Oats are a convenient way to provide a healthy meal. An oatmeal diet is easy to follow and can be adjusted as you go. The best feature about oats is that you can combine them with various other foods to get a complete, healthy, meal.
Oatmeal is a good source of vitamins and minerals and they can act as antioxidants. Let’s have a look at the 6-step guide to your oatmeal diet:
1. Understand the nutrition facts behind oatmeal
Oats are very nutritious. They come with vitamins (B1, B5), minerals (magnesium, copper, iron, zinc, manganese). Oats are a good source of fiber and also come with smaller amounts of calcium or potassium.
This makes oats as one of the fastest ways to get vital nutrients into your system. They can benefit your health and improve your digesting system as they are high on fiber.
Minerals are essential to your bodies, bones, and joints but they also have a vast impact on the mental health levels, especially when in deficiency.
2. Combine Meals With an Oatmeal Drink
The best part of oatmeal is that you can easily combine them with other foods to get a nutritious meal.
Oatmeal is a good source of carbohydrates and you can add some fruits to get the extra vitamins, especially for breakfast. You can combine oats with various dairy products such as yogurt which will highly benefit your digestive system and will add high quantities of Vitamin D to your body.
Other great combinations come with seeds or almonds. You can add chia seeds to your oats for extra nutrition. Oats are great when combined with protein-rich sources like Greek yogurt. You can try recipes that include some refrigeration (usually overnight) for the best results.
If you`re looking for a sweet recipe, you can add carrots and raisins to have a meal rich in fiber, minerals and Vitamin A.
3. How to understand an oatmeal diet?
An oatmeal diet mainly consists of at least 1 meal with oats each day. Most diets include 2-3 oat-based meals each day. Some go as far as dividing the meals throughout the day for 6 oat-based meals.
For a regular 6-week diet there are some basic steps to accommodate. The first part of the diet should be focused on preparing basic meals each day. You can eat oats for breakfast, dinner, and lunch.
You can buy whole oats in bulk to get the price as low as possible but keep in mind you need to ensure they are quality oats, made to high standards.
In the first 2-3 weeks, you can combine any fruits to your meals or have them as a snack in-between the meals.
In the second part of the diet, you can also add various low-fat meals or snacks to your diet as you need to replace vitamins and minerals. You can go with instant oats at this stage.
4. How to diversify the diet?
You shouldn’t be eating oats in high amounts without a purpose. For lunch or dinner, you can eat healthy protein sources like fish or chicken.
Your snacks can also come in the form of small amounts of fruits or vegetables (green vegetables or carrots).
The idea is to limit fruit intake to small portions as the whole purpose of the diet is to eliminate sugar from your meals.
You shouldn’t be eating refined sugar with your oats for this purpose. If you need more flavoring you can add some cinnamon as it will be a good source of antioxidants.
5. How many oats to have?
This seems to be the biggest issue with this diet. Some people recommend having ½ cup of oats for each meal.
This is enough to provide 2 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein. Half of a cup of oats comes with 2% of your daily calcium recommended intake.
You can combine the oats with low-fat milk or yogurt for an increased intake of calcium and proteins.
6. Understand the risks
Like any diet, the oatmeal diet comes with its own risks. There are many benefits that can be listed with oats but thinking that eating oats in the long term will benefit your overall health is not productive.
The approach to nutrition should be based on various, fresh foods and not on one single type of food.
Before starting a complex diet you should always consult your doctor. If your doctor doesn’t know your personal background and medical history you should inform him of where you’re coming from and where you are trying to go.
You need to calculate what your daily caloric needs are for your height and body weight. You can compare it against one day of the oatmeal diet and make sure the difference is not that big.
If you are on a very low-calorie diet you can actually hurt your body and misinterpret it as weight loss. Many professionals recommend you stay on a constant 200 calorie deficit for long-term weight loss.
The best approach to the diet is to constantly monitor your results and adjust as you go. Adding fruits and other healthy foods to your diet may be necessary if you`re in a large caloric deficit.
And then there is the flatness of eating oats every day. Many people can quit the diet just because of the monotony and not the calorie themselves.
Regardless of the plan you have for the oatmeal diet you should always inform yourself on the macro-nutrients and the micro-nutrients needed by your body.
It is not a good idea to skip these for 6 weeks. Always consult your doctor before starting this diet and make a plan in advance which will help you prepare the meals thoroughly.
Understanding the possible combinations of fruits and dairy products can make the difference between going through with the diet and quitting along the way.
In the end, you need to remember to drink plenty of water and it may even be a good idea to carry a bottle with you at all times. Oats are high in fiber and need water for proper digestion. other oatmeal diet sources
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