Eat Yer Oats!
A painless, practical way to improve your health
By Stephanie Draus, ND
By now, almost everyone has heard that oats are good for your heart. Studies have shown that consumption of oats and oat bran actually helps lower LDL, or the “bad” cholesterol, in the bloodstream. These studies are not new, but recently they have surfaced in advertising claims, particularly for cold cereals. Here’s what you need to know about oats and your health.
How it Works
Oats are made of soluble fiber, termed “soluble” because when
oats meet water, they swell and become sticky. It is this wonderful stuff
that turns a bowl of dry oats, when mixed with water and boiled, into sticky
oatmeal, the stuff that—if you’ve cooked it exactly right—will
hold your spoon in place for you. Imagine this sticky, glutinous stuff moving
through your digestive system and into your liver, where it does a miraculous
thing: it actually combines with LDL and the other building blocks of unwanted
cholesterol, and strips them out of your bloodstream and all the way out of
your body. Soluble fiber keeps this “bad” cholesterol from hanging
around in your bloodstream, and thus from clinging to the walls of your blood
vessels. (Insoluble fiber, by the way, is what is found in fruits, vegetables,
beans, and natural laxatives; it is more like wood—indigestible—and
it helps keep your bowels moving).
How to Use It
The best, and simplest, advice I can give is: eat oatmeal. While oats in any
form seem to benefit cholesterol levels (my favorite study proved that oatmeal
cookies had a more profound effect on heart health than other cookies), the
more soluble fiber you are getting, the more benefit you will experience.
Like any other food, oats lose much of their substance when they are processed.
Each cut of the raw oat leaves some of that good fiber as dust on the processing
room floor. Clearly, any food which involves oats being shredded, mashed,
and formed into small O’s has a severely decreased fiber content. Furthermore,
oatmeal itself has several grades of fiber content. In order to make “instant”
oatmeal, the processor shreds the oats—removing much of that tough,
wonderful fiber. I know, they look the same as whole oats; but they are not.
“Quick-cooking” oatmeal is a wee bit better; traditional, “old-fashioned”
steel-cut oats are the best. They take a few more minutes to cook on a cold
morning, but do some deep breathing and stretches while you wait, and your
heart and blood vessels will thank you.
Risks
Oats have few to no known bad side effects, and very few people are allergic
to or intolerant of them. Even people with Celiac’s Disease (a hereditary
condition in which the digestive systems reacts severely to gluten) seem to
be able to include a moderate amount of oats in their diet without a problem.
Celiac’s is most common among those of Irish descent; how interesting
that oatmeal, one of the staples of the Irish diet, appears to be a “safe”
food for these folks. Once again, our ancestors got it right. Oats are cheap,
easy to obtain, and easy to prepare. Just be careful not to burn your mouth
on a hot spoonful.
Food and Herb
Oats, or Avena sativa, have had a wonderful reputation for centuries. Brewed
up as a tea, oatstraw (the stalks, and sometimes the heads, of the oat plant)
is calming to the nerves and full of minerals for the blood and body. It has
been known as a toner for the libido and reproductive system (“sowing
your wild oats,” indeed). It smells like hay, and has a mild, slightly
sweet taste. It is safe for children, and like whole oats, it is inexpensive
and easy to obtain. And in a bath (Ahh...Aveeno) oats are good for itchy or
dry skin; but be careful not to clog the drain!
Recommendation
Eat oatmeal two to five times a week. Try to get the thickest, most old-fashioned
stuff you can, and of course, buy organic if possible. If you have a good
natural foods store nearby, you can usually buy oatmeal in bulk. If you really
can’t stand the hot stuff, try whole oats in whatever form you like—yes,
including cookies, muffins, and breads. Whatever you buy, check the label
to see how much soluble fiber you are getting. In my practice I recommend
certain “Simple Steps For Health.” One Simple Step for any season
(not just winter) is to eat your oatmeal (and drink your oatstraw tea), and
your heart will be nourished and warmed along with your belly!
Stephanie Draus, ND, is a Naturopathic Practitioner and Health Consultant. She is a graduate of the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, located in Portland, Oregon, and is licensed as a Naturopathic Physician. She now practices in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, and is thrilled to be back in her home city. She welcomes inquiries and can be reached at stellariachicago@yahoo.com.