"Everything Oats!"

"Marzidoats and dozidoats and little lamzidivie,
A kiddeldie divey too, wouldn't you?"

A Counsel On Oats...
A tough, old cowboy once counseled his grandson that if he wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a pinch of gunpowder on his oatmeal every morning.

The grandson did this religiously and lived to the age of 110.

He left four children, 20 grandchildren, 30 great grandchildren, 10
great great grandchildren and a 50 foot hole where the crematorium used to be.

Don't forget the Oats.

Many of you may know that I have a Listserv, or rather "Discussion List" which runs twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week It is populated by right around 600 plus people, with 20-30 people who keep an lively discussion going on a number of Zone related topics ranging from Exercise to Women's Issues, Recipes to Cookbooks, and Successes to Frustrations. With all we discuss, the funniest topic is based on one food item: OATS. Wine connosuiers talk about wine, Zoners talk about oats, I guess, because just when you think we know it all, someone new walks into the Discussion, asks a question and after a slight groan, we answer their questions, then lo' and behold, we ALL learn a bit more about oats, and review the old stuff all over again!

You may even be amused or shake your head "yes...." when you read this item submitted by Gail Smith, from her office wall:

Ode To Oats

We have not succeeded in answering all your problems. The answers we have found only serve to raise a whole set of new questions. In some ways we feel we are as confused as ever, but we believe we are confused on a higher level and about more important things.

If you come across a good recipe using oats or more "Oat Facts" that we have failed to list here, let me know and I will be happy to post it!

So to start off, here is all we have learned to date about this wondrous little grain:

Oats are the third leading cereal crop produced in the United States (after wheat and corn) and the fourth most important crop world-wide. They were once considered a weed which grew right with the barley and wheat. One day farmers decided to "join 'em rather than fight 'em," and oats started being planted as a crop by itself. It fares best in cool, moist climates, which is why they are such a popular staple of the British Isles like Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The grain was introduced into the Americas in 1602 by a sea captain who planted them in one of the islands off the coast of Massachusetts. They were a popular grain, but corn had a better yield per acre crop, so their popularity wasn't as great as corn. Today, nearly half of the world's oat crop--more than 4 billion bushels a year--is grown in the United States and Canada.

While we feed most of our oats to our animals, a look into Scottish cookbook to see the variety of ways that oats are presented to eat to get your mind off having to have it only in the form of oatMEAL. That is what we will do below here.

Nutrient Values and Virtues of Oats

Oat kernels look very much like wheat in structure. They have an outer covering of bran which protects the starchy endosperm and the germ that sits at the bottom of the grain. Because the oat kernel is soft, the nutritious bran is not removed. Whole grain oats contain seven B vitamins, vitamin E, and nine minerals, including iron and calcium. The quality and quantity of the protein in oats is far superior to that of wheat and most other grains. One ounce of oats has TWICE the protein of wheat or corn flakes. But the most important nutritional advantages are the soluable fiber and the GLA (gamma linoleic acid).

The soluable fiber is what gives it the gummy texture, and it helps lower cholesterol levels in the blood. GLA is considered an "activated" essential fatty acid. Very small amounts of it fill the metabolic pipelines and allow the body to make other essential fatty acids, and all this is part of the hormonal control aspects of the Zone Diet as described by Dr. Barry Sears in his first book, "Enter the Zone" (pp. 119-134, Reagan Books, Harper Collins, 1995).

Sears reccomends eating 3-5 bowls of oatmeal a week. This reccomendation has been the driving force in all the discussion questions, like "Is INSTANT oatmeal okay?" and "Do I have to eat it every day?" and comments like "I HATE oatmeal!" I think that the limitations on our imagination for the use of OATS has been part of the problem, and I hope that this will be a continually growing page to fill your mind and imagination with more ways to get your GLA than in a bowl with brown sugar and milk!

Forms of Oats

Oat grains are enclosed in two tough husks that must be removed. The grains are cleaned and toasted, husked and scoured, resulting in whole oat kernels called GROATS. These contain nearly all the original nutritional value of the grain. Oat groats are much softer and quicker cooking than wheat berries, and can be used in many other meals that breakfast, which I hope to demonstrate through the recipes found here. They are not refined before or after processing, so they retain most of their nutrients regardless of the form in which they are eaten (according to Jane Brody in her book "Good Food Book." Sears says this is not so. It is up to you to decide from the information that follows.

Here is where everyone goes nuts. What is a groat, steel cut, Scotch, Irish or instant oat? Or a GROAT, for that matter??? Whenever anyone asks the question from now on, send them here for the answer! Remember, 3 Tbs. uncooked ROLLED OATS equals one carbohydrate block,but because STEEL CUT OATS are more dense, they only require 2 Tbs.--but check your package just in case, remembering that you have 9 grams of carbohydrates to one carb block AFTER you subtract the dietary fiber ! 1/3 cup cooked also equals one carbohydrate block.

Oat Groats - Whole grain of the oat, with only the outer hard husks removed, then toasted.

Oat Flour - You can make it yourself by grinding rolled oats in a food processor or blender. Oat flour adds lovely flavor to breads and because of certain natural preservative in the oats themselves, it improves their shelf life. Oats contain no gluten, which is needed for bread to rise, so it must be mixed with a gluten-containing flour such as wheat. Substitute 1 of every 5 parts of wheat flour with oat flour. If your recipe is for a quick bread, no addition of other flours is necessary.

Oat sprouts - oat groats are very easy to sprout! Sprouting increases their nutritive values. Add them to sandwiches, salads, stir-fry and soups. Chop them and add them to your bread dough.

Steel Cut Oats or Scottish Oats or Irish Oats- These are groats which have been cut into two or three pieces. Cooking time is considerably longer than for rolled oats. I am still a bit puzzled by this. When I bought Scottish Oats from one company, they were rolled, but much thicker than the Quaker style rolled oats. Next time I found them from another company, I came home, opened the can and was surprised to find that they were the chopped Irish Oats. I have called and called and researched this, and it seems that no one knows for sure!

Old Fashioned Rolled Oats - These are made by steaming the groats and flattening them with a roller. The Quaker Old Fashioned Rolled Oats are very thinly rolled, as are the store varieties by the same title. If you look hard, however, you can often find rolled oats that are twice as thick as the Quaker variety, and these make a lovely, less creamy version of oatmeal than the Quaker ones do. Quaker sets the industry standard, so theirs is considered REGULAR Old Fashioned Rolled Oats. If they are thicker, they are called THICK Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.

Quick-cooking rolled oats -- These are made by flattening pre-cut groats. They cook in about 5 minutes.

Instant Oats - are usually packaged with salt and sugar. Don't indulge in the empty calories!

Commercial Cereals - Amazingly, Cheerios are made from oat flour and wheat starch, and Brody contends that they too are a nourishing cold cereal. A bit high in sodium (330 mg in 1-1/4 cup (1 ounce) compared to 1/4 cup cottage cheese which has about 440 mg sodium), there is only 19.6 grams of carbohydrates in one ounce serving with 2 grams of dietary fiber. The only cereal that leaves me hungrier faster is Grape Nuts by Post, so there is a lesson in there somewhere.

Granolas are simply overrated if you buy the commercially produced one. They just have way too much sugar and way too much trans fatty acids. Try one of the recipes below and make your own!

Which form of oats should I buy?

Anytime you do ANYTHING to a food besides "pick it off the stalk," you have processed it. Sears uses the term and says some of the oats are too processed, while Brody contends that oats are NOT processed, Brody meaning that the nutrients are not removed like they are in other grains. Our concern should be how much is done to the food item to break down the cell structure of the carbohydrate food. One way this can be done by cooking the food item. Cooking means that you have subjected it to heat, water or chemicals to break down the cell structure or inactivate certain enzymes. You can "cook" a food by chemically altering it (like fresh seafood being "cooked" by adding lime juice to it). The longer the cooking time, the greater the breakdown of the cell walls, and the faster that food can enter your blood stream and the faster your body will react to it by producing insulin to break down the carbohydrates (sugars) into simple, readily useable forms.Some grains you can begin the "cooking" process by soaking them, but even with the increase in size because of rehydration, the starch in the carbohydrate has not broken down and the food item will still taste...green. Raw.

What you are looking for is breaking down the starches just enough to make them tasty and easy to digest, but not so long that they become unfavorable, i.e. high on the glycemic index. So in Zoning terms, this means that the same food, cooked for longer periods of time, will have a higher glycemic reaction (insulin producing) than that same food cooked for a short time or not at all. The higher the glycemic response, the higher the insulin level and blood sugar level will rise, and since what goes up must come down, your blood sugar level will fall equally as low. The idea of Zoning is to keep your blood sugar level fairly stable: not too high, not too low. The low blood sugar is what will start up your cravings. The over production of insulin is what is going to slap that fat onto your thighs (and belly and fanny...). Therefore the less you break down your foods, the less the glycemic reaction will be, the more stable your blood sugar will remain.

So what form of oats should you buy? Sears says that it should be the kind that cooks in nothing less than 30 minutes. That would be groats, steel cut (and the various names) and Thick Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.

Simple Cooking Instructions for Oats

Oat Groats - Use two cups liquid -- water, milk, broth, stock -- and bring to a boil. Add one cup of oat groats (the whole kernel) and lower heat, simmer for about 45 minutes. This may also be done quite successfully using a rice cooker. 3 Tbs. raw equals one carbohydrate block. These cook well in a crockpot on low overnight, but you may want to increase the liquid 3 to 1, liquid to oats.

Old Fashioned Rolled Oats - Following package directions, you can cook them 2 parts liquid to one part oats, and simmer for about 5 minutes. If you are in a hurry in the morning, try mixing them up with liquid the night before with Vanilla and Cinnamon. Then it takes less than a minute to heat them in the microwave.

Steel Cut Oats - Package directions will tell you to cook them for 15 minutes, but you may want to try bringing them to a boil for 5 minutes, then turning off the heat and covering them for an additional 10 minutes. These also do well in the crockpot on low, overnight. Add liquid 3 to 1.

Oat FAQ's

1. Can I eat oats RAW? Yes, with an explantion. Most of the oats that you see out there are not really raw. Oats are a very soft, moist grain, and they go rancid quickly, so manufacturers steam them at about 212 degrees to set the flavors so they won't go bad. So even a whole kernal oat grain will not sprout because it has been killed by this steaming process unless you were lucky enough to find a real live raw oat grain. See more on RAW ZONING.

2. What's the difference between instant, rolled, Old Fashioned, and thick rolled oats? How far apart the rollers are set. No other prep work is done to the oat (other than the steaming mentioned above). The thinner the rolling, the quicker the oats cook because of the greater surface area of the grain. That's why my favorite way to cook oats is not to boil the grain itself, but to boil the water, add it to the oats and cover them, letting them set for 3-5 minutes. 1 part boiling water to 1 part rolled oats is a good ratio to start with. Add more or less water to suit your tastes.

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I hope this helps you start to think of oatmeal in some new and exciting ways, rather than just the plain ol' bowl in the morning (although I eat it willingly several times a week, myself--with ricotta cheese mixed in YUM!). Dust off one of those old Scottish Cookbooks and see if you can find any other unusual ways to use oats, and then drop me a line at karen@karenskitchen.com .

Warmest Regards,

Karen