Experts explain oatmeal
Oats contain β-glucan, which can help prevent cardiovascular diseases and is also the best food for diabetic patients. After eating oatmeal, it's not easy to feel hungry, which is very beneficial to dieters ... However, in the face of oatmeal, cereal, cereal and other products on the shelf, which one would you choose? What should I eat after I buy it back? If you don't understand these problems, you may not buy oatmeal at all, or it can't meet your needs.
Question 1: Are oatmeal and cereal the same thing?
A: They are not the same thing. Pure oatmeal is rolled from oats, flat, with a diameter similar to that of soybeans and a complete shape. The instant oatmeal processed by fast food has a sense of fragmentation, but it can still be seen in its original shape. Cooked oats are very sticky, which is brought by the healthy ingredient β -glucan in them. Its effects of reducing blood fat, blood sugar and high satiety are closely related to this viscous substance. Generally speaking, the thicker the same amount of oats is cooked, the better the health care effect.
Oatmeal is a mixture of various grains, such as wheat, rice, corn, barley and so on. Among them, oatmeal only accounts for a small part, or even contains no oatmeal at all. Foreign products like to add dried fruits, nut slices, watercress and so on. And domestic products like to add maltodextrin, sugar, creamer (non-dairy creamer), essence and so on.
Question 2: Should I buy sweet cereal or unsweetened cereal?
Answer: Dry oatmeal or cereal should be preferred. There is no doubt that natural grains contain no sugar. If you use a small bowl to make a small bag of 40 grams of cereal, it will have a proper sweetness, which means it contains 20 grams of sugar, which means that half of the cereal you buy is actually white sugar! Can you expect such products to have high nutritional value?
What about sugar-free products? Still not optimistic. If it is sweet, you must add some high-efficiency sweeteners, such as sodium cyclamate, acesulfame, aspartame and so on. Most of these things are synthetic chemicals, and children under 2 can't eat them. Although aspartame is a peptide substance, there are still many disputes about its safety in the world. The most important thing is that only a little high-efficiency sweetener is enough, so what should be used to supplement it? Starch hydrolysate, such as maltodextrin, is usually added. Dextrin, like sugar, can quickly raise blood sugar and contains almost no other nutrients.
Question 3: It is said that whole wheat food is particularly good. Why can't I see whole wheat oatmeal?
A: Oats and wheat are two different grains. Wheat is usually ground into "white flour", and a lot of nutrients in the outer layer will be lost. Pure oatmeal itself is a whole grain, and it has not been processed by removing the outer layer, so there is no need to declare whether it is "whole wheat". And the nutritional value of pure oatmeal is much higher than that of whole wheat flour. It must be noted that the higher the proportion of oatmeal in the product, the higher the nutritional value of the product. If there are more ingredients such as rice flour and corn, the nutritional value will be discounted.
Question 4: Some oatmeal claims to have added other nutrients, claiming high calcium, high iron and high protein. Is this product better than pure oatmeal?
A: The nutritional value of oatmeal itself is high enough. As a staple food, it is very good even without adding other nutrients. Merchants add some nutrients, on the one hand, they sincerely hope to improve product quality, on the other hand, they are propaganda means to attract consumers to buy first. Some "oatmeal" products contain only a small part of oats. Even if calcium, protein and other nutrients are added, the nutritional value is actually not higher than that of pure oatmeal.
Question 5: Some large bags of oatmeal with poor packaging are often visited by few people, and there seems to be no other nutrients and additives. Is this a good product?
A: These products are really natural oatmeal, without fancy marketing or adding any synthetic substances. The protein content of natural oatmeal is as high as 13% to 15%, in which the content of calcium and potassium is very high, the content of β -glucan is very rich, and there are also many unsaturated fatty acids. Agricultural workers in China have cultivated some oat varieties with high β -glucan content, and oatmeal made from them is particularly beneficial to patients with chronic diseases. These products with simple packaging and plain appearance are not good-looking, and may not be so delicious to eat and troublesome to make, but this is the characteristic of truly pure natural products.
Unfortunately, many consumers simply don't know what pure oatmeal is, and they don't know that it tastes so light, sticky and even a little prickly. On the one hand, they are attracted by the slogan of "pure nature", on the other hand, they only like to eat sweet processed products of various ingredients. Because, after years of infiltration of processed food, many people have been unable to adapt to the rough and light natural taste. This taste hobby is unhealthy in itself.
Question 6: Many cereal products contain "non-creamer" ingredients. What role can it play?
A: Non-dairy creamer can improve the taste, but it contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and contains more trans fatty acids and saturated fatty acids, which is not good for health. The adverse effects of trans fatty acids include increasing the risk of diabetes, which is not conducive to the development of children's nervous system and increasing the risk of infertility.
Question 7: Many oatmeal products claim that they can be cooked. Is it boiled or brewed?
A: From the health point of view, it is better to cook by yourself. Because boiling oatmeal can provide the greatest satiety, blood sugar rises the slowest. At the same time, it does not contain additives such as sugar, cream, maltodextrin and essence. In these oatmeal that needs to be cooked. Some instant pure oatmeal can only be heated for one or two minutes, which is also a better choice. It's no trouble to add milk yourself, which is much healthier than eating products with creamer.
Those instant products cater to consumers' demand for convenience and delicacy, and are not necessarily consistent with health value. For example, most of these products are added with sugar and dextrin, which not only reduces the nutritional value, but also loses the advantages of low blood sugar and high satiety of oatmeal. Many of these products have added non-dairy creamer, which will reduce the benefits of oatmeal in preventing cardiovascular diseases.
Tip:
When buying oatmeal, if the packaging is opaque, pay attention to the protein content of the product. If it is less than 8%, the proportion of oatmeal is too low to be the only food for breakfast, and it must be eaten together with milk, eggs, bean products and other rich foods in protein.