An experiment – Almond porridge versus cereal

[IanD]

While preparing my low carb experience for the Hounslow Support Group, I thought I would try comparing my usual breakfast - almond porridge with soya milk - with a standard cereal - Tescos Fruit & Fibre, with full-fat milk.

Roughly the same weight showed striking differences in composition & performance. My almond porridge sustains me until lunch - & on occasions play tennis during the morning while consuming only water. After the 1 hour spike up to 7.4, my BG stayed at about 5.5.

The Tesco fruit/fibre cereal gave a massive spike to 14.3 & by 11 o'clock had dropped to 4.1 & I was beginning to feel shaky. Happily at that point my reserves came into use & raised the BG to 4.7.

A further point of interest is that the data is for a suggested amount of 30 g, with 125 ml milk. That provides only 183 kcals, or 10% of the daily requirement - which does not amount to a substantial breakfast.

 

[noblehead]

I'm not surprised your bg shot-up to 14.3 Ian, 85g is over and above the recommended 30-40g serving size suggested on the nutritional info on cereal boxes. The Tesco cereal with the dried fruit would be high in sugar not to mention the sugar content in the flakes themselves, most type 2's would see a big rise in bg eating a cereal like this in double the recommended quantity.

If I were to experiment as you did then I'd have used traditional porridge oats (40g serving weight) and served it with soya milk and added the flaxseeds, the seeds help to lower the gi value of a meal like this and may have a less profound effect on bg.

 

[IanD]

I'm not surprised your bg shot-up to 14.3 Ian, 85g is over and above the recommended 30-40g serving size suggested on the nutritional info on cereal boxes. The Tesco cereal with the dried fruit would be high in sugar not to mention the sugar content in the flakes themselves, most type 2's would see a big rise in bg eating a cereal like this in double the recommended quantity.

If I were to experiment as you did then I'd have used traditional porridge oats (40g serving weight) and served it with soya milk and added the flaxseeds, the seeds help to lower the gi value of a meal like this and may have a less profound effect on bg.

I'm not surprised either, NH, but DUK in their "Eating Well" booklet state:

Any breakfast cereals can be included in your diet. More filling choices, like porridge and All-Bran or fruit and fibre, will see you through the morning.

I just wanted to see the effect of a normal cereal. I have no inclination to research into the dubious benefits of a high carb diet. It didn't "see me through the morning" even though I had much more than Tesco's suggested quantity.

 

[noblehead]

I'm not surprised either, NH, but DUK in their "Eating Well" booklet state:

Any breakfast cereals can be included in your diet. More filling choices, like porridge and All-Bran or fruit and fibre, will see you through the morning.

I just wanted to see the effect of a normal cereal. I have no inclination to research into the dubious benefits of a high carb diet. It didn't "see me through the morning" even though I had much more than Tesco's suggested quantity.

What I'm saying Ian is your experiment was a foregone conclusion even before it even began, your breakfast of 6.5g against one which was 72g of carbs was a no-brainer, I'm a type 1 and would need to work out how I would manage to eat 72g of carbs without seeing a postprandial spike.

 

[Sketcher]

Is the almond porridge available in the shops or do you make it up yourself?

 

[Anonymous]

You mix it yourself. My mix is

5g Porridge Oats
35g Ground Almonds
3/4 cup whole milk
pinch of salt

Stir in a saucepan until it bubbles.

You can buy Almond flour from Asian supermarkets - costs around £6 for a kilo. You can also add 1/2 desertspoon of coconut flour to bulk it up a bit but it does make it coconutty. You may want to use more oats than that - depends on how many carbs you can tolerate.

 

[AMBrennan]

More filling choices, like porridge and All-Bran

That is indeed disappoint as All-Bran actually contains more (added) sugar than regular cornflakes.

 

[borlanddj]

Folks

I normally have good old fashioned scots porridge with some cinnamon. This sounds nice. One question, being a little slow the net carbs for this porridge are carbs - fibre. Which is negative. Is that right and how does that count in carb counting.
My fav breakie at the moment is peanut butter on toast. Doesn't spike and lasts all morning. 3 hours down and bg 5.6

Duncan

 

[IanD]

carbs & fibre are listed separately - carbs is net carb.

carb - 60 g
fibre - 8.5 g
fat - 8.1 g
protein - 11 g
energy - 380 kcal

If your control is good, & your usual b'fast sustaining, no problem.

My wife's porridge packet suggests 50 g oatmeal, which provides 30 g carb & 190 kcals. That is too many carbs for good control, & not enough energy for an active life.

 

[IanD]

Note the 1 hour BG tests & compare with 2 hour.

If I had only tested after 2 hours, I would have reason to approve the fruit & fibre as being better than my almond porridge.
.

 

[eggplant]

Thanks for the almond porridge recipe, Swimmer. I've been meaning to try this for a while. Also interested in using almond flour but struggling to find the ready,are stuff in local supermarkets, do you grind your own almonds? If so, what do you use to grind them?

 

[eggplant]

I like the way you used a spreadsheet for your experiment, Ian - nice and clearly laid out. Agree slightly with noble head, though - to make a fair comparison, equivalent weights for each might give a fairer comparison. Interesting little study though - off to conduct me own breakfast experiments now... Will report back when done.

 

[ladyAAA]

Thanks for the almond porridge recipe, Swimmer. I've been meaning to try this for a while. Also interested in using almond flour but struggling to find the ready,are stuff in local supermarkets, do you grind your own almonds? If so, what do you use to grind them?

almond flour is just ground almonds and you can get them in any supermarket. I mix ground almonds, a small amount of oats, flaxseed, chopped roasted hazelnuts, 1tsp pf cocoa and 1tsp of xylitol for a very delicious nutty chocolate porridge.

 

[IanD]

Thanks for the almond porridge recipe, Swimmer. I've been meaning to try this for a while. Also interested in using almond flour but struggling to find the ready,are stuff in local supermarkets, do you grind your own almonds? If so, what do you use to grind them?

I've just found them in Aldi at 99p for 180 g.

Agree slightly with noble head, though - to make a fair comparison, equivalent weights for each might give a fairer comparison.

That was a one-off experiment. "I just wanted to see the effect of a normal cereal. I have no inclination to research into the dubious "benefits" of a high carb diet. It didn't "see me through the morning" even though I had much more than Tesco's suggested quantity."

If you compare the kcals, my almond porridge was 373 kcals against the cereal 500 kcals. Surely the advantage should have been with the cereal.

 

[noblehead]

Ian, still unsure what you were trying to achieve, it was obvious that a breakfast of 6.5g of carbs was going to have a more favourable effect on postprandial bg than one containing 72g of carbs :?

 

[phoenix]

My wife's porridge packet suggests 50 g oatmeal, which provides 30 g carb & 190 kcals. That is too many carbs for good control, & not enough energy for an active life

which just shows how portion inflation has crept into the UK. My British produced/ French labelled oatmeal has a portion size of 40g oatmeal, the French produced packet has a portion size of only 30g'

Whether it's enough energy (calories ) is an individual thing.

I use 38g with semi skimmed milk to make it up to 250g , I add a few berries, total carbs 38g. It is my normal breakfast and I don't snack between then and lunch and that could include 3-6 mile runs. Indeed, It is has proved perfectly sufficient to provide a good breakfast before running long distances up to and including marathon. (though then I will, as is usual for someone using insulin (and most non diabetics) need to top up with some extra glucose.

 

[halfpint]

Thanks for the recipe, sounds delicious. I was only thinking this morning - chilly - that during the winter months I will probably need something a bit more sustaining than yoghurt. I think your point about the 'sustainability' of it are very important, its one of the reasons why I have never really got on that well with traditional cereal breakfasts, they always leave me hungry. In fact, I was better not eating at all than having something like cornflakes which would leave me starving long before lunch. Thats when snacking can become a problem.

 

[IanD]

I did the same experiment with 40 g oat porridge with readings every hour:

Oat porridge:
300+ Kcal
fasting - 6.6
1 hour - 13-7
2 hours - 9.1
3 hours - 4.5
4 hours - 4.6
Seriously hungry mid-morning

Fruit & Fibre:
500 Kcal
fasting - 5.7
1 hour - 14.3
2 hours - 5.1
3 hours - 4.1
4 hours - 4.7
Seriously hungry mid-morning

Nut porridge:
373 Kcal
fasting - 5.8
1 hour - 7.4
2 hours - 5.5
3 hours - 5.7
4 hours - 5.4
Sustaining for the whole morning, with no significant spike.

The low carb, high fat nut porridge provides a sustaining b'fast whereas the "traditional" cereal b'fasts demand a further snack mid-morning. My experience is that I have plenty of energy for active sports without resorting to energy drinks or bananas. My weight is stable, with a BMI about 26.

 

[Etty]

Ian, still unsure what you were trying to achieve, it was obvious that a breakfast of 6.5g of carbs was going to have a more favourable effect on postprandial bg than one containing 72g of carbs :?

So why then was the DUK recommending Fruit and Fibre, (even at half the portion size)?

 

[paul-1976]

Ian, still unsure what you were trying to achieve, it was obvious that a breakfast of 6.5g of carbs was going to have a more favourable effect on postprandial bg than one containing 72g of carbs :?

So why then was the DUK recommending Fruit and Fibre, (even at half the portion size)?

Exactly !