Carbs and starches are public enemy number one to the keto diet, and yes, that includes oatmeal.
If it was your breakfast of choice you are probably now wondering: is oatmeal keto friendly enough?
Unfortunately oatmeal isn’t a good keto option.
But it’s not all black and white!
Your oatmeal cravings can still be satisfied, with the right planning for the keto diet.
Let’s see how!
What is oatmeal?
Oatmeal, as its aptly chosen name suggests, it’s a meal made of oats. The way in which you make this meal depends on a few choice ingredients you use.
The basic two ingredients for this meal, are oats and milk.
Oats are processed by crushing and rolling to make them fluffy and able to absorb liquid.
What are some oatmeal health benefits?
1. Oatmeal provides a great source of vitamins and nutrients
Packed with a number of vitamins, oatmeal brings many of its cards to the table.
Among these components we should mention:
- B vitamins and thiamine – oversee the proper functioning of blood cells
- Riboflavin – facilitates development, growth, and functions of the body’s cell
- Pantothenic acid – transforms carbs into fuel so that the body can use them for energy
- Folate acid – aids in the production of red blood cells and treats anemia
- Niacin – maintains the nervous system and digestive tract
Many of these vitamins have a key role in maintaining healthy muscles, hair, and even skin, along with brain function and cell development. (*)
2. What minerals are found in oatmeal?
Numerous minerals can be found in oatmeal and the benefits they provide are undoubtedly beneficial.
Minerals contained in oatmeal:
- Manganese
- Magnesium
- Zinc
- Iron
- Phosphorous
- Potassium
- Calcium
- Sodium
These are all too recognizable minerals are known to be helpful in bringing oxygen to the bodies and cells, protecting bones ad regulating hypertension. (*,*)
3. Source of dietary fiber
Dietary fibers are found aplenty in oatmeal, and they bring many added health benefits along. (*)
Some of these include:
- Lowering blood sugar levels
- Decrease cholesterol levels
- Great for people with diabetes
- Reduce the probability of stroke
- Help with coronary heart disease
4. What are the different types of oat?
Making oatmeal requires using oats, and they come in a few varieties.
- Oat bran
- Instant oatmeal
- Whole grain oats
- Rolled oats
- Steel cut oats
- Oat flour
- Quick oats
From this list, whole grain and rolled oats are possibly the most encountered. Whole wheat is the least processed out of all the other ones, but it also takes longer to cook.
What is the nutritional value of oatmeal?
Breaking down oatmeal’s nutritional value we better understand where it stands in relation to the keto diet.
For 100 grams of dry oatmeal, we have: (*)
- Carbs – 67 grams
- Net carbs – 57 grams
- Dietary – fiber 9.8 grams
- Sugars – 1.4 grams
- Fat – 6.3 grams
- Calories – 384
- Cholesterol – 0 mg
- Sodium – 4 mg
- Protein – 16 grams
- Potassium – 350 grams
Yes, your eyes don’t deceive you – 57 grams of net carbs.
Clearly, oatmeal is not keto approved with such high carbs content, and you will find it hard to maintain ketosis.
Keto requires an average of between 20 to 50 grams of carbs a day to be able to stay in ketosis.
With oatmeal, even if you used 50 grams for breakfast, it will mean you have used half of this limit already.
Although we know that oatmeal is considered to be one of the healthiest breakfast meals, it isn’t really good for keto.
It’s especially vital to avoid oatmeal at the beginning of your keto diet so that your body does not seek carbs from this source as energy and fails to enter ketosis.
Does oatmeal have a place in the keto diet?
You would be hard pressed to find a place for oatmeal in the keto diet, and as such, you’ll have difficulty trying to integrate it successfully.
We know how hard it may be to completely give up on many of your usual meals while on the keto.
Oatmeal in particular, since it does become a staple breakfast that you easily reach for, every morning.
That being said!
Even when you follow a low carb keto plan for your diet, it’s not entirely impossible to wedge a little oatmeal in there.
You may need to starve yourself, so to speak, of oatmeal for a while, at least in the beginning. Once you reach ketosis and a low carb intake, you can think about some oatmeal.
Oatmeal with the targeted ketogenic diet
The keto diet is not limited to only a standard way of following it, and various types exist to accommodate diverse people and their level of physical activity.
The targeted keto diet is one such variety that allows for more carb intake.
This is where we suggest you can include oatmeal for a little while, as the cyclical nature of this diet unfurls.
FAQs
- Can I have Quaker Oats on keto?
Quaker oats are a brand name and thus will still contain the same oats as any other brand. Oats in general are not keto so Quaker oats won’t make a whole lot of difference.
We recommend you check your macros closely and make sure not to exceed them.
- Will oatmeal take me out of ketosis?
If you plan on eating a regular serving of oatmeal, then yes it will bring you out of ketosis, as only 100 grams of oats contains 57 net grams of carbs.
This exceeded the limit of 20 to 50 grams of net carbs to maintain ketosis. We encourage you to limit oatmeal.
- What oats are keto friendly?
Since oats are mostly carbs with little fat or fiber, there sadly isn’t one type of oats that can be considered 100% keto.
- What can I substitute for oatmeal on keto diet?
Other varieties of seeds could work better in making porridge similar to oatmeal.
We recommend:
- Chia seeds
- Flaxseed
- Hemp seeds
All good keto friendly options with, we believe, surprisingly great flavor to them as well.
The takeaway
So in the end the answer to the question is oatmeal keto friendly is a definitive no.
You can include some very small quantities, but only once you reach ketosis and already have a very low carb intake.
It can mostly work as a cheat day, but still, we would suggest it in very small quantities.
Up Next:
Is quaker oatmeal keto friendly?
