Overnight Oatmeal: How to Enjoy Grains the Healthy Way

Overnight Oatmeal

Welcome back to my kitchen!

Today, I wanted to show you how easy it is to make heart-healthy whole grain overnight oatmeal – and it doesn’t have to take 45 minutes to cook.

Soaking your oats actually provides you with some pretty significant health benefits – and if you’ve been avoiding grains because you’ve heard they’re bad for you, today I’m going to show you exactly how to eliminate those harmful anti nutrients you were warned about. 

1. Look for: Steel-Cut Oat Groats

When you’re at the grocery store, you want to look for “steel cut oat groats.” Avoid the 5-minute oats, avoid the quick cook oats and definitely avoid those instant oatmeal packets.

Processing grains removes many of the vital nutrients and reduces the amount of fiber the whole grain contains. The fiber in the oats allows for a slow, steady release of energy after you eat them, and stabilizes your blood sugar.

But – that’s not the whole story. Whole grains can actually cause digestive issues when improperly prepared. Grains contain anti-nutrients like phytic acid, a phosphorous bound compound that binds to important minerals (like zinc, magnesium, iron and copper) in our stomach as it passes through, blocking their absorption.

Grains also contain a variety of enzyme inhibitors that can interfere with digestion and put stress on the pancreas, sugar complexes the body can’t break down, hard to digest proteins like gluten, and irritating tannins.

2. Soak, Sprout or Ferment your Grains

These substances are not meant to harm us, they are part of the plants’ protective adaption to ensure they do not sprout until conditions are favorable. They need a little warmth, time and a bit of acidity to sprout properly. To utilize all of the nutrients they contain, simply prepare them in a way that imitates Nature’s process – with a little warmth, time, and slight acidity by soaking, sprouting or fermenting them.

All of these SIMPLE processes allow for the breakdown of the phytic acid, and effectively begin pre-digestion of the grain. So that your body can easily digest, absorb and assimilate the nutrients and fiber in the grain and deliver long-lasting stable energy to you.

Our 4-legged counterparts who eat grains with no ill effects have 4-chambered stomachs that allow for a much longer trip through the digestive system and its juices, creating an ideal breakdown environment. But our single-chambered stomach doesn’t have quite such a long passage. 

3. Make it With Me:

(4 parts water:1 part oat groats)
4 cups water
1 cup oat groats (in the video I’m using a 1/2 cup measuring cup because my cup doesn’t fit inside the tin )
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup walnuts
optional ingredients: cinnamon, nutmeg, chopped dates, goji berries, raisins

1. Bring water and oats to a boil.
2. Boil for 1-2 minutes and remove from heat.
3. Transfer to a container (or leave in the pot).
4. Add vanilla, walnuts and other desired ingredients and stir in.
5. Cover and allow to sit overnight.
6. Stir to fluff and serve with toppings like coconut milk, almond milk, fresh berries, hemp seeds.

Definitely try this simple method for overnight oatmeal, and be sure to look for items like Tru Roots sprouted quinoa, Ezekial sprouted grain bread (look for it in the freezer section at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and many other grocery stores), and check the bulk bins at your healthy food store for sprouted nuts (many other plants contain anti nutrients like phytic acid and it’s good to minimize your consumption of them).

The sprouting, fermenting and soaking process will also begin to break down gluten and other tough-to-digest plant proteins, sugars and tannins and you may discover you can tolerate some sprouted grain breads and sprouted gluten-containing grains much more easily than “whole wheat” or “whole grain pasta.” Plus, it will increase the B-vitamin content of your grains.

I’d love to hear about your experience – have you experimented with eliminating gluten, eliminating grains, trying out sprouted or sourdough breads, fermented or sprouted grains, or have an opinion?

Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

For further reading, I recommended: Weston A. Price Foundation: Be Kind to Your Grains….and your grains will be kind to you

Try 30 days of clean eating, incorporating principles just like this….

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