A great way to energize the start of your day and slow down the aging process is to have a bowl of good old fashion oatmeal. One of the most nutrient dense breakfast food, oatmeal will give you the lasting energy you’re looking for.
About 45 minutes to 1-1/2 hours after waking, having a bowl of oatmeal is an opportunity to keep your blood sugar levels nice and steady. Oatmeal is full of insoluble and soluble fiber, and it’s the soluble fiber that keep the blood sugar steady, energizing you over a long period of time.
Because fiber can’t be digested by the body, it forms a gel-like substance in the small intestines. The viscosity slowly releases glucose into the bloodstream. You can glean small amounts of energy within 15 to 30 minutes of consuming oatmeal, but it’s the slow release of glucose that gives you energy over a long period of time. This slow release also reduces the need for insulin.
Types of Oats to Energize Your Day
We have several types of Oatmeal to choose from. Some types will give you lasting energy while others will give you a spike and then crash.
From the least processed to the most, types of oatmeal are: Oat Groats, Steel-Cut Oats, Scottish Oats, Rolled or Old-Fashioned Oats, Quick Oats and Instant Oatmeal.
Oat Groats are the healthiest form of oatmeal and the least processed. Groats are a whole grain with the hulls removed and then slightly toasted. Oat Groats keep the nutrients intact.
Oat Groats require overnight soaking and cooking to get that creamy bowl of nutrition.
Steel-Cut Oats are groats cut into smaller pieces, making for larger portions in your bowl. The texture is more chewy than other types of oatmeal. Steel-cut oats take longer to digest, thus having less of a blood sugar rise which helps you stay full for longer.
Steel-cut oats, referred to as Irish oats, preserve all the nutrients of whole groats and they’ll give you the lasting energy you’re looking for.
It’s best to prepare steel-cut oats ahead of time because they take some time to cook. You can also soak overnight and take advantage of the resistant starch if you eat them cold in the morning.
Scottish Oats are next best to steel-cut oats. They are ground groats, making a fine grainy oatmeal often called Pinhead Oats or Porridge. This makes a much creamier bowl of oatmeal when cooked, and it has much less chew than steel-cut oats.
There is a slight loss of fiber and protein in the grinding. Your body digests this type of oatmeal faster, doesn’t keep you as full making you hungrier faster thus, not providing as much energy as steel-cut oats.
Rolled Oats also called Old-Fashioned Oats, have been flattened and steamed, dried then toasted. This is the type of oatmeal that we usually think of when conjuring up a bowl of oatmeal. They have a softer, creamy texture, and are easy to cook without much time required. They’re used a lot in baking.
While they seem to have similar nutritional benefits, the steaming and rolling process increases their glycemic value. The oats are steamed to increase shelf life and decrease cooking time. It’ll also cause a quicker spike in blood sugar…not what we’re looking for particularly if weight loss is a goal or looking to energize your day.
Quick Oats are similar to Old-Fashioned Oats but are more processed. They’re steamed longer and rolled thinner. So yes, you’ll get a creamy bowl of oatmeal that cooks much faster than any of the above, and you’ll also get a higher glycemic value, less sustained energy, and not much on the fat burning side.
Instant Oatmeal is the most processed of them all and usually packed with loads of sugar. These guys are steamed until fully cooked, rolled even thinner and then dehydrated. By now, you know the lack of benefits with all the processing for convenience’s sake.
Instant oatmeal is also much higher in glycemic value, has the lowest fiber content of all oatmeal, and can actually make you gain weight instead of losing it. It certainly won’t keep your energy up and does very little for that steady blood sugar level.
This is one of those ‘meals’ that’ll give you the sugar rush before you crash and burn, leaving you hungrier then before, and tired to boot.
When deciding which oatmeal to buy, compare the amount of fiber. The more processed the oat grain, the more we lose some of that soluble fiber. That means we’ll be digesting the oatmeal much quicker, getting hungrier faster, with our energy level dropping faster. Processed oats don’t help us with our weigh loss plans, either.
Slowing Down the Aging Process with Oatmeal
Oatmeal is a low glycemic complex carb full of fiber, protein, lipids, phenolic compounds, vitamins and minerals, and may offer some of the most heart protection.
The spotlight, however, is on beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that plays a role in lowering insulin resistance, lowering blood cholesterol, decreasing risks for obesity, and boosting the immune system.
This magnificent soluble fiber, beta-glucan, creates a viscosity in the upper gastrointestinal tract slowing down digestion. The highly viscous gel reduces LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol by attaching to cholesterol particles and removing them from the body.
As it travels through our digestive system, beta-glucan ferments in the colon, producing short chain fatty acids that are glorioski for improving gut health and reducing systemic inflammation. Yay!
Beta-glucan lowers the glycemic value or index of oatmeal which keeps blood sugar levels down, reducing risks of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases.
And with all that fiber along with being one of best sources of resistant starch, oatmeal is great for weight loss. Digestive acids are released suppressing the appetite, speeding up calorie burn while boosting your metabolism.
Double the Impact to Slow Down the Aging Process
Don’t we just love it when we get a wonderful payoff for less effort! A twofer! Here’s how you can double the impact in your efforts to slow down the aging process.
Oatmeal has a significant amount of iron and B Vitamins. These nutrients bring oxygen to the working muscle, converting carbs into energy as you…you got it…as you exercise. And we know that exercise is the fountain of youth having huge impacts on slowing down the aging process.
People who have exercised throughout their life have the immunity, muscle mass and cholesterol levels of a young person, defying the aging process. You can still start now because it’s never too late to reap the benefits of exercise.
We also know that oatmeal helps slow down the aging process. Well, that same slow pace of digestion that’s celebrated in a bowl of oatmeal is what supplies the carbs, providing a sustained fuel source that can power you through and enhance your exercise performance.
Oatmeal also has a good amount of protein, and we know that protein provides amino acids to our muscles for building and repair.
Because oats take a bit of time to digest, it’s a good idea to have about an hour between your bowl of oatmeal and your workout.
Of course, sipping water before, during and after will give you the proper hydration you need for a workout.
Our 8 Proven Strategies for Better Health After 50 and our 5 Steps to Boost Your Health and Your Productivity include strategies and tips on the top concerns of men and women cresting middle age and beyond. It also includes practical easy-to-do solutions that fit into those busy schedules so you can improve your health and fitness. C
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3236515
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2019.00171/full#
https://www.eatthis.com/oatmeal/
https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/food-and-diet/what-is-the-glycaemic-index-gi/
https://nutritionandmetabolism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-7075-1-8
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