Does Oatmeal make you lose weight?

Everyone knows that oatmeal is an excellent source of fiber, which is beneficial for health. But does oatmeal make you lose weight? To understand how this works, let’s first have a look onto the health benefits of oatmeal.

Oatmeal used to be very popular for breakfast

Oatmeal is a traditional food item that was very popular when our parents or even grandparents grew up. When in the good old times kids used to eat porridge for breakfast, today, we life in a world were we rather eat cereals like cheerios, strawberry pops, chocolate rings, corn flakes or for the more health conscious ones muesli. In contrast to today’s breakfast variety, oatmeal seems boring and tasteless.

The more surprising it comes that traditional oatmeal is actually the healthier food. It contains lost of important minerals and half soluble fiber and half insoluble fiber. When the soluble fiber passes through the digestive tract, it breaks down and turns into a gel which is capable of trapping mostly bad cholesterol. ½ to 1 cup per day of oatmeal is according to studies needed for the cholesterol lowering effect.

Oatmeal’s soluble fiber lowers cholesterol!

However, the soluble fiber has another beneficial effect: slower digestion! The sugars and carbohydrates contained in oatmeal need a considerably longer time to enter the blood stream, which means also the rise in blood sugar is spread over a longer period of time. So, the fibers in oatmeal on the one side keep you full for longer and also the slow release of sugars into the blood stream prevents an overstimulated insulin release from the pancreas, which means that you will less likely experience any food cravings.

Let’s recap: How does oatmeal make you lose weight?

1. fiber makes you feel full for a longer time

2. slow rise in blood sugar prevents food cravings

Does oatmeal also boost your metabolism?

Sometimes, oatmeal has also been touted to boost your metabolism. While the cholesterol lowering properties as well as the blood sugar stabilizing capabilities of oats have been well documented in medical publications, I could not find any evidence that oatmeal is able to increase your metabolism. There seems to be no magic component in oatmeal that itself makes you lose weight.

I hope this article shed some light on your question: “Does oatmeal make you lose weight?” Despite the non-existence of a magic fat loss component, oatmeal is nevertheless a healthy food, that you might want to give a try.