Grinding oatmeal in a coffee grinder? - JP Fitness Forums

s-one · 03-04-2008, 11:45 AM

For breakfast I make a smoothie with protein powder, soy milk, some fruit, ice and ground up oatmeal. What I essentially do is grind up the oatmeal in a coffee grinder to a fine powder. What I wanted to know is does grinding the oatmeal to a powder loose the "good food" traits of eating oatmeal whole? You know, the lower cholesterol, low sugar spike, GI tract stuff? Anyone seen any studies on it?

Thanks,
s-one

RacerBill · 03-04-2008, 11:54 AM

All you're doing is grinding it, so it shouldn't change the chemical properties of the oatmeal. The fineness might raise the GI just a bit, but I don't think that's a problem.

s-one · 03-04-2008, 07:04 PM

Good to know RacerBill and thank you.

ToniL · 03-04-2008, 09:17 PM

Well, I would think that while the component of the food has not changed it would be easier to overeat -- make sure to weigh it rather than measure. Also since you are not spending the time chewing it, the body will have to work less digesting it.

Personally I use oatmeal in place of flour for many recipes. It's not my favorite for shakes but hey . . . if you like it then ENJOY!!

Toni

graycyn · 03-05-2008, 09:14 PM

I guess I'm just kind of curious why one would need to grind it first, though I don't see that it would harm the oatmeal in any way. I mean, aren't you using some kind of blender to make the smoothie? If you are, then just toss the oats in and they should get ground nicely without a separate operation.

I do sometimes put rolled oats in my smoothies, I use a Vita-mixer blender, and I just toss them in there with the rest of the ingredients.

Cynthia

Aoife · 03-05-2008, 10:17 PM

depends on the blender and smoothie. if they're suspended in liquid there's less of a chance for fine grinding, if at all ... you can get smaller with a pregrind, most of the time.

graycyn · 03-05-2008, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aoife

depends on the blender and smoothie. if they're suspended in liquid there's less of a chance for fine grinding, if at all ... you can get smaller with a pregrind, most of the time.

Ah, OK, that makes sense.

I admit, I might be spoiled with my old Vita-mixer. Whatever I put in seems to be ground just fine for smoothie purposes, except occasionally, I'll get a little lump of ice or frozen banana or berry or nut that didn't hit the blades enough.

It's not been an issue with oats though. But I rarely use a lot of them, maybe 2-3 tablespoons at best.

Cynthia