Soaked oatmeal

Long ago and far away I lived in a land where oatmeal was rarely ever served. It was called childhood, and oatmeal was something that seemed only to be made when camping. Quick oats, cooked on a campstove, with some brown sugar and margarine tossed on top. I liked the mouth feel of it, and wondered why we did not eat it more often. My teen years came along and a marvelous invention came along- instant oatmeal ! It made a great quick breakfast for those mornings that cold cereal was out ( breakfast on the weekdays was always cereal- eggs or pancakes or oatmeal were weekend things). One day as an adult I discovered steel cut oats, and I thought I had conquered the world of potential oat nutrition. Then came adding things like pumpkin and nut butters  to that bowl or even overnight oats in the fridge. Well move over kids, oats have a way to be made even better- soaked oats !!!

Why soak oats ? The reason is phytic acid. Soaking oats for 12-24 hrs allows the acid to be broken down and what remains is more available to the body for digestion. How to do this and why can be found at this most excellent post ! 

A long-term diet of untreated (soaked or fermented) grains will lead to mineral deficiencies and disease.
It's an old Irish tradition of soaking oats in milk or water and leaving them that way overnight. Consider that people of Irish descent in our modern world tend to have a higher than average rate of things like Celiac Disease . In our modern world few people soak grains, and perhaps this forgotten practice is one of the causing factors.In days gone by, the Quaker Oats box included he directions to soak them overnight. These bits of trivia also add credence to the practice.

I soaked our oats for 24 hrs and in the morning added the additional water and pumpkin puree. We really like pumpkin in oatmeal for some reason ! Then I placed a spoonful of homemade almond butter and a tablespoon of ground flax in each bowl, added the cooked oats and poured a tablespoon of real maple syrup on top of this.

The results ? The best bowl of oatmeal I had ever made ! Creamy, a richer flavor and incredibly satisfying. It was completely worth the effort to soak them ahead of time, and is something I will do from now on.

I cannot wait to try working with the soaking technique for yeast breads !!

The Get Real Diet Plan

Small things can mean a lot. A smile at just the right minute, an available seat when you are exhausted, or even a day that just seems to flow in the right way. Small words written on a page, read at just the right moment can change your world as well. It seems that the later happened to me over the last few days.

I was reading my friends posts over at facebook, and came across one that was discussing how she had ditched the scale for 20 odd days  and how she was doing. At first I thought it was a post about someone's experience with intuitive eating, but as I read I learned that it was about a whole different phenomenon- metabolic healing. I read her blog and earlier entries, and as I read a lot of things began to make a whole lot of sense. Clicking on the links that she had posted led to writings by Matt Stone ( not the co- creator of South Park) and his work on metabolic healing. Basically he talks about how any and all diets over a period of time create metabolic stress , which creates even more problems in the body. He advocates a diet that is high in everything- fats, fiber, protein and so forth. Interesting !

He got me to thinking after reading  a PDF document that was hyperlinked through the blog. What if, after all is said and done, the human body, very much a part of nature, was meant to eat things also found in nature ? Things that grow in the ground or on trees, things that come from animals or are themselves an animal and not "improved" upon by a man created lab ? What if nature, in it's great system of checks and balances, had the right idea afterall when it produced things like butter, cream, unrefined milk, whole grains and fruits and vegetables in specific seasons ? What if our ancestors , who lived closer to the ground, had a whole lot of brilliant ideas about how to stay healthy through a simple thing called life ? Radical thoughts it seems. Instead of the modern day "healthy" lifestyle of eating only short chained plant based fats, a sweetened compound created in a laboratory and a chicken breast that has no skin, minimal fat , eating a piece of animal flesh that has been cooked in animal fat  because it has a long chain fat that is more compatible with our bodies ? What if every single thing stated by every cardiologist today is based on a very bad research study done 30 odd years ago ? What if blood cholesterol has nothing to do with the cholesterol you ingest- but everything to do with other things you ingest like highly refined carbs, transfatty acids and fructose ? Makes you go hmmmm.

I read further , and came across other radical thinkers like Sally Fallon and Sue Gregg who talk about the value of soaking whole grains to improve the available nutrients for the body. They also talk about using things like butter, cream, coconut  and other "evil" foods. Once again I come across people with this weird idea that nature actually has this crazy system that can nourish other things that are found in nature, like human beings. How dare they ! How could we live without people like General Mills and Deans Foods or Tyson ???

I stopped reading for a minute and looked at my hands on the keyboard. I saw brittle , breaking nails, skin that has lost it's elasticity and a few more hairs that had fallen out of my head. I stood up to stretch and was once again reminded of the serious arthritis flare I was currently dealing with. I have been following the rules for healthy living for three years now, in an attempt to lose weight , and have come to the place where the scale is a constant enemy, food is filled with a long list of do's and don'ts, and my health is just not good. Something deep inside of me said "listen to these people because they know what they are talking about". It occurred to me that my weight ( and a lot of people's weight) has a lot more to do with being a result of starvation than lack of discipline or laziness. Highly refined food and science in the interest of profit has created food and advice that no longer nourish a body and set it up for a long list of serious health issues down the road. What is needed is not cardio and calorie reduction but rather metabolic healing and movement natural to real life. I am calling it the Get Real diet. It involves eating real food that nourishes the body so that it can heal and bring the metabolic response back to normal. For movement it involves real management of one's living space ( cleaning and such). This action involves movement of all major muscle groups, weight training and strength building exercise. Results are a clean  ,orderly, organized living space that brings rest and nurturing qualities to the inhabitants. Granted, no one will show up with cameras to watch a trainer yell at me and capture the sweat filled moments , but the results will be more rewarding to a lot more than just myself.

I hope you continue to follow me as I journey into the waters of reality. I think it's going to be an exciting ride !