If you’re looking for a healthy whole grain that’s gluten-free and has great nutritional value, it’s oats you want. They’re often prepared for breakfast as oatmeal/porridge simply by boiling them in milk or water. Of course, many people like to add extra ingredients such as cinnamon, berries, bananas, chocolate chips, and so on. What’s more, they’re a great addition to a range of baked goods such as cookies, muffins, granola bars, etc. And, most importantly, eating oats and oatmeal for breakfast comes with many health benefits.
Oatmeal Nutrition Facts
Half a cup of dry oats cooked in water has about 140 calories, which amounts to about a cup of oatmeal. If you don’t add any salt or sugar, your breakfast won’t have any content of sodium and sugars either. That said, oatmeal is rich in Vitamins B1 and B5, manganese, iron, zinc, magnesium, folate, as well as other healthy minerals. The mentioned amount contains approximately:
- Fat: 2.5 g
- Carbs: 28 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 5 g
Health Benefits of Oatmeal
If you’re wondering if oatmeal is good for you, wonder no more. The answer is yes! Eating oatmeal for breakfast can become a part of your healthy lifestyle routine thanks to a variety of reasons.
1. Helps Weight Control
We’re all looking for ways to eat better and manage our weight as much as possible. But did you know that eating oatmeal for breakfast can help you do precisely that? A 2009 study found that oatmeal contains this nifty compound called beta-glucan, which has the ability to reduce appetite by boosting the production of the cholecystokinin hormone, which is responsible for fighting the pesky hunger urges.
2. Lowers Blood Pressure
In this day and age, stress, sedentary lifestyle, and poor diet habits have all led to the rising issue of heart health across the globe. But if you don’t have to take meds just yet, you can help your heart and reduce blood pressure simply by eating whole-grains such as oats daily! Namely, an American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study found that whole-grains have a similar effect of lowering blood pressure to anti-hypertensive medication.
3. Minimizes Cholesterol
Soluble fiber is your body’s ally for trapping blood cholesterol substances. It’s been proven that just 3 g of soluble fiber a day can effectively minimize the cholesterol by 8-23%. Amazingly enough, oats contain the highest amount of soluble fiber among all grains. As stated before, just a cup of oatmeal will get you to consume 4 g of soluble fiber!
4. Protects Your Skin
The next time you’re shopping for some beauty products, take a look at the ingredient lists of different creams and lotions. Undoubtedly, you’ll find that a great number of products contain oatmeal! This is no gimmick; oatmeal is already known in the beauty world as a natural way to soothe dry and irritated skin. Basically, oats help create a barrier between your skin and external factors, which helps the skin retain its much-needed moisture. Oats can also be used as a gentle exfoliant. And when you eat oatmeal for breakfast, you get your dose of antioxidants that are crucial for your skin’s ability to fight away free radicals.
5. Reduces the Risk of Colorectal Cancer
There’s no need to go about just how terrible and painful colon cancer can be in detail. What we can say, however, is that the evidence of a study performed on 2 million people showed that a high-fiber diet reduces the risk of colorectal cancer considerably. Namely, for every extra 10 g of fiber that one gets through their diet, there’s a 10% risk reduction of suffering from this horrible disease.
6. Manages Blood Sugar
What does oatmeal do for you that other sugary breakfast doesn’t? For starters, it doesn’t cause the notorious sugar crash/mid-morning slump that many people tend to experience after consuming something sweet for breakfast. The mentioned high levels of soluble fiber in oatmeal allow the sugar to enter the bloodstream at a much slower rate. Essentially, if you’re looking for a morning meal with a low glycemic index, this is it. Still, if you’re specifically looking for an ideal breakfast that can stabilize your blood sugar levels, it’s more effective to go with steel-cut oats than instant oats.
7. Boosts Energy
Together with a beneficial content of soluble fiber, oatmeal also has an admirable amount of carbs and protein. Thanks to this fact, your good to go oatmeal can give you enough energy to deal with your everyday tasks problem-free and still have some extra energy left to burn on exercise. The studies have shown that consuming oats about an hour prior to working out speeds up metabolism and enhances your athletic performance. As long as you plan a physical activity of moderate intensity, of course.
8. Strengthens Immune System
We have already mentioned that oatmeal contains a compound called beta-glucan which helps with weight management. But this is not the only benefit to it. Beta-glucan also promotes a better response of the immune system when it comes to dealing with bacteria and infections, thus keeping you stronger and healthier.
9. Improves Sleep Quality
Even though we’re talking about oatmeal as a breakfast food and this is something we’re highly accustomed to, there’s nothing to stop you from eating oatmeal for dinner either. While it provides you with energy in the morning, a warm bowl of oatmeal before bedtime can relax and soothe you just enough to enhance sleepiness. Among the many incredibly helpful nutrients they contain, oats are also a good source of carbs and melatonin, which aid the brain to fall asleep when it’s time to do so.
10. Acts as an Antioxidant
As mentioned, antioxidants are crucial for helping our bodies fight against free radicals. Sadly, free radicals don’t only attack the skin. These environmental toxins can affect your entire body from the inside, even increasing the risk of heart disease and cancer. Fortunately for us, oatmeal possesses an abundance of avenanthramides, which are antioxidants that are specific to oats. These avenanthramides have the ability to prevent inflammation as well as enhance nitric oxide production, thus minimizing the chances of arteries hardening.
There’s not just one kind of oatmeal. You can get yourself rolled oats, oat groats, oat bran, instant oatmeal, steel-cut oats, and so on. It would be best to choose one that suits your taste and needs the best as they all tend to taste differently, differ in nutritional value, and feature vastly different cooking times.
Of course, with the rising popularity of oatmeal for breakfast thanks to word about its health benefits spreading rapidly, it’s no wonder that a lot of busy people these days look for this breakfast in particular when they visit restaurants as well. That said, we at Texas Specialty Beverage are a wholesale distributor for modern oats oatmeal in Dallas/Ft. Worth Texas area. Not only that, but you can count on us to provide you with top-notch specialty beverage products, supplies, condiments, beverage preparation machines, and cleaning products. A great deal of our products is 100% natural as well as completely artificial sweeteners and trans-fats-free. After all, it’s our goal as a health-conscious supplier and distributor to provide the best possible service to our clients so they can do the same. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about the products we offer and the popular brands we carry.