To Eat, Or Not To Eat Oats?

Are OATS healthy or not healthy to eat? The answer in my opinion is neither. It depends on who you are, how you live, the health issues you have, the health goals you want to achieve and even possibly your genetics.

In today’s society, we are on information overload. Not so long ago, one study would come out on a certain food stating that food was healthy for you and then 1-5 years later, another study would come out on the same food, telling you why it was no longer healthy for you. A perfect example of this was eating red meat.

Nowadays, with social media, there’s no longer a 1-5 year wait. You are receiving conflicting information about something in real time, on why it’s good for you and another video of why it’s bad for you within the same hour.

With people who are either trying to be healthier or trying to figure out how to correct their health issues, this information can be very confusing and overwhelming.

Oats have a lot of healthy benefits, including:

✅Lowering cholesterol

✅Weight control

✅Contain vitamins and minerals

✅Heart health

✅Anti inflammatory (because of the phenolic compounds)

The potentially unhealthy aspects of oats:

❌They are a starchy food

❌High in carbohydrates

❌They can spike your blood sugar

❌Could potentially increase weight gain

❌Contain phytic acid, which has been studied to strip your body from absorbing the vitamins and minerals in the oats.

❌Can cause bloating

You can see from the information provided, that eating oats can be either good for you or not good for you. Look to your health issues as well as your health goals and figure out whether or not eating oats will move you in the direction of greater health.

If you are going to eat oats, gluten free oats may be a better option and sprouted oats can be healthier, because they have more bio-available nutrients that are more readily and easily absorbed.

You can buy sprouted oats, or you can soak the oats overnight to allow them to sprout.