Winter is Here and That Means Oats!

Winter is here and we have you covered 🥣

"First we EAT and then we do everything else"

This month we are celebrating all things OATS being that it is now Winter and we are celebrating National Porridge Day which is on the 23rd of June.

Let's have some fun and talk Porridge trivia 

Porridge is a food that is made with cereal, usually oats. The oats are boiled in water or milk, or both. It is usually served hot in a bowl or dish. Some people add things to their porridge such as sugar or syrup. In Scotland, salt is often added.

Porridge is a traditional food in many countries in Northern Europe. It is usually eaten for breakfast. In some countries, barley or other grains may be used. Porridge is cooked in saucepans or in a microwave. Traditionally, it was cooked in large metal kettles over hot coals. Porridge was often served as food for prisoners in prisons. This is why in English there is a slang expression "doing porridge" which means "being in prison". Porridge is also given to people who are ill because it is nourishing and easy to eat.

Semolina and gruel are foods that are quite similar to porridge. Semolina is usually served as a pudding. Gruel is a similar but thinner concoction to porridge. It is semi-liquid and usually drunk rather than eaten. Oliver Twist, in the famous book by Charles Dickens, was given gruel to eat.

Historically, heavy foods were eaten because most work was manual. Before the industrial revolution, men and women doing hard work needed more calories per day than they need today. At any rate, this applies to countries that are highly mechanized. Porridge is a good example of a heavy-calorie-laden food that has gradually gone out of favour.

Here are 9 Oaty Facts:

1. Oats are great for your gut. In a new supplement published in the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers concluded that the beta-glucan, resistant starch, and the unique polyphenols, avenanthramides, present in oats may boost the beneficial bacteria, Bifidobacteria, in the lower GI tract. A review of 29 studies concluded that oats and oat bran might provide benefits in some cases of bowel disease and constipation.
2. It's pretty much the perfect breakfast food. Several studies suggest that eating oats may help reduce hunger and increase feelings of fullness. In fact, a recent study from the Nutrition Journal found that subjects who ate 217.5-calorie breakfasts of oatmeal with nonfat milk reported less hunger, increased fullness and a reduced desire to eat more, compared to subjects given an equal calorie serving of ready-to-eat, oat-based cereal with nonfat milk. In fact, oatmeal rated #1 among breakfast foods and #3 overall in a “Satiety Index” created by Australian researchers seeking to find foods that make people feel full and satisfied the longest.
3. It'll keep your cholesterol in check. A review of the most recent and compelling studies on oat and oat bran and cardiovascular disease risk factors concluded that oats and oat bran lower total cholesterol and LDL (bad cholesterol) by respectively 2-19 percent and 4-23 percent; the effects are particularly prominent among people with high cholesterol levels.
4. It comes sliced, chopped and flattened. Here’s the low-down on three major types:

• Old-Fashioned Oats: These oats are the ones that probably pop into your mind when you hear the word "oatmeal" and are most often the least expensive variety. They are made by flattening the grain into a flake. The thickness of the flake determines the texture of your oatmeal-the thinner the flake, the softer the oatmeal. This is why a bowl of quick-cooking oats may seem even softer and creamier than regular old-fashion oats. For quick-cooking oats, old-fashioned oats are rolled even thinner and cut into small pieces so that the oats will indeed cook more quickly.
• Steel-Cut Oats: In this case, the oats have been chopped into tiny pieces and not rolled out. They have a harder texture, so they take longer to cook. They do tend to be more expensive than old-fashion oats, but some people may prefer the chewier texture of steel-cut oats. Steel-cut oats are also known as Irish Oatmeal.
• Instant Oatmeal: This is an even thinner, more finely chopped version of the old-fashion oats that is individually packaged for convenience and quick-cooking. They can easily be microwaved.

1. It's the easiest natural beauty product. An oatmeal bath, which is created by adding 1 cup of finely ground oatmeal to bathwater, has long been used to soothe inflamed skin from conditions such as chickenpox, eczema, and sunburn.
2. It's been the root of a long-running dispute in the U.K. Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary defined oats as "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland appears to support the people." The Scotsman's retort to this was, "That's why England has such good horses, and Scotland has such fine men!"
3. It's the inspiration for one of the most popular drugstore brands. Because of their natural anti-itching properties, oats are used in the cosmetic industry for a variety of products. The name Aveeno, for instance, comes from the botanical name Avena, for oats.
4. It's a place—and worthy of an annual celebration. Have you heard of Oatmeal, Texas? It's about 56 miles northwest of Austin, but the annual Oatmeal Festival takes place in nearby Bertram, Texas.

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Wishing you all a wonderful safe week ahead

- Kylie & the GF Oats Team