Today’s healthy & happy meal- Oatmeal Porridge

Our nutritional choices should be based on your body, age, health goals and nutritional requirements.My pick today is milk & oatmeal porridge. Oatmeal can be combined with different foods to make great meals.

Let’s recap the health benefits of Oatmeal:

1. Reduces cholesterol
2. A balanced whole grain food with almost 67% carbs (10% fiber), 7% fat, 18% proteins and rest other ingredients including vitamins.
3. It is known to have a special fiber called beta-glucan which provides roughage. This also helps people who are trying to avoid constipation, Diabetes and other lifestyle diseases including obesity.
4. It can be combined with other fruits, vegetables, nuts, pulses, cereals, dairy, etc. to provide a wholesome meal.

Coming back to the porridge now. Though there are many different ways in which people make porridge, I like this really simple way:

1. Take 1/2 cup of oatmeal and roast it in a pan, on low to medium heat to make it a little toasted. Add about 3/4th to 1 cup water and mix. Cook it for a few minutes while stirring regularly so that it doesn’t stick.
2. Add your milk, a little at a time while stirring continuously. I used 1 & 1/2 cup of low-fat milk.
3. Add sugar according to your taste. I used a little more than 1/2 teaspoon since I don’t like it too sweet. You can use any form of sugar and remember to modify the quantity depending upon the sweetness of sugar.
4. Cook it for 3-5 minutes while stirring regularly.
5. Take it out in a bowl. Add fresh cut strawberries/apples/bananas/blueberries/raspberries/plums/apricots etc. You can also add pieces of toasted nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecans, dried apricots, raisins, etc.
6. Devour! 🙂

Happy health!