Oatmeal (addiction?)

[Ellis]

Dear all,
Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I have been following MMWL for a few years now. The problem that developed along the way is that I discovered oatmeal...which was the only thing that would really satisfy me. A year later, there are days that when I don't restrict myself I will eat 1kg of oats (yes, dry weight!) which equals more than 80 grams of fat in a day... I exercise hard 5 times a week and light for the other 2 (1-1.5 hours of weightlifting + 45 min cardio x 5, plus 2 days of conditioning type exercising) burning on average 2400-2700 calories per day. If I allow myself to eat as I want I eat 4500+ calories per day... you can guess the rest. Fat storage and water retention are problematic... Would you say this is addiction or craving of a particular kind? I am not fat but 'regular' size 20% body fat female. Every nutritionist says I just need to quit the vegan thing and eat more filling foods since I am craving something high in protein and fat... but it's only oats though. The rest of my diet is beans and vegetables mostly (everything is carefully tracked on cronometer) and I am 100% disciplined when it comes to the MMWL rules. I honestly only eat beans, vegetables, oats, rice and potatoes. Your thoughts would be very welcome as I have no idea where else to turn! Sometimes I wonder if my body is actually needing the oats, but at the end of the day that leaves me at 15% fat intake... so I doubt the high carb eat till you are full rules are going to hold in the long term... Thank you!

Ellis

[veliboic]

You are following Maximum Weight Loss Program, but are a healthy weight - are you trying to lose weight or just maintain? Do you eat anything with the oatmeal or is it just oats and water? Are you sure you are only spending that many calories a day? It seems like there could be an underestimate to me. Have you tried to go without oatmeal just to see what happens?

[Ellis]

Hello Veliboic,
Thank you for the reply! I have tracked my calories multiple times with heartrate monitors so the readings I get are around the 2400 per 24 hours mark. I don't eat anything with the oats, just hot water. It's quaker plain rolled oats, nothing added. I have tried going without, then what happens is I feel really hungry and constantly craving and I get progressively more tired. I cut it out for a few weeks and even experienced glycogen depletion symptoms even when I eat other kinds of starches. My feeling is that perhaps the fat and protein slow the absorption down so my body has more time to convert to glucose & replenish glycogen stores? With rice and potatoes I feel like I ate air. Or perhaps I am burning so much more digesting than I think. I'm afraid to find out because I tried so hard to get to the weight I am at now. I would like to get down to athletic but still healthy bodyfat levels. So not lose huge amounts of weight, but just gradually shed the excess and maybe go from 20 to 15% body fat. And I can assure everyone who reads this: I am disciplined as hell, I am honestly not cheating in ANY way. Just clean oats, beans (no salt added) and cooked veggies with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce per day The picture I get is also that it just looks like my body 'needs' it for some reason. You see some vegan athletes on youtube downing 5000 calories a day and looking shredded so I thought perhaps I was missing something? But thank you for your comment! x Ellis

[Nean]

I love the comment from nutritionist that you need to eat 'something more filling' meaning meat or cheese - really people?!

Your plain rolled oats - is it possible to move to less processed? so if you use quick cooking, move to regular and if you use regular move to steel cut etc. I find it takes MUCH more chewing to eat steel cut or whole cooked oats. The instant is like wall paper paste and I'm sure hits my system like white flour paste would.

Are you saying that you have 20% body fat? or a size 20 women's? Because 20% body fat is great, while a size 20 might be not so great. If you are a size 20, what is you body fat (and good for you for not perseverating on your weight)

[Ellis]

Hello Nean,
Thank you for the reply... I see. I am using quakers regular rolled oats which are also chopped up. If you add hot water it turns into porridge within a minute I will definitely consider what you mentioned about moving to a less processed version of oats! Hope that might help! And I am 20% body fat. I know that's not fat, it took very long to arrive at this which is why I don't want to mess it up with eating so much oats! Thanks for the comments! much appreciated! x ellis

[Nean]

Congratulations on the 20% body fat. That takes time and adherence. How about putting aside conventional 'wisdom' which has been so wrong about nutrition and health. Move to more whole forms of oats to take care of the obsessive feelings. Get your body fat checked on a timed interval and pay attention when it moves up, but otherwise trust in plant based whole foods and spend your energy thinking about other things. Sounds like you might be in a maintenance phase right now.

[Katydid]

I am very fond of using whole oat groats instead of flaked or rolled oats. They are chewy, very filling and can be used interchangeably with rice and barley in savory dishes. Much more satisfying to me than oatmeal. I make a big batch in my Instant Pot and fill individual one cup containers to last all week.

http://www.bobsredmill.com/organic-whol ... roats.html

Kate

[veliboic]

The sodium in the soy sauce might be responsible for holding on to a couple of extra pounds as water (it can also increase appetite). And you could try increasing the amount of vegetables, but if you only feel good eating lots of oats then it probably makes sense to do just that. Sorry for not being more helpful.

[Ellis]

Hello all,
wow! thank you for the many and kind replies! I will definitely look into the whole oats. Sound like my kind of thing entirely!
Yes the soy sauce... I was worried that I would be below sodium if I don't add it. I only get about 200mg of sodium per day otherwise. But I will try to cut it out and see what gives! There probably is indeed so much more to calories in calories out than conventional science knows... that's my feeling exactly. I've been finding it hard to distinguish between water and fat hence my freaking out and returning back to calorie counting! It is a waste of energy after all isn't it! Thanks everyone for you input!
Ellis

[veliboic]

Maybe it's not the soy sauce then. I eat so many vegetables I get at least 1000mg of sodium - a tablespoon of soy sauce would double that for me. But if you aren't getting that much to begin with....

[MINNIE]

I know this is obvious, but I thought I would mention it anyway.

If you are putting on muscle mass from your exercise, that is good weight. (IMHO) SO, it's possible to lose fat, but gain or maintain weight because muscle weighs more. This why I don't use a scale -it tells me nothing useful. I think people in our society spend way too much time looking at numbers on a scale,and not enough time actually observing their own bodies.

Taking body measurements is more informative, as I can see if I am getting larger or smaller in a good way. But so is just looking and feeling how my clothes fit .

If you are able to get your body fat accurately measured it's worth checking that now and then, I suppose. (I'm skeptical about this, but that's just my way).

For reference, here is article about various body fat measurement methods, which all have limitations: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-pre ... y-fatness/

Since precision isn't possible, why worry too much about this? You are eating right and exercising, so you are probably going to be just fine.


Since eating this way I am a bit larger in the shoulders,lats, biceps, etc. due to improved muscularity. I love it! This probably would mean a few pounds more on the scale, if I had one, but I don't care. Muscle weight is good.

P.S. I am also turning into an oats addict, but I love that too !

[Ellis]

Hello all,
Just realised I forgot to reply. Many thanks for all your suggestions!
And Minnie, it seems I missed a notification of your response, thank you for the link and encouragement!
I appreciate all your feedback & will take your suggestions on board! Many thanks & good luck to you all! x Ellis

[Debmcallister]

I think it is possible to have an oatmeal addiction. I did a program that focused on food addiction (stopped it because it was not vegan) and one of the known "trigger foods" was oatmeal. Apparently, it can cause a dopamine release in the brains of susceptible people the way that a drug would, causing you to crave more and more. On this plan, oatmeal was forbidden. That may be an experiment for you to try. If you give it up, do you feel like you go through withdrawal? If you do, you have your answer. Best of luck.

[Ellis]

Hi Deb,
That's very interesting! It's the first time I have heard of it. When I don't eat it I just feel very unsatisfied and keep craving it. I have wondered also whether it might be the combination of its starch, fiber, fat and protein content that is higher than other starchy foods... But it definitely feels very comforting to eat, so you are probably right about the dopamine reaction! Thanks for suggesting!
x Ellis

[DWu]

Hi Ellis,

Have you considered more vegetables? And eating some of them raw?

I know Dr. McDougall emphasizes starch, but Jeff has recommended filling half of your plate with starch, half with veggies.

http://www.jeffnovick.com/RD/Q_%26_As/E ... ating.html

http://www.jeffnovick.com/RD/Articles/E ... ition.html

http://www.jeffnovick.com/RD/Articles/E ... nsity.html