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Best way to make porridge

smc4761

smc4761

Well-Known Member
Hi all, hope you are all doing well

As the colder weather is about to come in, its time to go back to my favourite breakfast, porridge. Reading about on internet I am getting conflicting information about soaking the oats overnight. The main consensus is to soak overnight.

My question from there is once they are soaked overnight, do I keep the water the oats soaked in and cook from there. Or should the water be discarded, and fresh water added.

Thanks
 
Normally just add water and milk to the oats in morning, cook on the hob, add a little saltand that is that.
From what I am reading there is a substance in oats phytic acid, that is an inhibitor making it difficult for other minerals to be absorbed. By soaking this help reduce the phtic acid
I find my BG does rise a bit slower with porridge
 
We always used to add just enough water to cook the porridge with, the night before, so the oats swell and don't need as long cooking. In the morning there wasn't any water to pour away as it had been absorbed.
 
smc4761 said:
Hi all, hope you are all doing well

As the colder weather is about to come in, its time to go back to my favourite breakfast, porridge. Reading about on internet I am getting conflicting information about soaking the oats overnight. The main consensus is to soak overnight.

My question from there is once they are soaked overnight, do I keep the water the oats soaked in and cook from there. Or should the water be discarded, and fresh water added.

Thanks
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I always make my porridge with water, being lactose intolerant.

After soaking oats overnight in water, you will find that the oats would have absorbed most of the water, but some of the goodness of the oats would have dissolved into the water that is left. Therefore, you cook using the same water.

I used to cook my porridge slowly on the stove but now I use a microwave. I make my porridge the night before and re-heat it in the morning. That is because I am hoping that re-heating will lower the amount of carbohydrates (like re-heating pasta lowers carbohydrates) although I may be wrong.
 
I tried porridge yesterday for the first time in many months. 40g of oats, 260g of whole milk, cooked in the microwave. My BG after 1hr was over 10 and by 90 mins was on it's way down at just under 9. A bit of a surprise. I was expecting it to go up a bit but not that much and not that quickly. I thought porridge was supposed to have slower-release carbs.
 
CatrinJ said:
I tried porridge yesterday for the first time in many months. 40g of oats, 260g of whole milk, cooked in the microwave. My BG after 1hr was over 10 and by 90 mins was on it's way down at just under 9. A bit of a surprise. I was expecting it to go up a bit but not that much and not that quickly. I thought porridge was supposed to have slower-release carbs.
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The poster is type one and not inherently insulin resistant as a type 2 like us would be. They can theoretically respond “normally” with the correct insulin dosage and timing. Type 2 generally respond quite poorly to grains and your response is not unusal. Many well controlled type 2 avoid oats and grains. Slow release carbs are still released (and often not that much slower) and still need to be digested and processed all the same. Your meter shows you that.

It would be a good idea to update your profile with your type and treatment to make sure future posts get an appropriate response.
 
As HSS says I am a type 1, have been for over 40 years. For me the porridge was slow release carbs. Started off at bg of 6.2 this morning,8.30am had my insulin dose, and until lunch at 12.30, my bg went to maximum high of 7.4, back down to bg of 5.9
 
smc4761 said:
As HSS says I am a type 1, have been for over 40 years. For me the porridge was slow release carbs. Started off at bg of 6.2 this morning,8.30am had my insulin dose, and until lunch at 12.30, my bg went to maximum high of 7.4, back down to bg of 5.9
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I am impressed : 'maximum high of 7.4'! i shall try to emulate that figure.
 
My best way would be for me to imagine it as eating would have a kamikaze effect on my bg unfortunately
 
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CatrinJ said:
I tried porridge yesterday for the first time in many months. 40g of oats, 260g of whole milk, cooked in the microwave. My BG after 1hr was over 10 and by 90 mins was on it's way down at just under 9. A bit of a surprise. I was expecting it to go up a bit but not that much and not that quickly. I thought porridge was supposed to have slower-release carbs.
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That's the propaganda to say the slow infusion is OK. They have to be right, if the strategy fails then the ideology fails. Its still the same sugar under the curve. If you were 15 years old playing football or netball you could deal with this quicker.
 
Mbaker said:
That's the propaganda to say the slow infusion is OK. They have to be right, if the strategy fails then the ideology fails. Its still the same sugar under the curve. If you were 15 years old playing football or netball you could deal with this quicker.
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Or, if you had Type 1 and dosed you insulin appropriately as @smc4761 explained above.
 
Mbaker said:
That's a choice I would never make if I was Type 1, as I already follow a Berstein protocol. There is good evidence that it is spikes which cause long term damage, Type 1s are not immune..
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Over the next few days I am going to try some oats, maybe 50 grams to see what happens.
 
Mbaker said:
Over the next few days I am going to try some oats, maybe 50 grams to see what happens.
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So I did the test today. My fasting blood glucose this morning was 4.4 mmol/L

1666266543126.png

I had 2 Butchers Burgers, 50 grams of Porridge (made with milk and water), almonds, pistachios, walnuts, brazil nut, berries, at 06.45 am:

1666266872097.png

After an hour a 6.8 (just over 1 point higher than my normal)
After 2 hours 11 minutes 7.0
My normal 5.7 after usual meals (3 hours 21 minutes)

1666267059129.png

So the only change I made to the make up of my type of breakfast was replacing the yogurt with oats.

Porridge test post prandial rise with porridge = 2.6 mmol /L. I never go beyond 6 with my normal meals. I might do a similar test with a walk / exercise afterwards out of interest.
 
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