HOW TO MAKE OAT MEAL MORE PALATABLE

Truth be told that I’ve never eaten oat meal all my life till this year. So you may ask, why oat meal and why now? If you’re read my previous blog posts about my high cholesterol scare, you’ll understand why I resort to consuming oat meal every day or on alternate days. I lay my hands on relevant books on how to lower cholesterol and one of them was ‘Cholesterol Down’ written by Dr Janet Bond Brill. The author has helped people to reach healthy cholesterol levels through diet and exercise. I didn’t want to be on statin drugs the rest of my life and suffer their side effects. Also, I felt strange pin pricks when I tried taking statins for two weeks. I was determined to stay away from it and find a substitute. 

So long story short, Dr Bond Brill recommended taking oat meal in one of her strategies to lower cholesterol levels. Oat meal is noted to contain soluble fiber, which reduces your low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the “bad” cholesterol. It may reduce cholesterol levels by a fair percentage. 

How to Cook Oat Meal 

So since February this year, I’ve been consuming oat meal every day for breakfast. It fills me up till lunch and I’ve devised ways to add colour and flavour to the oat meal to overcome its blandness. Here’s what I do. I prepare 3 meals of oat meal by cooking 3 small cups in 4 and half cups of water in a pan. All you need is to stir the oat meal till the oat bran becomes soft and gruel like in texture. If it appears too thick for your licking, you can add a bit more water. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool. Once cooled, I transfer the oat meal into a bowl and refrigerate it.  When I’m ready to have it for breakfast, I’ll just scoop the amount I need into another bowl and microwave it for a minute. 

How to Make Oat Meal More Palatable 

To add more flavour and colour, I add seasonal berries based.  Blue berries are my favourites, not just for its taste but also its shelf life. It keeps for days on end. Unfortunately, the price of blue berries at this time is too atrocious at $7 a punnet. I guess it’s because of the high temperatures we are getting lately despite the usually cooler autumn months we used to experience. I substitute blue berries with raspberries and straw berries. They taste just as great but raspberries have shorter shelf life. They go rancid and start to develop this hideous cotton-like fiber in a few days. 

Lastly, I add a handful of nibble mix consisting of a variety of nuts and dried fruit for some crunch. The 3 combinations complement one another and the result is a palatable oat meal breakfast which keeps my tummy satisfied. 

I would never have thought that oat meal could be palatable. The tip is to use your imagination and creativity. Oh…. and use what’s in season. That way, you won’t burn a hole in your pocket.