navajo

Hey all!

I have been lurking around here for a few weeks and keep seeing lots of people reccomending eating oats for breakfast. I almost always eat Honey Nut Cheerios. So last night I got the oats box and Cheerios box down and started comparing them. They seem basically the same as far as Cal, Carb, etc. Am I missing something?

Will I gain anything from switching to Oats?

I figure this is probably posted somewhere on here already, but just try searching for oats and cheerios in a thread... There are a LOT.

Thanks for your time.

PS: Just had to share with someone. I had to punch yet another hole in my belt today!

UmneyDurak

I think most people mean hot oatmeal when they say Oats. Which is different from the cereal.

UD

ottsville

How do they compare on fiber? Added sugar?

I would think that old fashioned rolled oats would digest slower than Cheerios and would not cause as large a spike in blood sugar and all that goes along with that.

Wanderer

Oatmeal, your body will thank you for it, when you get older.

Drops Cholesterol better than anything else, and fibre will keep you squeeky clean inside.

If you absolutely have to have something sweeter, add fruit, raisins, or some such natural sweetener.

On top of that, it tastes good!

Then, when you get as old as me, your doctor won't want to put you on more pilllllllllllllls.

P.S. Keep ridin, though, cause that's good for you too......

mike868y

I eat oatmeal with flaxseed, wheat germ, strawberries, a banana, and some blueberries every morning for breakfast and it is great. It took some getting used to because of the bland taste (especially coming off waffles and toaster strudels), but I am glad I made the switch.

navajo

OK, I should have specified I guess

I know they mean hot oatmeal. I had my wife buy some steel cut oats, honey and walnuts today and I tried some raw oats and it's GOOD!

I was just wondering what the health benefits were one over the other.

I mean, the oatmeal seems to have more cals (slightly), both about the same carbs, etc. Cheerios say they lower chol and the oats box says it removes chol. Maybe THAT's the difference?

Shoot, I don't know. I am sure that the fact the oatmeal isn't really "processed" is better if nothing else. Maybe it's the Cheerios preservatives?

No biggie, I'll switch for a while and see what's what.

Thanks for the help and the motivation (over the entire board as a whole). I DO plan on sticking with riding. How did I ever forget how much fun it was as a kid?

mike868y

I'm not sure, but I would guess that you are right. Oats are probably more natural, and you can control the ingredients much more. Cheerios probably have a lot of added sugar, and preservatives (I could be wrong though). If you are tight on time, try rolled oats. They are ALMOST as nutritional as steel cut, but cook much quicker

MrCrassic 

Congratulations on the weight loss!

While Cheerios does use oats, a lot of it is processed, which adds a lot of other content that might not be as healthy (and I hear that it actually diminishes the benefits provided by the oats).

On the other hand, oatmeal is pretty much straight up oats with milk. No processing required (that I know of).

Too bad one of my favorite foods is a good bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats. Processed foods? Kill me, baby!

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MrCrassic 

BTW, oatmeal with a bit of brown sugar and maple syrup tastes pretty amazing. Natural sweeteners are healthier, though.

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CastIron

Regular Cheerios are simply oats ground into flour and baked into the little o shape. The other varieties have some added bits, of course. They are almost as good as most unsweetened oatmeal products out there sans the added fiber.

They are my preferred snack food, often with dried berries and nuts sprinkled in.

Pat

Brown sugar is merely white sugar with some molassas added. Maple syrup is a bit more complex. But essentially both are primarily sucrose which is the main transport sugar in plants. White sugar or Cane sugar is something like 99.9995% sucrose. It is the purest chemical you can buy at the grocery store. It is even USP grade or analytical grade. I seriously doubt that there is any really significant difference between white sugar and maple syrup and brown sugar. Eat them for their flavor. It is a minor indulgance and that is good. But I think you are fooling yourself if you think it is doing your health any good.

MrCrassic 

They aren't beneficial for your health, but at the level of exercise a lot of us do, they aren't that harmful either when used in moderation...

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carbondale

One cup of rolled oats has twice the fiber, 4 times the protein as Honey Nut Cheerios. Plus the Cheerios has 200 mg sodium to Zero for rolled oats.

ottsville

Real maple syrup is a natural sweetener.

navajo

All very good responses! Thank you.

So I tried what I though was a good idea this morning. I got up, put 1/2 Cup water and 1/4 cup Steel Cut Oats in the microwave for 3 minutes while I got dressed...

Well, I must have still been asleep because it never dawned on me it would be boiling/bubbling. So when I got back to the kitchen to eat my oatmeal, I opened the microwave door to find the bowl pretty much empty and the oatmeal scattered all over the inside of the microwave.

So I just had some cheerios (after I cleaned the microwave before my wife saw it! )

I'll try a bigger bowl tomorrow but I gotta admit, I REALLY like the taste of them raw. Might just put a little skim milk in them with some honey and walnuts and chow down.

Once again, thanks for all the "Food for Thought".

steveknight

you want a really big bowl cereal tends to boil over a bowl bigger then you would eat out of. plus you need to time it well will takes a bit of practice.

msincredible

You won't have much luck microwaving the steel-cut oats unless you soak them the night before. Rolled oats you can do that way though.

MrCrassic 

Isn't this hard to find?

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ottsville

Not at all. It's usually right next to the corn syrup with maple flavoring stuff, or perhaps with the specialty items. It's not cheap, but it's worth it. Should be easy to find in NYC. Zabars?

nscrbug

On another forum I visit, there is a debate over the health benefits of "instant" oatmeal vs. slow-cooked oatmeal. Just curious as to what everyone's opinion over here is on the topic. Basically, the consensus over there is that the "instant" packets don't provide the health benefits (mainly the cholesterol lowering properties) that the slow-cooked variety does. But this morning I came across an article in the December 2008 issue of Running Times magazine. On page 24 is an article titled "Grains On The Go"...and in the last paragraph it states that "instant" oatmeal is just as nutritious as whole oats because the germ and bran remain intact during processing. So now I don't know who or what to believe.

Also...what is your preferred method of cooking slow-cooked oats? I'm a sucker for convenience...but I've tried nuking them and it didn't come out very well...it was very chewy and clumpy...not at all like the consistency I get with the instant packets. BTW...I use skim milk to make my oatmeal. Any suggestions on how to get the slow-cook stuff to come out better in the microwave? Or do I really have to use the stove-top method to get it right?

navajo

Well, I tried something different this morning.

Like I said a few posts up, I like the taste of the oats raw, but they are a bit too hard. So I got up and put some in a bowl with some skim milk and heated in the microwave just long enough to get it hot then let it set while I showered and dressed. Then added honey and walnuts. I was NOT good!

I think it's going to be either fully cooked on the stove (30 minutes) or raw next to see what that's like.

Any tips on making it better? (Remember it is steel cut).

Thanks,

Tom

dirkduck

I don't think oats are hard to make at all. I get rolled oats, either thick cut or not (but not the "fast cook") in bulk. All I have to do in the morning is throw about 1/2cup oats in with 1 cup water or just over, bring to a boil, turn down the heat to low (I don't cover the pot, personally), and let them cook for about 5 or 10 minutes. Then, add these to a bowl with ground flax seed, cacao bits, some xylitol, and a banana, mix, then add a bit of rice/almond milk on top, and you're set! Easy, cheap, healthy, and nutritious.

Jarery

As mentioned above, steel cut are all about long cooking. If you want convenience, put a 1/2 cup steel cut oats, 1 cup water in a bowl, and leave over night. Microwave in the morning.

mjw

Isn't "instant" oatmeal just chopped up into smaller pieces and steamed so it's already a little bit cooked? I doubt this lowers the nutritional content.

Cheerios are just processed oats.

ottsville

I pulled this from another site's discussion of cooking oats:
Wrong. As has already been said. Have you ever looked at the ingredients?