Your body tightly regulates your levels of blood glucose, or blood sugar, to help you stay healthy. If you have diabetes, your pancreas may not be able to produce enough insulin, or your insulin may have become less effective at keeping your blood glucose levels within a specific range. Although it is normal for your blood glucose levels to go up after a meal, whether you have diabetes or not, choosing foods that will help your blood glucose levels to stay as stable as possible can help you improve your energy, weight and health. Oatmeal is a healthy breakfast option, and some types of oatmeal are better for your blood glucose than others.
Instant Oatmeal
Flavored instant oatmeal packets are a popular choice for breakfast because they are convenient and easy to prepare. Although the nutritional value may vary slightly between brands and flavors, a packet of prepared oatmeal generally has 125 to 150 calories, 26 to 31 g of total carbs, and 2 to 2.8 g of fiber.
Net Carbs and Blood Glucose
The amount of net carbs, which can be calculated by subtracting the fiber from the total carbs, gives you a good idea about how much a serving of food can influence your blood glucose levels. What you consume in fiber, starches and sugars adds up to your total carbohydrates, but only starches and sugars can raise your blood glucose levels; fiber can't. A packet of instant oatmeal has an average of 25 to 30 g of net carbs, which corresponds to about 2 slices of bread. If you have 2 packets of oatmeal, your net carb intake will correspond to 50 to 60 g of net carbs, or the equivalent of 4 slices of bread.
Oat Flake Size
Eating oatmeal that has larger oat flakes can help you slow down the increase in your blood glucose levels after eating. Larger oat flakes take longer to digest and are broken down more slowly into glucose to be absorbed, even for a similar amount of net carbs, according to an article in the July 2002 issue of "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition." Moreover, old-fashioned oat flakes and steel-cut oats are unsweetened, which further reduces their impact on your blood glucose levels. A 1/2 cup serving of dry old-fashioned oatmeal or a 1/4 cup serving of dry steel-cut oats each provides 150 calories, 27 g of total carbs and 4 g of fiber, or 23 g of net carbs.
Soluble Fiber
The soluble fiber found in oatmeal can help slow down the rise in your blood sugar levels after you eat breakfast. Soluble fiber delays your digestion by forming a gel, and it can help you prevent a spike in your blood glucose levels. Cream of wheat or most other cold breakfast cereals, unless they are made from oats or pysllium, do not contain a lot of soluble fiber, which makes oatmeal a better option to help control your blood glucose levels.
Breakfast and Carbs
What you eat with your oatmeal or mix in with it can also make a big difference in how much your blood glucose levels increase after you finish eating. It is easy to forget about the other carbohydrates eaten at the same meal and their effect on your blood glucose levels. Your total net carb intake for a meal will determine how high your blood glucose levels will rise. Track your net carb intake and measure your blood glucose levels after eating to see how your body responds to different amounts of carbohydrates.
References
- American Diabetes Association: Carbohydrate Counting
- HealthCastle.com; Fiber 101: Soluble Fiber vs. Insoluble Fiber; Gloria Tsang, R.D.; November 2005
- USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference: Oatmeal
- "Understanding Normal and Clinical Nutrition"; Sharon Rady Rolfes, et al.; 2006
- "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; International Table of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Values; Kaye Foster-Powell, et al.; July 2002
