The Joy of Oatmeal

Oatmeal is my favourite breakfast. It's been six months and I've literally eaten oatmeal almost everyday. Let me first by saying that I don't buy packets of oatmeal, I make my own by measuring my portions, I also sometimes switch from ready-to cook and steel cut oats. I also add chia seeds in every bowl because its good for my digestive system. I switched to oatmeal for my breakfasts because I was making small lifestyle changes in my eating habits and I noticed that a breakfast with a slice of bread wasn't feeding me properly. Meaning, I would burn off the bread and be starving all morning. So I needed something that would burn off better and I needed something that wasn't as bad for me. Oatmeal is a really healthy way to get your daily intake of carbs without being totally processed and filled with sugar. Before you knock it down, trust me, you're going to want to try this oatmeal. I know some people wont like the texture, but if you can get over your fear of mush (sometimes), you will be totally surprised by how amazing oatmeal will make you feel in the morning.

Also, its really not hard to make, at most I spend five minutes making my creations. Plus, if you are trying to find ways to bring in better carbs into your diet, oatmeal is fantastic. I get asked all the time "How did you lose weight without eating salads", well I stuck to healthy carbs and I ate my veggies, I also exercised daily and I was really mindful of what was being put into my body. Essentially, I wanted to fuel my body to thrive at it's highest frequency and I wouldn't find that with restricting my diet.

I've created a lot of oatmeal bowls in these past few months, here are a few that worked really well.

Chocolate Peanut Butter and Apple Oatmeal

Okay so here I was using ready to cook oatmeal by Quaker, I don't care what you use. It's all good. Here I have 70% dark chocolate from Hershey. I really like dark chocolate. If you're going to use chocolate and want to be healthier, I really don't recommend you to use anything lighter than this. Also, read the ingredients, if the sugar count is high, that's not a chocolate to choose. Also, see what kind of ingredients their using, the simpler the better. Yes! You can have a little chocolate in your oatmeal and no, it wont kill your healthy eating. I got so many looks like "chocolate in oatmeal?!" are you crazy!!! Guys, if the chocolate is right, you're not jeopardizing anything by adding a little bit, oatmeal doesn't need to be boring to lose weight. It's also a great way to get into liking oatmeal; trick your brain. I count it as two teaspoons, anything more and you will be jeopardizing your healthy eating. I'm not a doctor though so this is just my experience with dark chocolate in oatmeal.

How to make this:

1) Take one yellow container of oats, put it in a bowl, add about a small spoonful of peanut butter (it's like two teaspoons, don't kill yourself if it isn't right) and about a very small handful of chocolate (Like 10 chocolate chips or two teaspoons, no it's not exact, no I didn't measure, no it's not perfect). Alternatively, you could add 1/4 portion of a baking square and it will melt in just fine.

2) Add boiling water to bowl and stir to mix everything.

3) Add a chopped apple on top and enjoy. Beachbody Container count:

Chocolate Strawberry Peanut Butter Oatmeal

It's the same thing as the apple version, but instead of an apple, you add a cup of strawberries. YES YOU CAN EAT ALL OF THIS!!!! Please don't buy into the notion of depriving your body and exercising to lose weight, you can make healthy food taste really good and you can still lose weight. I wouldn't be eating like this every morning if it didn't make me feel amazing.

In the first picture, I've done a cup of frozen strawberries melted into the oatmeal and in the second picture, I've used fresh cut strawberries.

To get protein in the morning, I generally do two hard boiled eggs. Sometimes I mix it up with the eggs with salsa. Eggs with salsa is two eggs with a splash of milk beat and cooked in a large frying pan until golden on both sides (it's like a crepe). Then I add homemade salsa with a lot of cilantro and a little plain greek yogurt on top. It's a really big breakfast by the way and you will be taking away from other meals, but it's so good.

Container Count:

Peanut Butter Honey Apple Oatmeal (or with Strawberries)

So I started making this kind of oatmeal when I wanted wean myself off of the chocolate. Yes, I love the chocolate kind, but I got bored. I always have two hard boiled eggs as a way to get more protein. No, guys, I don't always eat one right after the other, sometime I wait a little and then I have eggs. I need more protein and I really don't enjoy eating a lot of protein in the afternoon or for supper.

So its the same amount of peanut butter, oatmeal and fruit, but you only have to add a teaspoon of honey instead.

Container Count:

Peanut Butter Maple and Apple Oatmeal

Okay so you'll notice my oatmeal selection goes from more indulgent to less indulgent. This is indulgent in a sense, but maple syrup is better for you than honey so that's why this come after. It's the exact same, but instead of honey like above, I add a drizzle of maple syrup on top.

This one is by far the best kind I've made. Just remember that the maple syrup should be the good kind and not thick whatsoever. Maple syrup should be of liquid consistency, I know, I'm Canadian.

Container Count:

Blueberry Honey Oatmeal

It's like pie, but so much better for you. Add your chia seeds, oatmeal cook them together.

Melt a cup of frozen blueberries add a teaspoon of honey to sweeten them up. Place the blueberries on top of the oatmeal and enjoy.

It's so simple and so delicious.

Container Count:

I hope you try some of these recipes and tell me what you think! The joy of oatmeal is that you can make it however you want and it really isn't hard to mess up.

Thanks for reading,

Samantha