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Comment by bob1029 | Hacker News Reader

Oatmeal is amazing at stabilizing blood sugar levels. It's like adding inertia to the power grid.

If you are eating any kind of snack cracker or refined wheat product, I would suggest replacing with oats and then reporting back on results after one week.

I think the beneficial effects are strong enough to completely offset the impact of things like occasional bowl of ice cream and package of nerds gummy clusters. This is what gets me to power through. If there wasn't some kind of strong upside no one would be eating this stuff willingly.

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I had a CGM:

- oatmeal + blueberries: moderate glucose spike

- oatmeal + blueberries + chia seeds: moderate glucose spike

- oatmeal + blueberries + ground flax seed: moderate glucose spike

- oatmeal + blueberries + protein powder: moderate glucose spike

- oatmeal + blueberries + protein powder + chia seeds: very minimal spike

In my case, it seems like carbs, proteins, and fats are all necessary to prevent a spike.

How does it stabilize when it actually causes it to shoot up like crazy?

If I eat a wheat-based breakfast (eg toast or wheat flakes), it's almost guaranteed that by 11am I'll be feeling fairly weak due to low blood sugar. Eating oats for breakfast doesn't have that effect at all.

I don't like oatmeal (porridge), but whole oats in muesli are pretty good.

Glucose monitor disagrees.

How do you reconcile this with fact that oatmeal has higher glycemic index than ice cream?

Pretty sure this whole thread is an ad.

By the powerful oat lobby?

Big goat

Well… the study was partially funded by the German Cereal Processing, Milling and Starch Industries’ Association.

Fiber in oatmeal slows absorption.

Ice cream / milk has saturated fat, which is something that people who are watching their cholesterol might want to limit. Fat helps slow digestion, which is beneficial for the glycemic index. It depends on the ice cream too. Steel cut and rolled oats' glycemic load is not that bad, especially when eaten with berries, nuts, etc.

Also, using ice cream as the benchmark is misleading, as people might view it as a junk food and think that its glycemic index is higher than they otherwise would, but actually its glycemic index is low/moderate, depending on the type.

I can't imagine Chubby Hubby being low...but it's so good. All things in moderation I suppose.

Do quick oats have the same effect?

> If there wasn't some kind of strong upside no one would be eating this stuff willingly.

Are you kidding? I love the stuff. I used to eat it daily as a kid and had gotten out of the habit, but when I had high cholesterol and my doctor told me to eat a lot of it, it was like being prescribed a treat.

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