oatmeal Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Baked Carrot Cake Oatmeal Recipe

The AHA! Team — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 05:34:30 +0000

Recipe via Nutrition Facts – Baked Carrot Cake Oatmeal Recipe Recipe by: Dr. Michael Greger & Robin Robertson from The How Not to Age Cookbook To save prep time in the morning, you can assemble this savory breakfast the night before and just pop it in the oven when you’re getting ready to eat. COURSE: Breakfast or Dessert DIFFICULTY: Easy SERVINGS: 4 Ingredients ▢ 1 cup rolled oats ▢ 2 tablespoons ground chia seed ▢ 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed ▢ 1 cup grated carrot ▢ ¼ cup chopped pecans or walnuts ▢ 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon ▢ 1½ cups unsweetened soy milk ▢ ½ cup Date Syrup ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Instructions Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line an 8-inch (20-cm) square baking pan with parchment paper and set aside. In a bowl, combine the oats, chia seed, flaxseeds, carrot, nuts, and cinnamon, and stir until well mixed. Add the soy milk, Date Syrup, and vanilla, then stir until well combined. Transfer the oatmeal mixture to the prepared baking pan and smooth it evenly. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the oatmeal is golden brown and set. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. To read the original article click here.

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Are Fortified Children’s Breakfast Cereals Just Candy?

The AHA! Team — Mon, 13 May 2024 08:02:54 +0000

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM via Nutrition Facts – The industry responds to the charge that breakfast cereals are too sugary. In 1941, the American Medical Association’s Council on Foods and Nutrition was presented with a new product, Vi-Chocolin, a vitamin-fortified chocolate bar, “offered ostensibly as a specialty product of high nutritive value and of some use in medicine, but in reality, intended for promotion to the public as a general-purpose confection, a vitaminized candy.” Surely, something like that couldn’t happen today, right? Unfortunately, that’s the sugary cereal industry’s business model. As I discuss in my video Are Fortified Kids’ Breakfast Cereals Healthy or Just Candy?, nutrients are added to breakfast cereals “as a marketing gimmick to “create an aura of healthfulness…If those nutrients were added to soft drinks or candy, would we encourage kids to consume them more often?” Would we feed our kids Coke and Snickers for breakfast? We might as well spray cotton candy with vitamins, too. As one medical journal editorial read, “Adding vitamins and minerals to sugary cereals…is worse than useless. The subtle message accompanying such products is that it is safe to eat more.” General Mills’ “Grow up strong with Big G kids’ cereals” ad campaign featured products like Lucky Charms, Trix, and Cocoa Puffs. That’s like the dairy industry promoting ice cream as a way to get your calcium. Kids who eat presweetened breakfast cereals may get more than 20 percent of their daily calories from added sugar, as you can see below and at 1:28 in my video. Most sugar in the American diet comes from beverages like soda, but breakfast cereals represent the third largest food source of added sugars in the diets of children and adolescents, wedged between candy and ice cream. On a per-serving basis, there is more added sugar in a cereal like Frosted Flakes than there is in frosted chocolate cake, a brownie, or even a frosted donut, as you can see below and at 1:48 in my video. Kellogg’s and General Mills argue that breakfast cereals only contribute a “relatively small amount” of sugar to the diets of children, less than soda, for example. “This is a perfect example of the social psychology phenomenon of ‘diffusion of responsibility.’ This behavior is analogous to each restaurant in the country arguing that it should not be required to ban smoking because it alone contributes only a tiny fraction to Americans’ exposure to secondhand smoke.” In fact, “each source of added sugar…should be reduced.” The industry argues that most of their cereals have less than 10 grams of sugar per serving, but when Consumer Reports measured how much cereal youngsters actually poured for themselves, they were found to serve themselves about 50 percent more than the suggested serving size for most of the tested cereals. The average portion of Frosted Flakes they poured for themselves contained 18 grams of sugar, which is 4½ teaspoons or 6 sugar packets’ worth. It’s been estimated that a “child eating one serving per day of a children’s cereal containing the average amount of sugar would consume nearly 1,000 teaspoons of sugar in a year.” Breakfast cereals rank as the third-largest food source of added sugars in the diets of kids General Mills offers the “Mary Poppins defense,” arguing that those spoonsful of sugar can “help the medicine go down” and explaining that “if sugar is removed from bran cereal, it would have the consistency of sawdust.” As you can see below and at 3:17 in my video, a General Mills representative wrote that the company is presented “with an untenable choice between making our healthful foods unpalatable or refraining from advertising them.” If it can’t add sugar to its cereals, they would be unpalatable? If one has to add sugar to a product to make it edible, that should tell us something. That’s a characteristic of so-called ultra-processed foods, where you have to pack them full of things like sugar, salt, and flavorings “to give flavor to foods that have had their [natural] intrinsic flavors processed out of them and to mask any unpleasant flavors in the final product.” The president of the Cereal Institute argued that without sugary cereals, kids might not eat breakfast at all. (This is similar to dairy industry arguments that removing chocolate milk from school cafeterias may lead to students “no longer purchasing school lunch.”) He also stressed we must consider the alternatives. As Kellogg’s director of nutrition once put it: “I would suggest that Fruit [sic] Loops as a snack are much better than potato chips or a sweet roll.” You know there’s a problem when the only way to make your product look good is to compare it to Pringles and Cinnabon. Want a healthier option? Check out my video Which Is a Better Breakfast: Cereal or Oatmeal?. For more on the effects of sugar on the body and if you like these more politically charged videos see the related posts below. Finally, for some additional videos on cereal, see Kids’ Breakfast Cereals as Nutritional Façade and Ochratoxin in Breakfast Cereals. Key Takeaways Vi-Chocolin, a vitamin-fortified chocolate bar, was purportedly offered as a product with high nutritive value but was really just vitaminized candy. The sugary cereal industry follows a similar business model. The sugary cereal industry has been criticized for adding nutrients to cereals “as a marketing gimmick,” creating an illusion of health benefits. Children who consume pre-sweetened breakfast cereals may derive more than 20 percent of their daily calories from added sugar. Breakfast cereals rank as the third-largest food source of added sugars in the diets of kids and adolescents, listed between candy and ice cream. On a per-serving basis, a cereal like Frosted Flakes has more added sugar than a frosted chocolate cake, a brownie, or a frosted donut. Kellogg’s and General Mills’ contention that breakfast cereals contribute only a “relatively small amount” of sugar to children’s diets is likened to the social psychology phenomenon of “diffusion of responsibility.” Consumer Reports’ findings reveal that children often pour themselves 50 percent more cereal than the suggested serving size. A child eating a single daily serving of kids’ cereal with the average amount of sugar would consume almost a thousand teaspoons of sugar in one year. The industry argues it has to add sugar to its cereals to make them palatable, which is a characteristic of ultra-processed foods. To read the original article click here.

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Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

AHA Publisher — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 07:00:43 +0000

Dr. Axe – No matter what your age, you’re never too old for a freshly baked cookie. Warm, gooey and totally delicious, it’s no coincidence that cookies are one of my favorite treats to bake. Even novice bakers can whip up cookies in just a few minutes (of course, if you really just hate baking, you can also try these no-bake coconut cookies!). One cookie recipe that’s always a crowd pleaser is this oatmeal cookie recipe. Even people who don’t consider themselves oatmeal fans rave about this one. After all, these are gluten-free and have no refined sugar. As a bonus, you’ll likely have all of the ingredients in your pantry already. Did I mention these only take 20 minutes to prepare? That even includes baking time! Next time you’re ready for a snack, try your hand at this oatmeal cookies recipe. Are Oatmeal Cookies Good for You? Cookies aren’t exactly considered a healthy snack, but if you are going to indulge in a cookie, you could do a lot worse than these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Oats are actually a pretty nutritious ingredient. Sometimes people think they’re not gluten-free, but oats don’t contain barley, wheat or rye, which are the three types of grains that have gluten in them. So even if you’re following a GF lifestyle, there’s no need to kick oats out of the kitchen. I do, however, still recommend that you pick up certified gluten-free oats if you are allergic to gluten, just to be sure there’s been no cross-contamination. Have you ever experienced a stomachache or bloating after eating oats? That can be a sign your diet is lacking high-fiber foods. As your body adjusts to eating more high-fiber foods, those symptoms should subside. Drinking plenty of water with oats or soaking them overnight before cooking with them can also help in the meantime. When whole grains like oatmeal are consumed in moderation, they can be part of a healthy diet. Oats, in particular, are packed with fiber and not just any fiber, but the filling kind, known as soluble fiber, which helps you feel full for longer. Choosing whole grains instead of refined, processed grains like white rice and pasta also means you won’t get that tired, too-full feeling after eating. That happens when your blood sugar levels spike and then crash. Luckily, oats’ low score on the glycemic index means they don’t cause the same fluctuations. (1) But, of course, you can make anything unhealthy if you try hard enough. Are oatmeal cookies good for you? I can’t speak to every recipe out there, but my oatmeal cookie recipe is definitely healthier than a lot out there! If you’re sensitive or allergic to gluten, you’ll love this recipe because it uses Paleo flour, a gluten-free alternative to traditional flour. We’ll sweeten things up with coconut sugar, a natural sweetener that’s a good alternative to refined sugar. I like to add nutmeg, cinnamon and sea salt for extra flavor and then, of course, chocolate chips! Skip the milk chocolate chips and opt for dark chocolate for added health benefits. Bottom line: this oatmeal cookie recipe isn’t a health food, but when you’re reaching for a cookie to curb your fix, these are a delicious and relatively healthy option. Oatmeal Cookie Recipe Nutrition Facts Now, let’s talk nutrition. Here’s what you’re getting in each cookie: 220 calories 6.07 grams protein 7.69 grams fat 32.9 grams carbohydrates 1.572 milligrams manganese (87 percent DV) 0.225 milligrams copper (25 percent DV) 172 milligrams phosphorous (25 percent DV) 0.228 milligrams vitamin B1 (21 percent DV) 9.4 micrograms selenium (17 percent DV) 1.3 milligrams zinc (16 percent DV) 0.36 micrograms vitamin B12 (15 percent DV) 0.499 milligrams vitamin B5 (10 percent DV) How to Make This Oatmeal Cookie Recipe Ready to make this recipe for oatmeal cookies? Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then in a large bowl, mix the coconut sugar, eggs, coconut butter and vanilla. You can use either a hand mixer or a whisk for this; you just want all of the ingredients to be well-combined. Then, add the flour, oats, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda and salt to the bowl. Start mixing again until everything’s well-combined. Your mixture should start looking like something you’d actually eat around now. It’s time to get chocolate-y. Add them into the bowl and mix them until — you guessed it! — they’re well-combined. Using your hands, roll the cookies into balls and then flatten them a bit. Pop ’em in the oven for 8–10 minutes. It’s cookie time! Enjoy these healthier oatmeal cookies as a snack or dessert. And don’t forget to dunk them in your milk of choice! INGREDIENTS: ½ cup coconut butter 1 cup coconut sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups Paleo flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon sea salt 1½ teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg 3 cups gluten-free rolled oats ¼ cup dark chocolate chips, minimum 70 percent cacao DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix the coconut sugar, eggs, coconut butter and vanilla with a hand mixer or whisk until well-combined. Add flour, oats, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Mix until well-combined. Add chocolate chips and mix. Roll dough into balls and flatten each cookie. Bake for 8–10 minutes. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Axe click here.

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