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Nutritional components and benefits of oatmeal
Oatmeal is a popular breakfast cereal that has many nutritional components that contribute to its benefits. Oatmeal intake is associated with many benefits, including weight loss management.
Oatmeal is a popular breakfast cereal. It’s normally served with milk or water. Loved for its high fiber content, pure oat bran also lacks the wheat protein known as gluten.
Used as a by-product in animal feeds, oatmeal is healthy for humans as well. In fact, oats can be used in a broad range of food products such as cakes, biscuits, pastries, and other delicacies that gluten-intolerant individuals can enjoy.
Oatmeal has many nutritional components that contribute to its benefits. These nutrients are classified into two groups — macronutrients and micronutrients. The macronutrients include proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. Some of the micronutrients include vitamins, zinc, iron, copper, and other essential minerals. These nutrients greatly contribute to your general health and wellbeing.
Starch. This is a complex carbohydrate that is very filling. When you're full, you can avoid frequent snacking and achieve dieting goals. There is evidence that, unlike other similar wheat foods with higher amounts of fiber and starch, oat products also reduce the human glycemic response. This is the effect that food has on your blood glucose levels after eating.
Dietary fiber. Dietary fiber is essential in the prevention of coronary heart disease, colorectal and other cancers, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Oats are particularly high in a type of dietary fiber that also reduces cholesterol.
Protein. Protein makes up approximately 11 to 15% of the total oat grain composition. Globulins, a group of proteins present in oats, play an important role in liver function, blood clotting, and fighting infection.
Antioxidants. These are chemical compounds that eliminate free radicals — unstable atoms that damage cells and cause disease and aging. Antioxidants play an important role in preventing cancer, arthritis, atherosclerosis, cataracts, obesity, and other conditions.
How oatmeal can help you lose weight
Oatmeal intake is associated with many benefits, including weight loss management and cholesterol reduction. In fact, its low-calorie content has led to the development of exclusive oatmeal diets by nutritionists.
Take note that before starting a new meal plan or diet, though, you should always visit a doctor or a qualified nutritionist for clearance. It is extremely careless to start a diet without seeking assistance from your doctor. Following through with an unverified diet plan may lead to more problems than solutions, especially if you are expecting, prone to allergies, diabetic, or suffering from any other condition.
Seeking medical assistance is the first step to ensuring you are on the right path to healthy weight management.
A typical oatmeal diet is approximately seven days long. It only involves the intake of whole oatmeal. Avoid any other forms of oatmeal that are not whole for maximum effectiveness. You can consume half a cup of oatmeal in any of its forms three times a day alongside your regular diet.
The last phase encourages a gradual return to your regular diet, as it only involves a single oatmeal serving per day. There is no set calorie range, but it is important to avoid the intake of foods with high calories for maximum efficiency.
Cost-wise, the oatmeal diet is affordable compared to many other diets. Of course, like many first steps, phase one may be challenging.
Additionally, the standard dietary recommendation requires that any given diet be balanced to achieve healthy weight management.
Disadvantages of the oatmeal diet
This diet excludes expectant mothers and individuals suffering from many terminal illnesses, as it may be too extreme for their bodies to handle. The oatmeal diet also lacks range and may drive one to indulge in unnecessary snacking, which is counterproductive to the weight loss journey.
QUESTION
Weight loss occurs in the belly before anywhere else.
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Different ways to include oatmeal in your diet
Weight loss doesn’t have to be a long, boring process. Weight management could be a long journey but also an enjoyable one.
Adding healthy spices such as cinnamon may be a good start. Cinnamon is also rich in antioxidants.
You could make oatmeal pastries or cake for the times when those cake cravings kick in. Goodies baked from oats have a significantly low calorie count compared to those made from wheat. Don’t forget to include fruit toppings and other healthy sides of your choosing to bring some variety to the diet.
If you are a porridge lover, you may use oat flour to make your favorite delicacy. Other beverages made from oats include oat milk. This is a plant-based milk alternative with low fat and sugar content and may be very suitable for milk lovers on their weight loss journey.
Oats go well in a smoothie bowl. The perfect smoothie bowl includes natural sweeteners such as fruits and honey, particularly if you aim to maintain a low-calorie diet to maximize weight loss.
There are so many ways to bring variety to your oatmeal diet. Please consult a qualified nutritionist to help you discover various ways to include oatmeal into your diet without it being bland.
Oatmeal bars, for instance, are a great and healthy alternative to chocolate bars. The best part is that you can also make them from home to ensure a low-calorie count.
Of course, despite the oatmeal diet having a low calorie count, other nutritional and lifestyle factors such as exercise are still necessary to maintain healthy weight loss.
