Oatmeal is one of the most popular breakfast foods around the world. It is eaten in royal palaces and ordinary apartments of panel high-rise buildings. Nutritionists recommend using it for both adults and children. It is perfect for those who watch their figure and those who are on a special diet for health reasons. For those who don't have time to cook in the morning, instant oatmeal is ideal.
Many people ask: what is the difference? Indeed, in everyday life, “oatmeal” refers to cereals made from whole grains, instant porridge from bags, and quickly boiled flakes.
Traditional whole oat porridge has the following characteristics:
- It retains its beneficial properties only when cooked without salt and sugar.
- It takes about an hour to prepare.
- The finished product has a rough consistency.
- It takes a long time to digest in the stomach.
- Not suitable for feeding children under 3 years of age.
Oatmeal porridge has the following differences:
- Retains almost all beneficial properties and most vitamins.
- Prepares from 3 to 15 minutes.
- You can pour cold milk or kefir and let it brew.
- May contain various additives.
- It has a delicate, pleasant consistency.
- Suitable for dietary and baby food.
Important! There are special cases of intolerance to gluten, which is contained in oatmeal. This is rather an exception to the rule, but it is still worth carefully monitoring the body’s individual reaction to this product in order to prevent the development of allergies.
How to make instant oats
The process of obtaining instant cereal is lengthy. The grain is collected by a combine, then cleaned of impurities at the elevator. Clean oats go into hulling machines, where the hard shell is removed. Then they are doused with steam and flattened. But these will still only be ordinary flakes that need to be boiled.
Did you know? Oats first appeared in Mongolia. Here it grew like a weed among spelled crops (a type of wheat). But they did not completely destroy it, since they knew about its nutritional value.
To reduce the cooking process to a couple of minutes, the raw materials are cut, scored, passed through the press again and treated with steam. The output is the finest, semi-finished flakes. At the end of the process they are dried, cooled, sifted and packaged. If necessary, various nutritional supplements are added.
Calorie calculation
1. Weigh all ingredients separately (cereals, additives, milk). Pinterest can help you figure out what to add to your porridge. Search for oatmeal.
Weigh dry cereal
Weigh the nuts separately. Walnuts, cashews and almonds go best with oatmeal.
Separately bananas or any other berries, fruits, dried fruits
The milk is also weighed to calculate its calorie content. If you cook with water, you don’t need to weigh it, there are no calories in water.
2. Enter the data into the application. If the application calculates cereal in servings, one serving of cereal = 40 grams.
FatSecret - iOS and Android
Yazio - iOS and Android
MyFitnessPal - iOS and Android
Lifesum - iOS and Android
I use FatSecret. It is convenient and contains that “rolled oatmeal” that I use to cook and a large selection of products.
Ingredients of instant oatmeal
The composition of instant oatmeal is not much different from regular oatmeal:
| retinol | 772 mcg |
| thiamine | 445 mcg |
| riboflavin | 0.05 mg |
| choline | 27.7 mg |
| pantothenic acid | 1.2 mg |
| pyridoxine | 0.08 mg |
| folic acid | 32 mcg |
| alpha tocopherol | 0.51 mg |
| beta tocopherol | 0.2 mg |
| phylloquinone | 1.9 mcg |
| niacin | 1.035 mg |
| betaine | 25.4 mg |
| potassium | 366 mg |
| calcium | 351 mg |
| magnesium | 128 mg |
| sodium | 220 mg |
| sulfur | 119.2 mg |
| phosphorus | 423 mg |
| iron | 24.72 mg |
| manganese | 3.385 mg |
| copper | 360 mcg |
| selenium | 23.2 mcg |
| zinc | 2.51 mg |
| mono- and disaccharides (sugars) | 1.5 g |
| glucose (dextrose) | 0.1 g |
| sucrose | 1 g |
| fructose | 0.1 g |
Nutritional value 100 g:
| calories | 362 kcal |
| squirrels | 11.9 g |
| fats | 6.9 g |
| carbohydrates | 59.5 g |
| alimentary fiber | 10 g |
| water | 9 g |
Why is oatmeal harmful?
- It is believed that oatmeal is harmful for those people who are gluten intolerant. But scientists say there is no gluten in oatmeal. According to the Celiac Disease Center at UChicago Medicine, oats can be safely consumed in a gluten-free diet, even for people with celiac disease who need to avoid gluten for medical reasons.
- There is a small chance that a person with celiac disease may react to proteins called avenins in oats or fiber. They are similar in structure to gliadin in other cereals and can produce cross-reactions.
- Some oats are contaminated with wheat, rye or barley residues because they are processed in the same factories. Therefore, people with celiac disease are advised to reduce the amount of oatmeal or flour in their diet.
What is its use
The benefits of instant oatmeal are less than those of regular cereal. This is due to the duration of industrial processing, during which some of the beneficial substances are lost. But they still contain micro- and macroelements, vitamins that our body needs.
Introducing porridge into the diet allows you to cleanse the body of bad cholesterol, prevent heart attacks and strokes, and improve the functioning of the nervous system. Instant cereal contains some fiber, but a small amount is enough to gradually cleanse the body of toxins.
Important! To benefit from instant cereals, you need to avoid those that contain (additionally) food additives and flavor simulants.
What are the benefits of oatmeal?
Oats are a whole grain product rich in fiber, water-soluble B vitamins, essential minerals, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc. It is recommended to get at least half of your daily carbohydrate intake from whole grains, so oats are one of the best grains to meet the body's energy needs.
Adding more whole grains to your daily diet can help you live longer. Each additional daily serving of whole grains reduces the risk of death from any cause or from cardiovascular disease by 5% and 9%, respectively. These data are independent of other dietary and lifestyle factors.
A study published in December 2015 in the journal Nutrition Research found that those who eat oatmeal lead healthier lives overall. They smoke less often and drink less alcohol, and eat more rationally. They typically consume more protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, especially retinol, B, calcium and potassium, throughout the day.
Oatmeal eaters tend to have a lower body mass index (BMI) and smaller waist circumference, which reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome and health problems. People often consume oatmeal with milk and fruit, which helps them get more vitamins and minerals.
Oatmeal has been scientifically proven to help lower high cholesterol. Oatmeal contains a special type of fiber called soluble beta-glucan, which not only has a beneficial effect on your cholesterol profile, but also contains antioxidants that protect your blood vessels from LDL, or “bad” cholesterol.
Harm and contraindications
The main harm from instant cereals lies in the additives. With them, the manufacturer tries to attract the buyer, not caring much about the quality of the final product. Typically, instant porridges are packaged with pieces of fruit added. But processing them correctly is a complex and costly process. It is easier for the manufacturer to replace them with flavors, dyes or other food additives.
Often, instead of “exotic” fruits, apples are used that are processed in a special way (using food chemicals) so that they resemble peaches, apricots, etc. Also, such cereals contain a lot of sugar, which is not at all healthy for the body.
We don't trust labels
I worked for several years as a marketer in a grocery company and I know that all information on packaging should be safely divided into two. The packaging is designed as much as possible in such a way as to sell any cereal.
When choosing flakes, look carefully at the cooking time and name. Feel free to ignore all other information if you cannot verify its accuracy yourself.
All the packs say how healthy the cereal is - both those that are cooked for 5 minutes, and those that are not cooked at all, but you should not blindly believe this. I decided to compare different cereals based on the content of nutrients, but it turned out that it is not so simple. It is impossible to compare and select flakes based on the content of useful substances by simply attaching packs. The information provided on the packaging is not always correct.
Data on instant cereals and rolled oats are the same, including the content of dietary fiber
In most cases, manufacturers do not determine the characteristics of their own products, but use average data. Actual product data may vary greatly from those shown.
Dimitrieva Svetlana Eliseevna
scientific consultant Roskontrol
Chemical composition reference books contain data only on long-cooked Hercules flakes. Manufacturers use this data and place it on all cereals. You take the package and don't see the difference.
Some packs contain information about the content of nutrients in specific cereals, but it is difficult to verify how accurate this information is. The manufacturer must report only the amounts of calories, protein, fat and carbohydrates. It is not necessary to indicate how much vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber are in the cereal. Many packs do not have this information.
When I was studying the packets, I noticed that some cereals listed fiber content as twice as high as grains, and grains had the highest fiber content. After grain, according to this indicator, there is cereal, then Hercules flakes. All other cereals are at the very bottom of the rating. After this discrepancy, the remaining numbers also begin to raise doubts in me.
Such indicators are possible if the manufacturer has added bran to the flakes. The correctness of the data given on the packaging can only be checked in a laboratory.
Dimitrieva Svetlana Eliseevna
scientific consultant Roskontrol
The dietary fiber content in the grain is 12 grams, in these flakes it is 27.82.
Mistral flakes contain information about the content of vitamins and minerals - this is good
Many packs, like this one, only have nutritional information.
Information on vitamins in Uvelka flakes is in English only. For some reason, the data on two packs from the same manufacturer are presented differently
Can I eat it for breakfast?
Instant cereal is suitable for breakfast. But you shouldn’t expect that after eating you won’t feel hungry for long. Due to the low fiber content, the absorption process of the product is rapid.
In addition, it will be useful to eat such food only once or twice a week and in an amount of no more than 200 g. Due to the high calorie content of a daily meal, you can quickly gain several kilograms of excess weight.
Important! It is advisable for diabetics to avoid instant porridge, since rapid absorption may result in sudden surges in blood glucose.
Cereal breakfast: a serving of oatmeal in the morning
Oats belong to the group of whole grain products.
It contains complex carbohydrates called beta-glucan, which protects the heart, helps reduce high cholesterol and reduces the risk of bowel cancer. The fiber and rich texture of oat grains is especially beneficial for breakfast. A serving of oatmeal fills you up well and reduces the temptation to have an extra snack before lunch. It is good for the gastrointestinal tract because its high fiber content helps improve digestion and normalize stool. But it also has disadvantages: we’ll tell you more about the health benefits and harms of oatmeal.
How to choose the right porridge
First of all, try to look for an “instant” breakfast without additives. Carefully study the composition of the product - there should be a minimum of harmful impurities. Check the expiration date and expiration date, and the integrity of the packaging. Give preference to products from well-known brands - there is a better chance that the information on the packaging is true.
High-quality flakes are white, slightly yellowish with a fresh and soft smell. They don't taste bitter.
Hercules or cereal
Oats and their products Comparative data on cereals and flakes
We’ve sorted out the oatmeal issue, the question remains: what’s healthier, cereal or flakes?
In addition to flakes, you can also buy oatmeal at the oatmeal store
The content of nutrients in rolled oatmeal and oatmeal is the same, while cereal contains a little more dietary fiber.
“Hercules” or rolled cereal for porridge is better than whole grain. The content of nutrients in cereals and rolled oats is the same, but the nutrients from rolled cereals and rolled oats are absorbed better than from whole cereals and grains.
Tanya Chubaryan
chemist, food quality control specialist
The disadvantage of cereals is the long cooking time. It needs to be cooked for 40-60 minutes, during which time the amount of vitamin B1 decreases by 26%, B2 - by 20%.
Baeva Vera Sergeevna
biochemist, senior Researcher at the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Biotechnology" (formerly RAMS)
It is better to soak the cereal before cooking. This way it cooks faster and the nutrients from it are absorbed more easily.
The content of nutrients in cereals and Hercules flakes is almost the same
Rules for preparing healthy porridge
Processed flakes can be used to make healthy oatmeal.
It is enough to follow simple rules:
- Prepare the dish with low-fat milk or water.
- Add dried fruits and nuts to it yourself.
- If possible, exclude sweeteners.
- When cooking, stir the porridge constantly so that it does not burn.
- Liquid oatmeal is obtained by combining water and flakes in a ratio of 3:1, semi-viscous - 1:2.5, viscous - 1:2.
- When ready, add oil and let sit for a couple of minutes.
- Try to cook the amount that you will consume at a time (it’s less tasty when it’s cooled).
Did you know? In 2021, Russia was the world leader in oat production. Harvest: 4.76 million tons of grain per year.
How healthy is cereal?
Oats are one of the common grains that humans eat and use in the production of several foods and drinks. It grows in temperate regions where there is little rain and clay soil. People have been eating oats for centuries, but supporters of the paleo diet refuse this grain, arguing that our ancestors did not eat it. But scientific evidence suggests otherwise. A study published in September 2015 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences described ancient tools that were used to grind grains such as oats.
What is made from oats (H3)
- uncrushed cereal – peeled, polished and steamed grains,
- crushed cereal – cleaned, polished grain is crushed into smaller particles,
- flattened grain - the usual rolled oats flakes,
- oat flour – peeled oat grains ground into powder,
- oat flakes - processed, steamed, flattened into plates, ready-to-eat grains.
Oats are considered a whole grain because the bran and germ remain intact after processing.
