Five reasons to eat more oats

Need some healthy breakfast ideas? You don’t need anything more than oatmeal. Just one cup of oatmeal contains 4 grams of fiber—almost as much as an apple or a cup of cooked Brussels sprouts. They are rich in carbohydrates and protein, and if eaten raw, contain large amounts of vitamins B1 and B9. Oats are rich in iron, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and copper. They are easily digestible and retain the huge percentage of vitamins and minerals even when they are peeled from the bran.

In native cuisine, they were mentioned for the first time by John Exarch in the 9th-10th century and in the letters of Theophylact of Ohrid (XI century). Oats are also mentioned in Simeon’s collection according to Svetoslav’s transcript, dating from 1078. There it ranks among the favorite foods of the medieval Bulgarian, along with millet, lobota and lapada.

We have no data on how the ancient Bulgarians consumed oats, but according to Byzantine sources, oats were added to moussaka made of minced meat, zucchini and cheese, to sarmi wrapped with cabbage, vine and lapad leaves, or to sauerkraut. Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of clay pots used by the ancient Bulgarians to cook porridge from oats, nettles, spinach and lapad.

One of the advantages of oats is that you can find them in any store, even the pharmacy or drug store. Here are five reasons why eating oats is an excellent choice for your health.

1. Oats are more filling than other foods

This property of oats is due to the abundance of fiber. Thanks to the fiber, oatmeal gives us a feeling of satiety that an excessively light snack between meals cannot provide. The results of a study published this year in the Nutrition Journal showed that people who ate oatmeal for breakfast felt fuller for longer than those who ate the same amount of cereal with honey.< /p>

2. Oats help lower bad cholesterol

Fiber-rich foods are known to normalize cholesterol levels, and oats are no exception to this rule. The abundance of fiber in oats helps reduce the absorption of bad cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes, LiveScience reports.

3. Oats reduce cancer risk

High-fiber whole grains, including oats, have been shown to help reduce the risk of colon cancer. A 2011 British Medical Journal article reported that the risk of colorectal cancer was 20 percent lower for people who consumed an additional 90 grams of whole grains each day.

4. Oats are rich in substances that protect the heart

Tasty oats are rich in lignans – plant substances that protect us from cardiovascular diseases. Lignans can also be found in other foods, such as flaxseed, broccoli and apricots.

5. Oatmeal is cheap

Oatmeal is quite affordable and you can buy a huge package for just a few leva. So it turns out that oats not only make our stomachs feel satisfied, but also our wallets.
And one of the bonuses is that there are countless ways to prepare oats.

In addition to oatmeal, they can be eaten in pancakes made with oat bran flour, combined with fried eggs baked with bacon, or mixed with vegetables such as avocado and kale. And if you’re more adventurous in the kitchen, try making some oat cakes too – for example, carrot and oat cake, toasted coconut with oat, oat covered with liquid chocolate.