Oatmeal or whole grain cereal?

you talking about instant oatmeal or steel cut oatmeal (aka irish oatmeal)? Steel cut is better, but whole grain cereal is probably slightly better than instant oatmeal.

Whole Grain Cereal is way better than instant oatmeal esp. as far as sugar is concerned.
SH Boss is right, steel cut oatmeal will be better than whole grain cereal.

BUT... either is better than Fruit Loops... so woohoo for making a better choice!

I eat the Quaker Instand Weight Control oatmeal for breakfast all the time.
Keeps me filled up.
160 cal
3g fat
6g fiber
1g sugar
And I usually have a banana or apple with it.
Yum!

The problem with some of the "whole grain cereals" is that it's not always 100% whole grains and/or they get you on sugar or some other content. They often still contain refined grains and/or hydrogenated oils etc. For example, people seem to rave about Special K ... well they simply have a wonderfull marketing team at that company, it may have low cals and fat but it contains refined content, loaded with sugar/corn syrup and "other carbohydrates" ... whatever they are ?? Not so good for you depending on how you look at the foods you eat.
I've also noticed that the calories may also be low, on these cereals, but the serving size is for a 5 year old.
IMHO, Steel Cut Oats (SCO) all the way. As mentione dbefore, not instant oatmeal, the real deal that you have to add water and cook for 10+ minutes .. so make it up in large weekly batches. If you're interested in a 'real' healthy breakfast, then you really need to spend some time to make it up yourself, with known raw ingredients. Be it oats or quinoa or some other grain, needs to be raw and monitor what you put in.
For sweatener, the best I've found is to simply slice up a banana and dump on the SCO. Every spoonfull of oats, make sure you get a slice of banana. It makes eating them less of a chore

Some people will disagree, that's OK with me. Just giving my opinion (and others) that if you're serious about what you eat, and it being healthy, then most items we put down our cake holes, should be made from scratch with known good ingredients ... rather than dumping from a box or buying through a window.

Quick oats are in the same category as instant oats. So your cereal is probably better than it.

Try to look into steel cut oats though. They're awesome.

I wholeheartedly agree with oats4breakfast! I LOVE steel cut oats! I can make up a batch of 4 servings (or more) in my rice cooker on the weekend. Then, during the week, I re-heat the oats in the microwave with bananas, cinnamon, 1/4 skim or almond milk, and/or walnuts and/or dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, blueberries, or apricots--yum!). VERY hearty indeed! Yes, it may be a lot of calories going on there, but I'm definitely not hungry for a long, long time! :bigsmile:

I have never thought to make my SCO in the rice cooker. Thanks for the idea.

You guys might know the answer to this question. I once had this dish that looked like oats. But it had the consistency of rice or couscous (not like oatmeal).

Any idea what it was?

Quick Cooking Oats are rolled, whole grain oats, just processed differently to reduce cooking time

Oh, how do you cook those?

Quick cooking oats can either be made in the microwave (takes like 1:30) or on the stove top. So much easier than waiting for 20-30 minutes for steel cut (though those are yummy too!).

thank uuuu!!!

you talking about instant oatmeal or steel cut oatmeal (aka irish oatmeal)? Steel cut is better, but whole grain cereal is probably slightly better than instant oatmeal.

Yummy. Steel Cut Oats.

Quick oats are in the same category as instant oats. So your cereal is probably better than it.

Actually that isn't true - Quick Cooking Oats are rolled, whole grain oats, just processed differently to reduce cooking time (basically each oat is sliced in half). Many people don't like them because they are mushier. I prefer the mushiness. Steel cut oats are firmer oats, and a lot chewier.

I add 1/4 cup almond milk (with the other 3/4 cup being water) and a tablespoon of natural peanut butter to my oats, they are so filling and delicious.

According to the Clean Eating websites, rolled oats isn't as nutritious as Steel Cut Oats because it is rolled, steamed and then re-rolled............That is a much more processed product which can have an impact on blood sugar levels and cause you to get hungry faster....................

I wholeheartedly agree with oats4breakfast! I LOVE steel cut oats! I can make up a batch of 4 servings (or more) in my rice cooker on the weekend. Then, during the week, I re-heat the oats in the microwave with bananas, cinnamon, 1/4 skim or almond milk, and/or walnuts and/or dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, blueberries, or apricots--yum!). VERY hearty indeed! Yes, it may be a lot of calories going on there, but I'm definitely not hungry for a long, long time! :bigsmile:

I have never thought to make my SCO in the rice cooker. Thanks for the idea.

You're very welcome! I think I found that idea on one of the forums here. I like to make them in my rice cooker because the rice basket is plastic and so much easier to clean than the metal pot I'd been using. Not only that, but I can just throw the oats & the water in the cooker, set the timer, and do other morning stuff while it's cooking away.

In case you're wondering, I have found that the settings for white rice work wonderfully. The cooking time ends up being 35-40 minutes or so. To reheat in the microwave, it's 45 seconds, stir thoroughly, add extras (see above quoted post), microwave another 45 seconds or so, stir and eat. Almost faster on the reheat than microwaving a packet of instant oatmeal! And MUCH better tasting, too!