

Fit's Tip: Start the day with steel cut Irish Oatmeal. It'll keep you full. Try this short cut I use: The night before bring 4 cups of water to a boil, add one cup of oats, add some cinnamon, cover and turn off the heat. The next morning turn the heat on keeping the lid on for a few minutes. Take the lid off and cook for another 5 to 8 minutes. YUM.

Burning Question: Are Traditional & Instant Oatmeal the Same?

YumSugar — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:00:55 -0700

My guy and I are both big fans of oatmeal for breakfast, and on a recent morning, the two of us got into a discussion about the differences between old-fashioned oatmeal, quick-cooking oats, instant oatmeal, and steel-cut oatmeal - all of which are in our pantry. What makes each one distinctive? And do they all have the same nutritional value?

All types of oatmeal are made from groats, or ground oats that have been hulled, or dehusked. Traditional, old-fashioned oatmeal - the kind most commonly seen in cereal, granola, and muesli - is made from groats that have been steamed, rolled flat, and then flaked. Quick-cooking rolled oats, sometimes called "quick oats," are cut into small pieces before being steamed and rolled. Irish oatmeal is my personal favorite; also known as steel-cut oatmeal, it is made up of groats that have been chopped into small pieces instead of flattened. It has a chewier texture and takes longer to cook. Instant oatmeal is generally precooked and then dried.

The nutritional profile across all varieties of oatmeal is the same - although certain types are often portrayed as nutritionally inferior. Instant oatmeal, for example, is still a whole grain, but it has a higher glycemic index and is more likely to contain sweeteners or sodium.

Got a burning question? Contact us.

Source: Flickr User Muffet

5 Things About Oatmeal

FitSugar — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0800

When it comes to breakfast foods, oatmeal (especially steel cut oats) is up there on my list of go-to choices. Its comforting, filling, and nutritious characteristics make it a desirable way to start my day. More than a simple and inexpensive meal, there are several other uses for oatmeal and Health magazine brings out the best in oatmeal with five attributes of the pantry staple.

Outstanding Oats: Health is especially fond of oatmeal because it's "heart healthy."
Pore Refiner: Dermatologist Amy Wechsler recommends this pore-cleansing mask: "Mix 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup hot water, and 1/4 cup honey in a food processor. Let cool, and apply. Wait 10 minutes, and rinse."
Diet Helper: Replacing all-purpose flour with homemade oat flour when baking will give you "twice the fiber so you feel fuller, but fewer calories."
Exercise booster: "Oats trigger the body to burn fat more quickly to fuel muscles," explains Health.
Cancer fighter: A study in the International Journal of Epidemiology found that "women on diets rich in fiber from whole grains, like oats, reduce their risk by up to 41 percent."

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Woman Tries to Eat Healthy on $1 a Day

SavvySugar — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:30:25 -0800

A common excuse for hitting up the drive through is that it's cheaper than healthier fare. Rebecca Currie of North Carolina set out to disprove that eating poorly is less expensive than eating healthy and has been living on food that costs just $1 a day. She explained, "It's been a source of frustration for me for a long time that people say eating poorly is cheaper than eating well," and took on this extreme-budget challenge to help her friends learn how to cook nutritiously on less money.

Currie says the first week of her one-month experiment was the hardest, and she's been tracking her progress on her blog. In reviewing some of her recent meals, it looks like she's been filling up on things like homemade chicken noodle soup, inexpensive grains like millet, steel cut oats, and eggs.

Her point isn't to encourage others to limit their food budgets to just $1 a day, but to prove that eating nutritiously on a strict budget is possible. She said, "It's about looking at what you've got and thinking about what you want. If I can do this for $1, think about what I can do for $5 or $10." By planning your meals before grocery shopping, you'll have better success buying everything you need to make full meals while staying on a track with your spending. Have you tried figuring out how much your food costs per day?

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Six Ways to Get Back on Track

FitSugar — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 03:30:00 -0700

Sunday mornings may start out lazy, but by the time afternoon rolls around, I always feel like it is time to get back on track. Creating a simple routine helps me make sure I have all my duckies in a row, from clean gym clothes packed in my gym bag to a meal plan for the week and steel cut oats started for breakfast. I love ending my weekend with a nice relaxing soak in the tub, which helps me sleep better so I start my upcoming week refreshed and ready to go.

Here are my suggestions for how to get back on track after a busy weekend.

Wash Your Workout Clothes	Plan Your Meals	Schedule Your Workouts
Pack Your Gym Bag	Start Your Oats For Breakfast	Relax With a Bath

What do you do to ensure that you start your week off on the right foot? Tell me how you get back on track in the comments section below.

Fit Edible Gift: Dressed-Up Oatmeal

FitSugar — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:00:41 -0800

I'm trying to save a little money this holiday season while striving to give gifts that everyone will love. Edible gifts are always a treat, but the people on my list would be shocked if I brought them a tin of homemade fudge - not to mention they're probably on sugar overload from all of the seasonal treats.

I'm putting a little of my FitSugar self into my homemade gifts this year by assembling containers of dressed-up oatmeal for my neighbors and friends. Find out how to put together these inexpensive, edible gifts when you read more.

Find a jar or container to hold the oatmeal and add-ins. If you don't have any lying around, consider heading to a local thrift store to pick up a bunch of unique mason jars that won't cost much.
Use steel cut or five-minute oats as your first layer.
Include any add-ins that you please! Mine is made with dried cranberries and walnuts, but the combinations are endless. This is a great way to use extra ingredients you may have leftover from holiday baking, like pecans or raisins.
Be sure to attach a card that explains how to make the oatmeal, even if you think it's obvious.
Add a ribbon, and you're finished!

The recipients of your dressed-up oatmeal will surely appreciate the gift of a healthy, warm breakfast treat during these cold months. For more gift ideas, don't miss all our great holiday gift guides.

Another Reason to Avoid Processed Foods: The Environment

FitSugar — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:00:00 -0700

I am not a fan of processed foods. Although I am not always successful I do try to avoid food with ingredients that I don't recognize and cannot pronounce.

I now have another motivation to steer clear of packaged, processed and engineered foods – the environment. It is fairly simple, processed foods require more energy to produce and package than do whole foods like oats, bananas and spinach. While reading In Defense of Food, I realized that my favorite cereal, Kashi Go Lean is a lot more processed than simple steel cut oats. The production of food and the supply chain takes up an estimated 19 percent of energy used in the US, and the energy sources used are most often non-renewable energy sources. By decreasing the amount of processed foods as well as eating a diet that contains less meat, you can decrease your carbon footprint as well as your waistline. What processed food do you think you should give up? Tell me in the comments section below.

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Speak Up: How Do You Get Back on Track?

FitSugar — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 03:30:00 -0800

Sunday mornings may start out lazy, but by the time afternoon rolls around, I always feel like it is time to get back on track. Creating a simple routine helps me make sure I have all my duckies in a row, from clean gym clothes packed in my gym bag to a meal plan for the week with steel cut oats started for breakfast. I love ending my weekend with a nice relaxing soak in the tub, which helps me sleep better so I start my upcoming week refreshed and ready to go.

Do you have a Sunday evening ritual or a routine to help you get ready for the upcoming week? Or perhaps you wait until Monday morning? Please tell me how you get your life in order after a hectic weekend in the comments section below.

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