Oatmeal.. Good or Bad?

So… after reading thru a lot of stuff, im still wondering if oatmeal is good or bad??

Positive?
Negative?

So… Who’s FOR and who’s AGAINST?

Eek, “good” and “bad” are really hard to define here.

Even for those restricting carbs, I think oatmeal is acceptable because

  1. It has a mix of soluble and insoluble fiber. Not many other foods do.
  2. Very high nutrition/cost ratio.
  3. Supposed to help lower LDL cholesterol.

I won’t steal all the thunder using Google or whatever. But, I assert the aforementioned points.

It would all depend on the person. I don’t handle starches well so I don’t eat it much. If your body handles carbs well, then fuck it, if it is so called “bad,” then there are a million worse things you could eat than oatmeal.

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Just be sensitive to how you feel after eating it. Personally, I feel like going to sleep after eating oatmeal. If you feel fine, then it is fine to eat if it fits into your diet.

everything cannot be protein; as carbs go it’s great fuel and relatively low on the Glycemic Index so it won’t mess with your insulin levels much. Fat burning non-inhibitory.

Avoid instant oatmeal, the bagged multi-flavored shit, it’s too high in sugar. Use rolled oats! In the morning I cut up a banana and throw it in for flavor. Bananas are ideal for popping you out of morning catabolic state whilst supplying you with sustainable slow burning energy.

If you want add some vanilla whey to the slop and now you’ve got this good a.m. cake batter type of shit to eat. To this day it’s the only I can stomach vanilla whey!!!

Seriously, who buys vanilla?

I personally think oatmeal is garbage. I’ve drawn this from my own research and from reading from authors here on t nation.

IN a nutshell i got this.

Grains require a lot of digestion, they acutally break down into maltose and isomalotse before they actually get into glucose… And in the process a lot of enzymes gets used up and if you eat a high grain diet, you can develop allergies from the food. Oatmeal is hyperallergenic, and as in any allergy, cortisol increases.

Even when I limit my carbs, I keep the oatmeal. Love nothing more than a big bowl of oats with a couple of scoops Met Drive thrown in, and some natty PB.

S

I think a lot of people are mixed up over what Charles wrote in his Question of Strength column. Oatmeal is NOT a bad carb at all and that was not the gist of what he was saying, he was only pointing out that it is a more common allergen than what people are aware of.

If you are not allergic to it than keep it in your diet. It is an excellent source of GLA and fiber as well as slow burning carbs.

Steel cut oatmeal, you can pick it up at trader joes…If any oatmeal, this is by far the best, its not processed what so ever.

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[quote]laroyal wrote:
I think a lot of people are mixed up over what Charles wrote in his Question of Strength column. Oatmeal is NOT a bad carb at all and that was not the gist of what he was saying, he was only pointing out that it is a more common allergen than what people are aware of.

If you are not allergic to it than keep it in your diet. It is an excellent source of GLA and fiber as well as slow burning carbs.[/quote]

End of thread.

Exactly

My experience is that oatmeal is THE BEST pre-workout food. Its low-gi carbs and whole grains give sustained releaed energy. I have found that I can lift more weight after eating oatmeal 2-3 hours before workout.

If your calorie conscious, you will find 2 servings of oatmeal very satisfying and only 300 calories!

No negatives

Im for it!

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Question I got is…

How can I know if im “allergic” to oatmeal

It gives amazing pumps also

Allergic to oatmeal, not really. If you have a problem with eating a lot of oatmeal you are probably insulin resistance. Two kinds of tests. Eat tons of it in the morning. If you feel sleepy cut down oats, if you feel good oatmeal is definetly for you.

The more precise and scientific way is to take your skinfold, if the are all under 12 for instance and your subscapular skinfold is 18 then you are insulin resistant, cut down carbs, if your subscapular… is low you can eat a lot of carbs. There you have it, take these tests and see whether you can eat a lot of oatmeal or not.

Still, oatmeal is awesome, even if your insulin resistant still eat it, just cut it down.

If you are insulin resistant see an article here in T-Nation: Men With Sensivity (2008). Really read it, its gonna help a lot.

Oatmeal makes me tired, sometimes to the point where i would need to lay down for a few minutes after eating.

dealt with that for a couple years since i always heard about how great oats were. but they definitely aren’t any good for me - and apparently many others - so i never eat them or any other starches anymore.

high protein, fat, carbs from veggies and berries has given me much more stable energy levels as a result.

[quote]Player wrote:
Allergic to oatmeal, not really. If you have a problem with eating a lot of oatmeal you are probably insulin resistance. Two kinds of tests. Eat tons of it in the morning. If you feel sleepy cut down oats, if you feel good oatmeal is definetly for you.

The more precise and scientific way is to take your skinfold, if the are all under 12 for instance and your subscapular skinfold is 18 then you are insulin resistant, cut down carbs, if your subscapular… is low you can eat a lot of carbs. There you have it, take these tests and see whether you can eat a lot of oatmeal or not.

Still, oatmeal is awesome, even if your insulin resistant still eat it, just cut it down.

If you are insulin resistant see an article here in T-Nation: Men With Sensivity (2008). Really read it, its gonna help a lot. [/quote]

I respectfully disagree. The skinfold measurements are part of a ratio and should be looked at in the context of a qualified biosig practitioner. If you are able I owuld totally encourage this. If that is not an option I would not get too hung up on it.

Food allergies will be defined as an antibody (immune system) response to a food antigen (irritant) leading to symptoms. In other words, the immune systems attack on food as if it were a foreign invader. Allergy symptoms can range in severity from barely perceptible to life-threatening depending on how the immune system reacts.

In this discussion we will avoid the far-end of this spectrum of hypersensitivity reactions resulting in anaphylaxis
On a side note most people who have Celiac’s disease (wheat intolerance) also cannot tolerate oatmeal.

If you are allergic to a food some of the digestive symptoms would manifest as:
-Gas
-Bloating
-Headache
-Burping
-Reflux
-Neck, Shoulder, Middle and Lower
-Fatigue after eating
-Abdominal Distension
-Constant Hunger
-Bowel Irruglarity
-Muscle and Joint Aches

Otherwise, you could get blood work done but this can be expensive. If you choose to go that route try to have your Dr. do it through your insurance.

LaRoyal thats great information, it is just that the info i gave about insulin resistance is based in CTs and Poliquin advice. I think an allergy to oatmeal would be odd so I took a guess and presumed that the guy was asking whether or not he could eat oats and remain lean and feel weel.

Certain pople aren’t built for carbs and those are tests. Still, very useful info, perhaps you want to look at a thread I opened about estrogen and could lay off some points there (DAmn Estrogen).

I am a Poliquin coach and those are basically the correct ranges, it’s just important that they be viewed in the correct context, but you are thinking right and that is good. Very good contribution, I just wanted to elaborate to alleviate any possible confusion. I will look at your estrogen thread and see if there is anything I can add. Estrogen does suck:-(

Why would an allergy to oatmeal be odd? Poliquin state its one of the most common …