All Over Oats

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This cereal grain is a definite power food and if you do not already eat oats in some form or another (aside from oatmeal cookies!) this article is for you.

Benefits of Oats

-Complex carbohydrate

-No sugar

-High in soluble fiber

-Lowers LDL "bad" cholesterol

-Digests slowly. This will make you feel full for a long time!

-Oats are the only cereal containing protein.

How do I buy and prepare oats?

Oats can be cut, pressed, crushed, and ground. They can be eaten cooked, raw as a main ingredient or as a topping.

The most common way to eat oats is in oatmeal or porridge. Porridge is a warm breakfast cereal, typically served with milk. It is used by athletes for energy during training, to heal the sick, and makes a great breakfast for children, or anybody looking for an energy food that will keep their stomach content until lunchtime.

To make porridge you can use rolled oats or steel cut. I recommend steel cut. It takes longer to cook but that is due to minimal processing and a higher nutritional content. Rolled oats have been precooked and pressed, and sometimes sugar or other flavouring is added.

Many people eat oats on cold cereal, in drinks (I have had some lovely oat, yogurt and honey smoothies), for use in baking, and ground into flour.

Ground oats and extract are also used in skin care products such as cream and soaps due to its ability to relive dry, irritated and itchy skin. Most health food specialty stores will carry an all natural oatmeal soap. Personally speaking, I had a small running related dry patch on my thigh that was driving me nuts for months. No skin cream would do anything but after one wash with a bar of oatmeal soap, it was already 50% cured. Trust me, your skin will thank you!

If you do not eat oats already, try it out!

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