What do you eat for breakfast? Could a piping hot bowl of oatmeal be the secret to a really long life??But a single bowl in the morning isn’t enough to do the trick.?”The key is that you need to get your oats at night,” said Leo Donnelly, 72, the youngest of 13 Donnelly siblings. “We’ve always followed Daddy’s habit of that nice warm bite before sleep. Porridge at around 10 p.m., then porridge again for breakfast at 7 a.m. Cooked oats, milk, perhaps a spot of jam on top.”
A combination of studies at Harvard found that people who ate two to three servings of whole grains per day reduced their risk of getting diabetes by 21 percent and also lowered their risk for inflammatory conditions like arthritis, gout, Crohn’s disease and neurodegenerative diseases, among others. A study of nurses also found that women who ate two to three servings of whole-grain products each day were 30 percent less likely to have a heart attack or die from heart disease than those who had less than one serving per week.
The operative word here is “whole grain” ? so those quick-cooking, sugar-laden packets won’t do the trick. Look for the least processed options available. For oatmeal, that means steel-cut oatmeal or old-fashioned oats. Whole grains also include a plethora of other options like whole wheat bread, millet, brown rice ? foods that contain lots of fiber, and that are not refined or stripped of nutrients. You should also look for oats that are non-GMO.
Oats are among the?most nutrient-dense foods?you can eat.?rich in carbs and fiber, but also higher in protein and fat than most other grains. They are very high in many vitamins and minerals.
Want to live a long, healthy life with your family? Do like Leo Donnelly and eat whole grains, fresh food including fruits and vegetables, skip the alcohol and get a lot of daily activity. In other words, diet and exercise.
