3 Reasons To Skip Oatmeal
Your daily oatmeal for breakfast could be the reason you’re struggling to lose weight. Here are three reasons why it might be standing in your way.
It Stops Fat Burning
Reason Number one, it turns off fat burning. When you eat oatmeal, fat-burning stops and your body goes into fat-storing mode instead.
This metabolic switch is triggered by a rise in blood sugar and insulin. Now, blood sugar spikes in isolation, they’re not a problem.
This is a normal response to eating carbohydrates that your body is equipped to deal with, but only if you are metabolically healthy.
However, if you are carrying excess weight then it is highly likely that you have some level of metabolic dysfunction. 3 Reasons To Skip Oatmeal
What this means is that your body is not able to properly metabolize food, and specifically, carbohydrates, and turn them to energy.
They are more likely to be stored as fat. But how does this relate to oatmeal and weight loss? Half a cup of plain oats contains around 27 grams of carbohydrates.
When we eat oatmeal, these carbohydrates are broken down into glucose or sugar and enter our bloodstream, causing our blood sugar to rise. When our blood sugar goes up, insulin is released, and its job is to take the excess sugar from our blood to the cells in our body so they can use it for energy.
And this rise in insulin is a trigger for the body to stop burning fat and to store it instead. As I mentioned earlier, in isolation, this isn’t a bad thing.
But if weight loss is your goal, then this could be hindering your results. In order for your body to get back into fat-burning mode, insulin needs to be low.
If you are metabolically unhealthy, then it’s going to take you longer to get back into this state. The more time you can spend throughout the day with your insulin low, the more fat you’re going to be able to burn.
It is easiest to extend this time in the morning because your insulin is going to be at its lowest when you wake up after not eating all night.
So pushing your breakfast back an hour or two or eating a breakfast that’s low in carbohydrates, so not oatmeal, will help you to stay in this fat-burn state for longer.
It Makes you hungry
Reason Number two, it makes you hungry. The second reason that oatmeal might be standing in the way of your weight loss goals is because it makes you hungrier throughout the day. This is for a couple of reasons.
it is low in protein and low in fat. Protein in particular is so important for controlling hunger. Carbs and fat, their main role in our body is to provide us with energy.
But protein is needed for other reasons. Because of this, we will remain hungry until our protein needs are met, even if we have met our overall energy goals through carbs and fat. (3 Reasons To Skip Oatmeal)
This is why people will find that an hour or two after eating oatmeal, they’re hungry again. They didn’t meet their need for protein.
At bare minimum, everyone should be aiming to get at least 30 grams of protein in at every meal. This is especially important your first meal of the day.
If you don’t hit your protein target at this first meal, this starts a chain reaction of hunger swings for the whole rest of the day.
Half a cup of oatmeal only has 5 grams of protein. Nowhere near this 30 grams minimum. Now, if you add some peanut butter, you might get another 5, maybe 10 grams of protein, but this is still way under what you need.
Greek yogurt or a quality protein powder sugar can help to bump the protein content up significantly.(3 Reasons To Skip Oatmeal)
However, even if we meet our protein goal, we’re still left with the dilemma of Oats being high in carbs, which, as we spoke about earlier, basically turns off fat burning.
However, adding the protein does help to stop you from being hungry so soon after. It does also help to lower the blood sugar spike, which can help with these hunger swings as well.
Because you see, when our blood sugar spikes dramatically, it also crashes dramatically. And if you’re metabolically unhealthy, sometimes this crash can actually take you below baseline.
And when we experience low blood sugar like this, we become very hungry because our body is desperate for energy. There are ways to make oatmeal more hunger and blood sugar friendly, such as adding protein. However, it’s still not the ideal breakfast for weight loss.
Metabolic health
Reason Number three, it worsens metabolic health. Oatmeal can actually make your metabolic health worse. It does this by increasing insulin resistance. We’ve spoken about blood sugar already, and we’ve touched on insulin as well.
And high insulin really is the main factor that stops people from losing weight. As we touched on earlier, when insulin is high, this triggers fat storage. Now, for someone who’s insulin resistant, their insulin is almost always high.
They are stuck in a state of fat storage, and it’s really, really hard for them to flip the switch and get into fat burning instead. And oatmeal is one of those foods that requires a lot of insulin to process and it can make insulin resistance worse. And then you get stuck in this vicious cycle of high insulin and fat storage.
And those are three reasons why you should stop eating Oatmeal for breakfast if weight loss is your goal.(3 Reasons To Skip Oatmeal)
what should you be eating instead?
Breakfast that are high in protein, which we already spoke and high in fat, but also low in carbohydrates, these are going to be ideal.
Protein and fat require very little insulin to process, and they don’t raise blood sugar, meaning your energy is going to be more stable throughout the day, and you’re going to experience fewer cravings as well.
Good breakfast options include eggs, unsweetened Greek yogurt, avocado, smoked salmon, sugar-free bacon and sausages, mushrooms, and any non-starchy vegetables and low-sugar fruit.(3 Reasons To Skip Oatmeal)
Now, if you absolutely love oatmeal and you can’t imagine giving it up, there are some ways that you can make it align better with your weight loss goals.
First off, eating it later in the day is going to be better than eating it first thing for breakfast. This is because when we eat carbohydrates on an empty stomach, they’re digested faster.
There’s going to be a more significant spike in blood sugar and insulin than if you were to eat them later in the day when you already have something in your stomach.
Another option is you can drink a good idea before you eat your own meal. Good idea drinks contain a blend of amino acids and chromium that improve insulin sensitivity and have been scientifically proven to lower blood sugar spikes.
So of course, this helps too. Another option is to eat your Oats around exercise. When you’re exercising, your muscle cells are actually able to take in glucose, the excess sugar in your blood, without insulin. If you’re working your muscles, the carbs can be used for energy immediately. (3 Reasons To Skip Oatmeal)