Is It Healthy To Have Sugar Free Oatmeal?

Oatmeal is a very important ingredient – be it in breakfast or healthy snacks like cookies or muffins. However, often packaged in attractive boxes, this ‘healthy’ breakfast option is loaded with sugar and additives that nullify the health benefits of oatmeal. So, a lot of people choose to have the instant oatmeal that has a sugar free variety. While sometimes it can be challenging to the sugar-free oatmeal, but keeping the health benefits in mind, you can whip up some easy recipes that are easy on the taste buds and also on your health.

Would you like to know more about oatmeal? Then do read this post!

Why Oatmeal?

1. Oatmeal is made from rolled oats and eaten as whole grains. It combats various health problems like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and even heart diseases (1).
2. Eating oatmeal can lower your blood cholesterol. By adding oatmeal to your daily menu, you can lower LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol in your body (2).
3. It is also a good source of fibre, so if you eat it for breakfast, it will keep you full for a long time. Hence, it helps in reducing weight as well (3).

Is It Really Sugar Free?

The instant oats made by several brands often contain low sugar. Uncle Sam’s Oats or Kellog’s oats, for example, market low sugar oatmeal, which contains about 1 gram of sugar per serving (4). If that is not low enough for you, the sugar free oatmeal by Meijer Apples and Cinnamon contains no sugar, but has artificial flavourings that may have a small amount of sugar.

The Pros:

Oatmeal has lots of good nutrients like high fibre, vitamin B and plenty of protein. This makes oatmeal a great breakfast food. It is also low in fat. A standard serving contains about 2 grams of fat and 100 calories. There is no cholesterol in oatmeal. The sodium content is quite low too, at 140 milligram per serving. On top of these good aspects of oatmeal, if there is no added sugar, it truly becomes a super breakfast food.

The Cons:

The problem with sugar free oatmeal is that it is often flavoured to make it more palatable. These flavourings are chemical in nature which is not exactly the best thing if you are trying to switch to a healthy breakfast. Besides, preservatives are also added to keep the instant oatmeal fresh. If you don’t want to take your oatmeal with lots of artificial sweeteners, you can opt for the low sugar option.

How To Make Your Sugar Free Oatmeal Delicious:

To make your breakfast taste wonderful without adding artificial sweeteners to sugar free oatmeal, you can try out some of these very easy recipes which require less than five minutes to assemble:

1. Take a sweet, fleshy fruit like mango and blend it with milk to make a thin, runny shake. Use this instead of plain milk for a sweeter, no sugar oatmeal. You can also chop sweet berries like raspberries, strawberries and peaches and add to oatmeal. In every bite you will get a chunk of fruit, so you will not taste the lack of sugar at all.

2. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and honey to the oatmeal and milk and make for a really delicious breakfast. Try to use skimmed milk, which reduces fat intake.

3. You can make an energy bar beforehand with oatmeal and have a bar on a busy morning, on the go. To make an oatmeal energy bar, mix a cup of oatmeal, a handful of raisins, chopped dried apricots and your choice of dried fruits. To that add blanched almonds, peanuts and walnuts. To flavour the mix, add cinnamon and honey. Bind the mixture with an egg white and spread it out on a baking tin in an inch thick layer. Bake at 180 degree Centigrade for 15 to 20 minutes. When cool, cut into bars and store in an airtight jars.

So, what are you waiting for? Bring home your box of oats today! And reap the many benefits this cereal has to offer! Also, let us know your sugar free oatmeal cookie recipes! You can comment in the box below.