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In the Loma Linda Blue Zone, people live on average 10 years longer than the rest of the US.
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They eat oats as part of their high-fiber, high-carbohydrate diets.
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I would stir spices into the oats rather than sprinkling them on top.
Oats are a breakfast staple in Loma Linda, the US’ only Blue Zone, where people live on average 10 years longer than the rest of the country.
At Insider, we’ve been championing the humble oat for years — but only in sweet recipes, including triple chocolate raspberry brownie batter baked oats and peanut butter oat milk smoothies.
So, when I saw this savory recipe from “The No Meat Athlete Cookbook” inspired by Loma Lindans’ love of oats on the Blue Zones project website, I was hesitant but decided to see if I could stomach cramming in a few more vegetables at breakfast in the name of longevity.
The vegan, savory oatmeal recipe contains lots of whole foods
Blue Zone diets emphasize minimally processed, whole foods, such as fruit, vegetables, leafy greens, whole grains, and legumes. They also tend to be high-carb and high-fiber diets.
That means this oat recipe — which contains kale or spinach, carrot, avocado, pumpkin seeds, paprika, salt, and pepper — fits in perfectly. Oats are mostly complex carbohydrates and fiber, while kale, for example, is rich in antioxidants, which can help to reduce inflammation, while avocado has been linked to lower cholesterol.
But the real question was if it was going to taste good.
The recipe was easy to follow, but one of the ingredients was a little hard to source
Most of the ingredients are pretty standard grocery store fare. However, the nutritional yeast (known as “nooch” to the initiated) did slightly best me — it’s not something that the small grocery store nearest me in inner city London, nor the bigger Lidl that I usually shop at, carried. I had to instead venture into a slightly more gentrified area near me, where people are apparently more likely to need nooch.
Once I had secured the nooch, I returned home and set about cooking my oats. All I had to do was simmer a grated carrot in water with a cup of steel-cut oats on the stove, add the kale, salsa, and nooch, and then serve, topped with the other ingredients.
It was pretty straightforward to cook, the only hurdle being that I accidentally bought reinforced steel-cut-oats, meaning they took about 15 minutes instead of five to soften.
Overall, the oatmeal was edible, if not a little bland. If this oatmeal is going to help me live as long as Loma Lindans, I’m going to need my food to taste better.
The oatmeal had a cheesy aftertaste from the nutritional yeast but tasted mostly of salsa, which is great if you love salsa.
However, I do not. I don’t mind salsa, but I prefer it as a condiment rather than a main flavor. The salsa was the ingredient that unsettled me mentally the most before trying the recipe, and it turned out that my gut feeling was correct.
If I were to make this again, I would definitely use less salsa, and also stir the salt, pepper, and paprika seasonings through the oatmeal, rather than just sprinkling them on top, to make it taste less bland.
I probably won’t make these savory oats again, but it’s a great way to eat more whole foods
Although this recipe wasn’t my favorite, it wasn’t bad, and I’d recommend it to anyone who loves salsa. The fact it contains So. Much. Fiber. is great too. Insider previously reported that very few Americans get enough fiber in their diets, so this is an easy way to help increase your intake in one single dish.
Overall this recipe was a 5.5/10 for me, and although I won’t be making it again, it has opened up my eyes to the world of possibilities that is savory oatmeal, which I will be jumping into with an open mind and a healthy gut.
Read the original article on Insider
