The Casual Vegan

Oatmeal is, of course, a vegan food. But in my informal research, I have concluded that a lot of people take a perfect food like oatmeal and muck it up with animal proteins and fats. As I happened upon oatmeal as an adult, already eating plants more than anything, it never occurred to me to put milk in oatmeal, as a bowl of steel-cut oats is naturally creamy.

Greg has been eating oatmeal since he was a kid (granted, it was probably the instant kind with lots of sugar and he added his own sugar too), so he was more than happy when I mysteriously started to eat it for breakfast every single morning. It started one week, and then it just made so much sense to continue because it was easy to make, filling without being too many calories, and low in fat when made in the vegan way. I eat old-fashioned organic oatmeal or more recently, steel-cut oats from Trader Joe’s. They’re inexpensive, organic, and excellent quality.

Oatmeal is a great way to get a serving or two of whole grains everyday. Getting at least one serving of whole grains reduces the risk of getting cancer. Oatmeal and other whole grains stabilize your blood sugar and reduce the risk of developing diabetes. Due to beta-glucan, oatmeal also assists your immune system and fights against the everyday stuff, like colds and flus.

I realize that most people grow up eating oatmeal loaded up with milk and sugar and butter, but oatmeal is naturally delicious, it just takes some adjustment to realize that. If you’re not a vegan, try eating it without the milk and butter, not worrying about the sugar content at first. If you’re a vegan, give up the sugar and stick to whole foods. I cook my oatmeal with just water, or sometimes a really simple soy milk (the kind with just filtered water and soybeans!), and I add 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed for some omega 3′s and a nice nutty flavor, and some raisins to sweeten it naturally. You can cook the raisins into the oatmeal to make them soft and expanded or add them cold after the oatmeal is cooked.

Related posts:

1. Oatmeal Revisited
2. What Goes in Our Daily Oatmeal
3. The Friendly Vegan
4. The Cancer Project
5. How to become a Vegan

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