After doing a lot of research, I wanted (needed) to make some changes to my eating plan. I was a healthy eater for many years with fresh vegetables, salmon, and chicken as my staples. But over the past 2 years this has changed drastically. I really don’t know why it changed but it did. Sausage, ribs, steaks, snack foods, etc…not bad in moderation but not good as the core of your eating plan which it became.
Meat – I still eat a steak now and then. I have had sausage and/or ribs 2 or 3 times in the past 2 months. I love ribs (and I make a pretty mean rib if I do say so) but sausage was the hardest to cut back. While ribs were a couple times a month thing, I probably ate some type of sausage 4-5 times per week.
Now, I’m all about the chicken breast, salmon, and lean cuts of other meat on occasion.
Vegetables – I really like vegetables and should eat more but on a good day I get all I need. I prefer cruciferous types like cauliflower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts but I can’t really think of a vegetable I won’t eat.
Snacks – I haven’t cut these out entirely but I have cut way back and make better decisions about which snacks I am eating. Low fat/salt microwave popcorn, no fat potato chips, some no salt pretzels.
Oatmeal – I never really liked oatmeal but I know this could be one of the top three or four things I can do every day to help my health. The problem I have with oatmeal is the texture…mealy and soft. But, I decided to suck it up and eat my serving on a daily basis.
Start..stop..start…stop. Just couldn’t get into the swing of eating this goop. UNTIL I found steel cut oats! I was schleping around on Amazon.com one day trying to find some way to get my oatmeal when I came across steel cut oatmeal…never heard of it before.
In the US, the standard oatmeal product is a rolled oat. This is an oat that has been steamed and flattened. Then we heat it up and get a bowl of mush.
A steel cut oat is the grain of the oat that has been cut into two to three pieces..that’s it. No other processing. SO the end product has a little crunchy nutty texture that doesn’t resemble the steamed rolled oats most are accustomed to eating.
Now you could buy a brand name over at Amazon but a better choice would be to find a health food store/market in your area. Many sell organic steel cut oats in bulk for about .80 (80 cents) per pound.
Cheap, excellent for your health, organic, and much more flaovr than a rolled oat.
Steel cut oats are my new favorite food. I cook them in the morning (takes about 20-25 minutes), throw in a handful of raisins, and add 2 packets of natural sweetener…good eats. I need to try them a few other ways and perhaps when they start to get old I will but quite frankly they are good enough to eat every day as they are. I highly recommend you pick some up!
