Oats: The Simple Superfood for Performance, Health, and Longevity Ep 149

Are oats really the superfood they're made out to be?

In this episode of the Find Your Edge Podcast, Chris Newport and dietetic intern Emily Qiu break down everything endurance athletes need to know about oats, oatmeal, beta-glucan fiber, blood sugar control, heart health, gut health, and performance nutrition.

You'll learn:

• Why oats support both performance and longevity
• What beta-glucan fiber actually does
• The differences between steel-cut, rolled, quick, and instant oats
• How oats affect blood sugar and energy levels
• The best ways to incorporate oats into your nutrition plan
• Common oatmeal mistakes athletes make

If you're looking for a simple, evidence-based way to improve your nutrition, this episode is for you.

Get Chris' favorite protein powders for athletes here: https://www.theenduranceedge.com/oats-for-athletes-performance-recovery-longevity

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Transcript

Coach Carlie 0:55

Welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast. I am here with again Emily Q, who is our amazing dietetic intern, and this is our last podcast with her. And I'm so sad. We were just saying how is this everything you dreamed of and more doing a podcast on oats? And you're right.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

I think this is the best way to go out on, honestly.

Coach Carlie 1:19

Right? Yes. Well

Welcome and the Oats Debate

Coach Carlie 1:21

said. So good. So you guys know how I have a soapbox about oat bran and oats. And we had a whole conversation about this in our longevity lab group the other day of which one's better? Is it rolled oats? Is it steel coats oats? And then they brought up a new brand of oats that is this steel coat oats, but it's supposed to cook faster. And so we were like, you know what, we're going to get to the bottom of this. And uh, you know, the endurance edge needs to be sponsored by by uh by oats. Um, so anyway, Emily, you put together this great presentation. So if you guys are watching on YouTube, let's freaking go. We're gonna talk all about oats because, you know, sometimes we just need some inspiration, we need some ideas, and we need some reminders that the fancy things are not necessarily the fancy and expensive things are not necessarily the things that move the needle for your health, for your heart, for your exercise. So here we are.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

So why don't we just dive right into the oats?

Coach Carlie 2:26

We totally need to dive in. And uh, full disclosure, I just had a bowl of oat brand. So that's probably why I'm a little bit amped up, a little bit amped up. It's like I've had caffeine over here. So, anyway, tell us the benefits of oats because you know, again, I feel like we got to give them their time to shine. So, what do you got, Emily?

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Yeah, absolutely. So, you probably grew up hearing that oats are healthy and oatmeal is healthy. I don't know if everybody necessarily loved oatmeal as kids, but let's go over why they're so good for us. The primary thing is that they're really rich in this type of soluble fiber called beta-glucan fiber. It's been shown in studies to help lower cholesterol and serve

Fiber, Gut Health, and Antioxidants

SPEAKER_00 3:13

as a great prebiotic for your gut bacteria. Oats just have a lot of complex carbs, and like I said, more that soluble fiber, which helps to slow your glucose release into the bloodstream. So if any of you have trouble like managing your blood sugar, oats uh are a really good, um, they don't give you that like spike and crash. They'll really help do that slow release, and that also promotes feelings of satiety or fullness, is just a simpler word for that. Um, so like when you if you eat it for breakfast, if you eat oatmeal for breakfast paired with a lot of other good stuff, you'll be feeling full for quite a few hours. You won't be like craving something else like an hour later or something. There's also a ton of different micronutrients in oatmeal. Um, there's manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, iron, B1, and even more than I just listed there. It's there's just a huge variety of small things that we need, and they really add up throughout the day. And finally, oats have a lot of antioxidants. I'm gonna butcher the name of this one, but it has a really specific, I'm better you than me. Go for it. There's a really specific type of antioxidants called avenin thermides that that was better than I would have done. So and they're shown to reduce oxidative stress, inflammation, and even blood pressure because they are shown to increase some nitric oxide. So a lot of antioxidant properties. So yeah, lots of benefits to eating oats.

Coach Carlie 4:56

So good. I remember this being one of the first papers that I did in one of my nutrition classes was on beta glucans and postperannial glucose and how much it mitigated that rise in blood sugar after a meal. And it's pretty phenomenal. So I'm gonna be patient and we'll talk more about beta glucans and the amounts when we get further down. Look at me, Emily. I'm so proud of myself.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Yeah, restraining yourself. Well, we'll get to it eventually, don't worry. Okay, all right. All right, so one of the things that is often confusing is you walk into the store, you see the wall of oatmeal and oats, and you're just like, wow, there's a lot of different varieties and types, and they all have claims on the packages, like what type is best to buy. So let's go over.

Coach Carlie 5:52

Or like, how many grams of whole grains? You're like, I don't know, how many grams of whole grains am I supposed to? Like, what yeah, it's just confusing.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Yeah. Exactly. So we're gonna go over what makes each different type of oat, I guess, on the market unique. So a little background about oats and the processing of oats. All the oats you see in the store, they start off as these things

Groats, Steel Cut, Rolled, and Instant

SPEAKER_00 6:15

called raw growths.

Coach Carlie 6:17

Which is the picture up in the top right corner there.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yes, the top, the top right corner. They do look like seeds. They're not like they're not like the nice pressed ones you see in like the bottom left or that you like see in your packages. And so what happens is that there's different levels of there's different types of processing they do to these raw groats. Because if you try to cook raw groats, I'm not saying that you like can't eat them, but they take forever to cook and they're just really they're really chewy. Yeah. So most people don't like that type of texture.

Coach Carlie 6:53

I don't think that we are really built because we're not cows or certain types of animals that would otherwise eat these. We're not really built to break that fiber down. So you probably will experience some significant amount of digestive distress trying to eat the whole groat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

So I'd say that the next step after raw groats is your steel-cut oats. Those are basically the raw groats, but just like sliced up into smaller pieces. So they take longer than regular oats to cook, but they're much more digestible than the raw groats. And they have like a s also some people like that like slightly hardier, like slightly chewier texture to it. Yeah, that's a good way of describing it. Yeah. And then the regular ones that I was talking about, your old-fashioned rolled oats are the ones you'll see most often. That's in the in the picture. And if you just kind of go anywhere, like any store, the cheapest ones will probably be the old-fashioned rolled oats, because just because they're so so common.

Coach Carlie 8:02

And they're literally compressed like a with in the machine, thus, the whole rolling process, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Yeah. So that's why they like when you open a container of rolled oats, they're like each of the kernels is like flattened. The whole groat has been just like steam rolled, literally. Yeah.

unknown 8:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

And then we've got another type called oat bran, and this is for sure, Chris's soapbox. Yeah. Oat bran is kind of the you take the raw groat and then you kind of take the outer layer of that groat. And like that's that's kind of all it is. And then you just like collect a bunch of these like outer layers and put them together.

Coach Carlie 8:46

So that's what the ring of the oat. Yeah. Yes. Cool. And then very similar, right? But just taste different. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yeah, yeah. So you like when you're eating, when you're eating rolled oats, you're still getting some of the oat bran. But like in if you buy just oat bran, it's just all concentrated.

Coach Carlie 9:06

Yeah. Yeah. Cool. And then there's good old packaged instant versions. So tell us about those.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Yeah. So often there's a difference between, I'll say, quick oats and instant oats. If you see a container of quick oats in the store, that's basically just the old-fashioned rolled oats, like cut up into smaller pieces. As the name suggests, it's supposed to cook slightly faster than the rolled oats, but they should texture-wise, like be very similar. Instant oats, however, are ground up even further. And usually when you've when you see like a little Quaker packet of oats of instant oats or whatever, it's usually flavored in some way, sweetened and flavored. Like, I don't know, you'll see the apple cinnamon flavor or whatever it is. Yeah, yeah.

unknown 10:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

And those are designed to be like super fast. Yes. As the name suggests again.

Coach Carlie 10:07

Yeah. Okay. Cool. And then you have this slide. Look beautiful. If you guys could see these pictures, it's so good.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Yeah. So if you're not watching on YouTube, what's on the slide right now is a picture comparison of a bunch of different types of oats and like what they look like. So you can see the visual differences between the groats, the steel cut oats, the old-fashioned oats, the oat bran, all the types I just listed, plus a couple more. If you see, there's one called Scottish Oatmeal, which I had never heard of before researching for this podcast. But basically, what it is, it's very similar to steel cut oats, but they're just like ground a little bit instead of being just simply sliced.

unknown 10:52

Yeah.

Coach Carlie 10:52

That's all it is. Like not as as um thick as the steel cutoats, but just you know, like a little, but maybe not quite as dark as the oat brand, kind of like right in the and they're they're not flattened like rolled oats are. Yeah. Cool. I have not tried Scottish oatmeal. I haven't either. Except oat roats. I have not eaten an oat rope, but also that I would probably still be in the bathroom if I were oak roats.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

So nobody wants that.

Coach Carlie 11:28

Nobody wants that. I will have to say, just brief note, is that oats are oftentimes rotated in the same fields as wheat, which makes them generally not gluten-free. But you can get gluten-free oats. So oats inherently are gluten-free, but like I said, they're oftentimes rotated in similar in like the same fields. So if you do have issues with gluten, you can still enjoy oats. You just have to make sure that on the package it very specifically says gluten-free. So wanted to make sure that all of those folks who are gluten-free can enjoy oats too.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Yeah, there are certain brands that will like ensure that their facilities are wheat-free in order to roll their oats so there's no cross-contamination. So yeah, look out, look out for the package. Cool. Okay. Ooh, one of my favorite slides. Yes. So here we are at Oat Bran. So yeah. Did you find did you have to take this picture, Emily, of Oat Bran? No, I found this. I found this picture online. I'm very impressed. I'm very impressed. Thank you. Thank you. I actually had never heard of Oat Bran before working with you, Chris. Of course, of course.

Coach Carlie 12:47

I'm changing the world one person at a time.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

So this was so fun to dive into. So, like I said earlier,

Oat Bran and Beta-Glucan Numbers

SPEAKER_00 12:54

the oat bran is the outer layer of the groat. And the good thing about it is that when you put a bunch of those oat braner layers together, there's a higher concentration of fiber and protein than regular rolled oats, and which is as high as about 1.5 times the fiber and protein. It also has more of those amazing beta glucan fibers that we talked about. They even cook faster than rolled oats and have a softer and smoother texture than regular oatmeal.

Coach Carlie 13:29

Yes, love it. And a note about beta glucans, because I when I got this, I was like, oh, we got to find some numbers for folks. So three grams of beta glucans per day will help to lower not only your total cholesterol, but that most the total cholesterol lowers because most of that is coming from your LDL, which historically we know of as bad cholesterol. I don't like that term for it because not all LDL cholesterol is bad, but that is another podcast for another day. But it's super effective there. Oat bran, on the other hand, so a serving of let me back up a little bit, a serving of oats should get you to that three grams. A serving of oat bran, however, gets per 50 gram serving is two to three times more beta glucans. So when you're getting oat bran, you're getting way more beta glucans. So in this case, I'm gonna say that more is better. So of course, somebody's gonna take that too far. So eat a variety of things, people. Just making sure, and also this is not medical advice, this is for educational purposes.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Anyway, go on, Emily. Yeah, no, no need for beta glucan maxing or whatever, but right?

Coach Carlie 14:45

Oh, yeah, we just need that one up.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

But yeah, it's Oprah and is really great and really packs a punch in the fiber and protein department. So I have not, but I really because I haven't been able to find it in a store yet, but I really want to try it.

Coach Carlie 15:04

Yes, it is super good. I just had it this morning. We'll get into some preparations here. I'm gonna again, I'm gonna be patient. I'm gonna be patient. So let's talk about preparation times. How long does it take? Because I think that's some I've heard a very, I've heard a variety of reasons why people don't like oats. We had somebody at one of our training camps who's like, oh, my parents made this and it was just like slop and it was bland and I didn't like it. But they, of course, Chef J is freaking phenomenal, and made them in the slow cooker, and people

Cook Times and Easy Microwave Method

Coach Carlie 15:42

were like, gaga, for them. And he they were like, Wow, what did you make this with? He's like, um water.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

What else can you do? Yeah.

Coach Carlie 15:54

So, but there's something about when you cook it properly and get it to the right texture in the right proportions, then it is more delicious. So a little bit of salt goes a long way, I will have to say that. So walk us through this slide so everybody knows kind of what the sense of how long various things take to cook.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Yeah. So I didn't put one thing I didn't put on here was like the ratio of water to oats for each different type. But that matters a lot too, because like you'll usually want to put more water with steel-cut oats than like rolled oats, just because they're a little tougher, hardier, chewier. But anyways, if you were to or if you were to cook a whole groat, the whole groats for reference, it would take about an hour. So yet another reason why we don't usually eat no whole groats, because I don't know anybody who has the time to sit around for an hour for their oatmeal to cook.

Coach Carlie 16:53

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

But but yeah, so steel cut oats take about 20 to 30 minutes on the stove. Your regular rolled oats will take five to ten minutes. Oat bran is supposed to take two to three minutes.

Coach Carlie 17:07

And quick and I know Emily's like, oh, she's gonna say something.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Didn't know when you wanted to jump in with that. Yes.

Coach Carlie 17:17

So in for me, oat bran takes a minute. So I know on the package it says two to three minutes, but I took the serving size, I put it in my little bowl, I fill it up with water to cover the oat bran, and then cover it maybe just a little bit more than that. And when I mean a little bit, and I use a pretty small bowl, it's maybe two millimeters above the surface of the oats. So a little bit more than I would for rolled oats. And mind you, I'm terrible at cooking rolled oats, like they don't, I don't get the texture right, which is why I also like oat bread because it's kind of foolproof. And I put it in the microwave, hit it for a minute, and then take it out. And then I did a half a scoop of collagen this morning, but I also have done a half a scoop of whey with like that little bit of extra water on top, stir it up, and then for me this morning I did a tablespoon of peanut butter, I did cinnamon, and I did a tablespoon of chocolate chips. And that sounds good. Like we're in, we're in, and clearly I am energized, you guys. And it took and it took a minute. It took a minute. It doesn't, you know, so this quick instant stuff that you don't you don't have you don't have to do that. Don't waste your book.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

I guess it doesn't save you that much time.

Coach Carlie 18:34

No, it doesn't. And um the the texture is different, it's much hardier. Just go try it, you guys. It's it's hiding in the grocery store because nobody pays for store shelf space for it. It's usually on the very bottom shelf or on the very top shelf. You can also find it online. I found it in most in most stores, not all, but you know, like you gotta hunt for it a little bit. So if it's a smaller grocery store, you're probably not gonna find it. Yeah, so super easy to make. And now let's talk about cost because cost matters these days. Jeez.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah, and this economy groceries, yeah, can be tough. So we'll so let's talk through what each of these costs. Yeah. Usually oats, I feel like are considered kind of like a a cheaper, more like budget-friendly food.

Cost Breakdown and Best Value Picks

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Oh, for sure. It really depends on the type though. So I did I was really surprised that you can buy whole groats. Like there is that, that is a thing. People some people will eat them, some people will take the, you know, maybe they've trained their stomachs or and guts to handle God bless them.

Coach Carlie 19:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Yeah. And yeah, you can find it. They probably have like online uh a very well-controlled A1C. So I yeah, I guess so. Um, you can't really find them in stores from what I've seen, because of how uncommon it is to eat them, but you can order them online. I found a brand, it's about four and a half dollars a pound, which compared to regular oats, that is like pretty expensive, but it's also like not super horrible. I pulled the rest of these other costs from Harris Teeter steel cut oats. I think it was like the the brand was called like organic simply. It was about 266 a pound. Okay. The old-fashioned oats. Yeah, the old-fashioned and quick oats in the Harris Teeter like brand was about $1.60 a pound. Super cheap. It was like, yeah, $4 for the whole like 40-ounce tub. Oat brand is gonna be about $5.15 a pound. This was the Bob's Red Mill brand. And then the instant oats, surprisingly, like if you compared it by weight, was the most expensive one. Yeah, because you about that. Yeah, because they come in the little packets and it's not like a huge container of it, and then it costs about the same. So yeah, by weight, instant oats are most expensive. Who would have guessed?

Coach Carlie 21:05

How about that? I am so glad that you broke this down for us because some people just flat out don't know how to grocery shop, you know, more like cost-effectively. And so these are some uh nice little tips, you know. And then also, what are you paying for in terms of the pack that it punt in terms of nutrient density?

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Right. Yeah, so you can see that the the oat brand on this list is the most expensive technically, but like we talked about earlier, it does pack more of a nutritional punch. I guess if you're on a budget, your old-fashioned rolled oats would probably be the best because it's basically the same. Them and steel cut oats have basically the same nutritional profile. And I guess you would just get steel cut oats if you like the texture better. That's my thinking, at least.

Coach Carlie 21:54

Yes, which good segue to some specialty oats. So, and this is really what brought on this entire podcast is somebody came onto our longevity lab accountability calls and was like, hey, I was introduced to this brand. We have no association with any of these brands. We're just here to tell you about the science and to get into the nitty-gritty of it. So, yeah, tell us about it, Emily.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Yeah, so the brand that was brought up was

Specialty Oats and Protein Oats Claims

SPEAKER_00 22:21

called Coach's Oats. And they stole my name, by the way. I'm a little disappointed. I think um, no, I think he found it at Costco. I don't know how much it costs at Costco. I wasn't able to find that out. But if you go to Coach's Oats website, they sell it for about five bucks a pound. You can get it on Amazon for like seven bucks a pound, which is like kind of expensive at that point. But apparently there are steel cut oats that have like they've patented a certain way of like cutting them. That they cook in three to five minutes as opposed to 20 to 30 minutes, as I talked about earlier. It doesn't really change the nutritional profile at all. Um, they're nutritionally identical to regular seal cut oats. But if you like seal cut oats and don't want to wait around, that's an option for you.

Coach Carlie 23:13

Yeah, they're about the same as oat bran, I guess. Pound for pound in terms of cost. So it's a matter of which one you want to go with. So, and then this other brand I found more recently. Actually, we used this brand. It's the Bob's Red Mill quote unquote protein oats. Not to be confused with the protein oats that has actual protein powder added to it, because that is also a thing on the market. When you go to the oat aisle, you're gonna see all of these instant oats packets that are now quote unquote protein oats because they've added some variation of protein powder, which makes them even more expensive. But again, what are you going for? And we use this brand, we use this type at camp, and everybody loved it. So maybe that was the magic. But honestly, I if you gave me a bowl side by side with regular rolled oats and these protein oats, I don't think I would know the difference. So tell us about the cost with this one.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

These ones are they're I I found them on Target's website for $4 a pound. Not that bad, a little bit more expensive, maybe, but it's not like out of the this world or whatever. And I still don't really know how they do it. They the only ingredient listed on the package is whole grain oat flakes, but each serving is supposed to have about 1.6 times the protein. So I don't know. We tried to get Bob's Red Mill to come onto this podcast, but you know, I don't think they ever responded to you. Bob Bob's busy, you know.

Coach Carlie 24:44

He's but it is like per serving, per serving on the label. I can't necessarily speak to because I'm not looking at the labels uh right now in terms of ounce for ounce, but per serving of the Bob's Red Mill protein oats is 10 grams of protein per serving. Oat bran is seven, and then steel cut oats is maybe five, maybe, probably something like that.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

Yeah, that sounds right.

Coach Carlie 25:09

Yeah. So, you know, we're trying to not help you overthink it. So if you want to try it, try it. I think they're good. You know, anyway. So now how do we make them? I told you already how my uh Oatrain recipe, but um, what do you got, Emily?

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Yeah, so you're probably f everyone's probably familiar with traditional oatmeal. You just kind of you put oats and water together and then heat it on the stove or the microwave until the consistency is what you like, and then add your toppings of choice. There's also overnight oats, which I feel like is super popular

Overnight Oats and Baked Oatmeal

SPEAKER_00 25:48

on social media and all that, which is like you make you mix your oats with milk and or yogurt ahead of time. You stir in whatever other mix-ins you want, and then refrigerate it overnight, which is where the name comes from. And then when you take it out in the morning, the oats have like soaked in the milk for a while and are now like soft, and you're like able to just like eat them with a spoon and put in whatever other toppings you want. Then baked. Ooh, look out. Baked oatmeal. So this I I actually one of my friends gave me a recipe for baked oatmeal like years ago, and uh it's really interesting. You mix you're it's kind of like you're making a cake. You like mix oats with milk, a little bit of butter or oil, some eggs, and then some your choice of sweetener, either like sugar or honey or whatever. You mix it all together, put it into a baking pan, and then like bake it in the oven for like it's like 20 or 30 minutes, and then it comes out and you're able to like slice the oatmeal. It and like it comes out as like a piece, and then you just like you can eat it with a fork or a spoon and add toppings or whatever. It's really good. I uh was really surprised by it. Yeah. Yeah.

Coach Carlie 27:08

Okay, cool. So do you have a preferred method? It sounds like the baked version is your is your jam.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

The baked version is good, but also because it's also good for like if you want to meal prep ahead of time and you can have like multiple slices to like save for later.

Coach Carlie 27:24

But I honestly gotta eat like a granola bar kind of texture deal. Is this what you're describing?

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Because I have not made that specifically. It's not as thick as that. It's not as thick as a granola bar.

Coach Carlie 27:37

Okay, so like more uh I don't know. How would you describe the cons the consistency?

SPEAKER_00 27:45

It's like it's it's soft. Like when you you can like use a fork and like kind of cut through it, but it's also really soft and and you can like still taste the individual like oats. It's it's not like a cake. Although if you like blended the oats to make an oat flour and then did this, it would be more cake-like. I've never tried that before, but I that was super popular on social media for a while.

Coach Carlie 28:09

Yeah. I would like to say my the traditional oatmeal by the um stove on the stovetop or in the slow cooker. You can also do them in an instant pot. That's a really great way to do steel cut oats, especially if you want to go faster. So instead of buying like the coach's oats, again, nothing against coach's oats, but you could just buy the cheaper version of the steel cut oats, put them in the instant pot, and then you can cook up cook a bigger batch and then portion them out and leave them in the fridge and then just reheat them in the microwave if you wanted to go that route and then mix whatever you want in. I stink at making regular oats, regular rolled oats in the microwave. I have zero patience, and then my water bubbles over. I and then I just I'm like, I'm out. I'm like so-so on the overnight oats. I know a lot of people really dig on this because you can get super creative with it. Oats with like milk and yogurt and or your choice of, you can just do your choice of milk. You can also add chia seeds. Again, if you're going for the cholesterol-lowering properties, that's like we got not only have all of this soluble fiber, but then we also have all those beta glucans, so like magic. You can add protein powder to it if you want to. You can add like jelly for a sweetener, you can add all kinds of, you can do stevie or monk fruit if you don't want a caloric version. So you can go hog wild with some overnight oats, just like you can with traditional oatmeal. Uh, but again, oat bran, microwave one minute. That's my jam because um I'm impatient, apparently.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

I actually think for me every morning. I'd actually say I think overnight is my favorite because I'm isn't it?

Coach Carlie 29:54

Okay, but what's your what's your favorite mixture? Like your favorite.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

I'm always I'm always rushing in the morning. So I need I need something that's like grab and go. I uh like to do oats with either almond milk or chocolate milk, actually, to get some flavor in. And then I usually add uh chia seeds in to like because it it helps thicken it up a little bit more. Um, if you've ever had chia pudding, like it's that similar thing. And then I'll like I'll do like peanut butter, berries, mini chocolate chips, whatever. It's really good.

Coach Carlie 30:27

Oh wow. Okay, yes. Loving this idea. So good. Let's do some other let's do some other ideas because at the bottom of this slide you have something maybe a lot of people don't necessarily think about when it comes to oatmeal. Yeah. So let's so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

Let's let's get let's get into that. We I feel like whenever people talk about oatmeal, you think of the brown sugar, you probably bananas or berries with it, like a sweet type of oatmeal, but there are people that do savory oatmeal, like they'll add a fried egg or avocado or cheese or just like some savory like herbs and spices. I've never tried this. I've never I had never heard of it. But if you're not a person that likes sweet breakfast but want to get in some of these oats, there's a way.

Coach Carlie 31:18

Yeah, so good. I mean, it's it's basically a blank canvas, you know, whether you're doing steel cut oats or whether you're

Savory Oats and Pre-Workout Timing

Coach Carlie 31:25

doing rolled oats or oat bran. It's very similar to if you did brown rice or white rice or jasmine rice, or you have all these different, like slightly different flavors of a grain. Or if you did faro or if you did quinoa, you could do quinoa sweet, you could do rice sweet, you could do rice savory. You yeah, same kind of idea with oats. I like to think of like a replacement for polenta. Nothing against sweet polenta, but you know, you know, oats and oat bran are a little bit more powerful in the beta glucan department. Um so easy to I basically dress it up just like I would, like uh, my favorite way is like uh what you would do with a rice bowl. So I'll do oats or oat bran. I'll do a fried egg, I'll do black beans, either avocado or cheese, whatever I have in the pantry. Yeah, and then I will do hot sauce because I freaking love hot sauce. And what else will I? Sometimes I'll maybe a little bit of salsa and salsa sounds really good. Yeah, I've got a whole bowl situation going on here, and also you could do that for dinner. So no, nobody says that you have to do this for breakfast. True, true. Like, and we haven't even talked about doing oats pre-workout. I mean, talk about a pre-workout powerhouse. I will oftentimes get the if I'm in a pickle and don't have enough time to prepare things, I will get the you know, the little instant oat kind of situations on that come in their own individual cups. I'm sure the per pound like you know, the cost is ridiculous. But I'll grab one of those. Absolutely, yep, absolutely. So uh no judgment, but I'll oftentimes grab one of those because I know that I will get usually a hotel room with a microwave, and we'll oftentimes get a hotel that has water. You know, weird how that works with uh with your sink, and then just fill it up at the sink, throw in the in the microwave, and then have that. It's not as tasty as my homemade version, but it does the trick and sticks around pre-race. My magic time frame for me with oats is somewhere around hour beforehand, maybe 90 minutes. I usually don't like to go too much further out than that, then otherwise I start I start getting a little hungry.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

So yeah, um, but you also don't want to do it too early before because remember, we talked about it has all that fiber, and that's not that can't be great for digestion if you're running like soon after or biking or whatever. So yeah, make sure to experiment with the timing.

Coach Carlie 34:12

Experiment with your timing. Also, know that race day you will likely be more nervous, which means that oftentimes your digestion goes a little faster or a little slower, depending on your particular sympathetic or parasympathetic response. So I'll test all these things in training for sure. Also, as much as I love peanut butter, peanut butter and me do not get along if I'm going to be going high intensity. So that also makes me a little sad because it helps keep me full, which is why I have to time it to that 60 to 90 minutes if possible. So I might be eating in the car, which you know is not the greatest habit. But you know, you gotta figure it out. You gotta play with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

So sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Coach Carlie 34:58

You gotta do what you gotta do. What other ideas do you have in terms of what to put in your oats? I'm loving some of these ideas.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

Yeah, good. So you can usually choose a type of sweetener, like mentioned brown sugar earlier, honey or maple syrup are great options too. There's uh you can if for even more like fiber and micronutrients, add in some fruit. I talked about bananas and berries earlier, but chopped apples are really, really nice in oatmeal. I love I love putting apples and oats. And then apple nut butters like we talked about. That time of the year, I love apple butter. Just a little goes along with it. Apple butter would be so good. Yeah.

Toppings, Oat Flour, Smoothies, and Protein

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Crushed nuts work too if you if you want the crunch and don't maybe don't like the stickiness of the nut butter in your oatmeal. Uh, if you're allergic to nuts, you could do sun butter or sunflower seeds, something like that.

Coach Carlie 35:50

Yeah. Love that.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

Uh, I mentioned chia seeds earlier, flax seeds too, extra fiber, extra omega-3 fatty acids. So and then we have our fun toppings, cinnamon, coconut flakes, chocolate chips, even for extra flavor.

Coach Carlie 36:09

Or and cacao nibs. I'd forgotten about cacao nibs. They're so good. Uh good like I like those a lot. Yeah. You I would do that. Makes me think of a good um overnight oats recipe. You could do whatever your choice of milk is, oats, maybe a little bit of yogurt if you wanted to make it thicker, and then add uh cocoa powder, and then add whatever sweetener you like. Like in your version, it was co uh chocolate milk. Just you know, skip the cocoa powder, just go straight to like sweeteners already built in. Yeah. And then my new favorite these days is date syrup. Have you had date syrup? It's I haven't. Yeah. So, and then we get the bonuses of the potassium from the dates and um little lower glycemic index there. So, you know, just search it up, as my kids like to say. Yeah, so date syrup is basically just ground dates. Now you can do that too. You can ground the dates. Another thing, if you don't like the texture of oats, you can grind them up, give them a like a little bit of a whirr in the blender or in the food processor. Maybe not necessarily to the degree of oat flour, although that is a hack. Oat flour is expensive. If you grind it yourself, it's so much cheaper to make. And that's literally all oat flour is. It's just ground oats. So just if you want to save some dollas and you're eating oats a lot, that's an easy one to do. Another thing that we use with oat flour is when we had our meal service, we would make, and it was all gluten-free, we would take gluten-free oat flour and we would mix it with ground chicken and then whatever spice with they were mixing in. So we used oat flour as the binder for, and you could use that for like crab cakes, you could use that for uh burgers or meatballs. We have like this really delicious Greek meatball that we would do like feta cheese and spinach, and then oat flour was our binder because you know, spinach can get a little bit wet. So oats can go a long way. Oh, and another That's such a good idea. I've never heard of that before. Yeah. So instead of doing, well, I mean, you could do flour too, but if you wanted to go with a quote unquote less processed version, you could do that or get your beta glucans. Oh, another thing you can do with oats is you can put them in your smoothie.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

That's right.

Coach Carlie 38:31

Some people don't necessarily think of that. You know, so if you need the extra carbs, if you want the extra beta glucans, especially like a post-workout or even a pre-workout, to give you that extra fiber boost and carbs. Whatever smoothie you're making, throw them in. That sounds really good.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

Yeah, you probably won't even taste it.

Coach Carlie 38:52

No, you won't at all. It'll it'll make it a little bit thicker, but people also put all kinds of stuff in there. Gee, you can just you can shoot the kitchen sink can go in the in the smoothie.

SPEAKER_00 39:03

And you probably I've also heard I've also heard of people putting uh protein powder in their oatmeal because you can't really like taste it with all the other toppings, or even liquid egg whites as they're cooking their oatmeal for an extra protein boost. Yeah.

Coach Carlie 39:18

Okay, so note on that if you use because you you can use egg whites from the carton. So if you buy them in the carton at the regular grocery store, they are already pasteurized. So you can literally drink them like Rocky, and it would not hurt you. But I will have to say, if you do that with your oats, if you use oat, if you use egg whites and in place of water or milk or however you like to prepare your oats, it will turn into an egg pancake. Oh, okay. So you'll want to cook it first with your water and milk, and then if you want to add protein to it, you can add a little bit of the egg white from the carton, and you don't necessarily have to heat it up because again, if you heat it up, it's gonna turn into like a cooked egg. Yeah. Yeah. So um, and then you can just mix it in. I prefer unsweetened protein powders. Some of the protein powders out there, especially vanilla, like they are over stevia for me. They are over monk fruited, they are just like they I can't even, it's not my jam. So I have nothing personally against stevia. It is a plant, some people still are skeptical of it. That's fine. Continue to be skeptical of it, like, you know, whatever. But we do see a better blood sugar response, stevia versus like a regular sugar. Anyhow, I just personally don't like the flavor of it. So I like unsweetened, and then I have control over what I add to my smoothies or what I add to my oatmeal or whatever. And I'll be happy to link on the blog to a my favorite brand that is informed choice, which is another version of NSF certified for sport, approved so that we know that it's literally just protein powder. There's no other anything in it. So anyway, did we miss anything on our lovely friend oatmeal and all things, beta glucan, o paran, etc.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

I don't think so. I think we've learned today that oatmeal is just or any any way you want to prepare oats, it's like endlessly customizable to your preferences and it packs a great nutrient punch. So go out and get some oats.

Coach Carlie 41:32

I know. Yes. So good, you guys. Awesome. Emily, great work. Thanks. Anyway, thank you guys for listening to the Find Your Edge podcast. If there is anything else that you want us to dig into in terms of various foods or recipes or educational topics, shoot us a DM at Instagram at theenduranceedge.com, wherever you reach us. And uh let's freaking go. I love this. Thanks, Emily.