The Triple Threat Oatmeal Breakfast
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Breakfast offers a surprising opportunity to easily add several cholesterol-lowering foods to your daily diet. Simply changing to oatmeal with a few key mix-ins is a lo-co triple threat.
After a lot of trial and error, here’s the breakfast I now have nearly every morning: A cup of whole-grain oatmeal (read, steel cut oats, not instant – recipe attached), with a bit of sugar, a lot of cinnamon, and the following mixed in:
- A handful of almonds – dry roasted and unsalted. I cut mine in half. As I do not like almonds, I thought I would hate this, but turns out to be innocuous in oatmeal – just adds some nice crunch.
- Some wheat germ. For maximum cholesterol-lowering properties it should be flax seed not wheat germ, but I found that too difficult to manage (have to try again), so I add this high fiber food instead. Gives a slightly nutty flavor.
- Diced apple. I could just eat an apple every day – but I do not like apples, so found that difficult. But adding diced apple to the oatmeal tastes great.
Along with the Metamucil I chug (while waiting for the oatmeal to heat up and the coffee to brew), this has turned out to be THE ONLY lo-co change that has been relatively easy for me to make.
In fact, my husband just told me how surprised he was that THIS was the one lo-co thing that I now do every day – he thought changing breakfast would have been hard for me, and that daily exercise would have been easier. (OK, I added that part about exercise, but he implied it). Surprising or not, it was relatively easy for me to change to eating a breakfast that works to lower cholesterol every day.
The only hard part about this breakfast is the steel-cut oats from scratch. Instant just doesn’t have the cholesterol-lowering properties of whole grain oats, which take forever if you try to cook them every day. However, it’s EASY if you have a crockpot. See attached recipe for Overnight Crockpot Oatmeal.
With this triple-threat breakfast, now when I invariably fail to plan for a lo-co dinner, I have at least not failed for the entire day. And given how often I still fail at planning dinner (oh, and exercising daily), this new breakfast has been key for me.
Great post, Karen. People tend to think of oatmeal as a boring breakfast, but it can be so flavorful and fun. Try these (I use no sugar, but lots of cinnamon in all of these):
— clementine or orange sections, pecans
— banana, walnuts
— blueberry, mango, almonds
Because I hate how long it takes to cook, I make a big batch over the weekend and freeze it in small containers of individual serving size. Throw one in the fridge before going to bed so it has a chance to defrost overnight. Then microwave for a couple minutes in the morning. As easy as instant and better for you!
Love your blog!! Have been enjoying reading the dilemmas of someone else trying to lower their cholesterol without using drugs. I’m lucky because I love to exercise, but still struggle with the food choices. Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much, Karin – for the great freezer idea, and also for the compliment – it really made my day! -karen