When I have to take my oatmeal with Grow and use a shaker, I grind it up not QUITE, but close, into a power so that I can consume it out of the shaker. Does this make it absorb to fast? Too “processed”?
BUMP!
It shouldn’t make that much of a difference. Add some fiber to the shake and don’t worry about it. Chewing food also increases the speed of digestion; I guess we all should just shove everything straight down the pipe.
Yes. It will most definately change the glycemic index of the oatmeal. One of the reasons oatmeal is low GI, is because it is minimially processed and a very “coarse” grain, hence it takes a long time for the gut to break it down and digest it. If you grind it up, you have oat flour instead of oat meal and it will absorb like other flour products - quickly. As a rule of thumb, the more processed and finer ground a carb, the higher it’s glycemic index and quicker digested. It’s just like wheat flour is much higher GI than cracked wheat. Pulverizing your oatmeal defeats the reason for eating oatmeal. It would probably be more similiar to cheerios after grinding as far as GI is concerned.
So what would be a better alternative to this method? You know, a complex carb to add to our MRP’s so that we can make a quick “meal on the go”?
See the article at T-mag called “Shake it Up”. There’s an oatmeal shake recipe in there that doesn’t involve blending the oats.
But its not “quick and easy”. Are there no fast complex carbs I can add to my shakes? If I need to eat a P+C shake that day, would it be better to plan a meal like lunch where I could eat a complex carb and eat yogurt or somethingin that meal for the carb?
For mixing oatmeal and an mrp you could use the idea that was in a previous Testosterone paper mag. You cook up the oatmeal and then add your mrp to the oatmeal. I usually do this with whey protein. It looks and tastes like like chocolate oatmeal. You won’t have a shake but you will have a tasty snack.
I agree with the other posters. I only drink a protein shake made with a high glycemic carb powder (ie dextrose or maltodextrin) such as Surge or “homemade surge type drink” pre and/or post WO. At all other times, with protein shakes, I either drink it as P+F with flax or fish oil or P+C by eating some fruit with it. But for most of my P+C snacks, instead of just a shake, I mix protein powder with cottage cheese, artificial sweetner, and dry oatmeal. You can mix this up about as quick as making a shake and it eats with a spoon like pudding. You can mix it in a half empty cottage cheese container thereby not “dirtying” any dishes. You can be creative and add other ingrediants and it can be quickly mixed up ahead of time and stored to eat later in the day. Mix up a 32 oz container of cottage cheese with the protein powder and dry oats, etc and eat half in mid morn and half in mid afternoon. If it is too thick, thin it with a little milk or egg beaters or even just water. Sweeten it to taste with artificial sweetner of choice (I prefer splenda) or if using vanilla protein powder, mix in some dry sugar free jello for fruit flavor. This is very quick and easy to make and can be stored for several snacks. Use your imagination.
I wanted to add, another favorite and easy “protein pudding”, is to dump a container of flavored fat free yogurt in to a half empty container of fat free cottage cheese, stir in a serving of protein powder and then add dry oats. It’s great. You can add a little artificial sweetner, if desired. And it can be stored for later.
Try this, mix up the MRP in your shaker with a little extra liquid than usual, then add the oatmeal (old-fashioned, not instant) to your already mixed MRP. I usually let it sit for a few minutes so the oatmeal softens up a bit. You may have to add more liquid once combined because it can get pretty thick.
DanB’s recipe is a very good basic recipe. You can mix it up in advance and eat it later - the dry oatmeal, like Dan said, will absorb the liquid in the shake and soften up till almost like its been cooked if allowed to set a few hours. It will turn into a “pudding” and can be mixed up and eaten later in the day. You just have to get used to packing a spoon.
What is the difference between instant(not flavored) and old fashioned?
The instant or 1 minute oats are more highly processed and as such have a much higher glycemic index just like the oat flour or cheerios mentioned earlier. The power of oatmeal is in it’s low glycemic index - similiar to a “time release” carb. It digests slowly, releasing glucose into the blood gradually so as not to give an insulin spike. The more refined and processed a carb, the quicker it digests and is dumped into the blood thereby causing huge insulin swings. Instant oats are not near as “course” as old fashioned and have a higher GI, negating the benefit of oatmeal as a carb source or “food to make youi look good nakid”. Stick to old fashioned oat meal, as it is the kind with the beneficial low GI.
JasonL, Heb just summarized it perfectly in his previous post. I couldn’t have said it any better.
Insulin spikes are good, and not just for post-workouts, that is if you are insulin sensitive. Possibly not as much for cutting or maintenance, but if one is trying to bulk, it is imperative that there be more than just one insulin spike after workouts. How else do you expect to grow? If you disagree with this idea, then read The Anabolic Power of Insulin in Issue 149. I believe Berardi suggests 3-4 insulin spikes in the day. Therefore, 2-3 meals other than post-workout would be insulin spiking meals. And if one is on androgens, there is benefit of having more insulin spikes.
I needed to jump in here…
Slow cooking (non-instant) Oatmeal (like “John McCann’s”) also contains GLA, a precursor to beneficial ecosinoids in our bodies. (Ecosinoids are the end product of EFA metabolism, and is one of the REAL reasons we push for this balance between Omega 6’s and Omega 3’s or “good” fats and “bad” fats; that’s a little simplistic, but this could take up a whole post!)
So…slow cooking oats are better from a GI perspective, but also for other reasons.
but even when you eat your old fashioned oats, unless you eat them raw you are defeating the purpose. If you add hot water and soften them combined with the fact that you chew them then its all the same. that’s my opinion. can someone prove to me other wise. It’s like the difference between eating raw carrots and cooked carrots. laters pk