Earth Friendly Goodies If it's Good for the Earth it's Good for Your Health If you’ve looked at the ingredient list of your average instant oatmeal I hope you have a degree in chemistry – or a very nimble tongue, and plenty of time on your hands because the list is long and unpronounceable – not a good sign when buying food.
I’ve recently discovered Better Oats® – quite simply as the name implies – they are better oats. Well, instant oatmeal anyway. Better Oats makes 9 different instant oatmeal brands among them Oat Revolution, Abundance, Oat Fit, Raw Pure and Simple and Mom’s Best Organic.
I haven’t tried them all, in fact just looking at their website there are some I didn’t even know about. But the one’s I have tried have a simple healthy ingredient list without all the added junk you’ll find in regular instant oatmeal.
While not all of them are organic, many of them are and even the non all natural non organic brands use simple ingredients – for example one of our kids’ favorites is the Oat Revolution Strawberries and Creme which isn’t organic but the ingredients are as follows: Whole grain rolled oats, sugar, flaxseed, natural and artificial flavor, dehydrated strawberries, salt, and citric acid. Yes you can make a case for the “natural and artificial flavor” being on the not so good list but overall for a non organic instant oatmeal that ingredient list I can live with.
And one thing I love with the strawberries and creme and well, all the Better Oats instant oatmeal’s I’ve tried is the aroma – as soon as that hot water hits the oatmeal the smell is wonderful and rich.
If you are looking for an organic instant oatmeal option try the Raw Pure and Simple or the Mom’s Best Organic which have Organic whole grains of Oats, Barley, Quinoa, Rye, and Wheat as well as flaxseed. Even the Abundance might be up your alley as it also has natural Oats, Barley, Quinoa, Rye, Wheat and flaxseed.
In this world of over processed hard to pronounce ingredient lists and just plain cruddy grocery store food it is nice to see a company that cares about health and tries to make healthy products that we will actually feed to our kids (and ourselves of course).
This Better Oats Post Shared on Fight Back Friday and Real Food Wednesday
Hi, thank you for this article. Am a busy Mom and always looking for new, nutritious foods to feed my family. I am in sales/customer service for Running Food. We sell Chia seed products–also loaded with Omega-3 and Fiber. Look forward to reading more. Thanks again.
Hello,
Thought I would just say that I love these!
They are soooo good!!
I also don’t understand everything about the nutrition facts written on the products from the grocery store. But I’ll consider your recommendations. Thanks for the information you shared, Chris. =)
You don’t speak food label either huh? 🙂 It gets a bit tongue twisty trying to pronounce some of those additives I feel like I am reading a Dr. Suess book at the grocery store.
Yup! Especially when it gets confusing. It will tell you it has 0% fat then at the bottom there is 2% fat…lol Sorry don’t really have an idea on how to analyze those things.
i have 2 children,, and both love these.. its healthy and easy to make,,though i was unsure of how they bring the flavors but glad to know that some of them are organic…
I personally doesn’t like the taste of oatmeal when I started making it an alternative to rice because its much healthier. But Abundance tastes great and just like an ordinary oatmeal that has no flavor at all.
Hey Chris,
I never bothered looking into the health information of these oatmeals. But I guess I have to follow some of your recommendations here to make sure I’m eating healthy. 🙂
It is such a shame that everything we eat nowadays is loaded with so many filler ingredients. It is because of that we have so much heart disease and cancer in our society.
Hi Chris,
Like almost everybody I’m not used of looking or reading the health information of what I buy particularly oatmeals. This article makes me realize my mistakes. I really have to choose what I buy carefully, next time I’ll make sure to follows all your tips. Thank you for sharing.
My local nutritionist advised in his seminars to avoid the cereal aisle in your local supermarket
I would agree Ray, although there are a few companies that are trying to make a difference in the over processed food trend that deserve some support. I would say Better Oats is one of them since they use mostly natural ingredients – it would be nice if more companies followed suit. It can be a little discouraging to shop in the supermarket these days with the amount of junk on the shelves. 🙂
@ chris:
That’s funny but I experienced that also. I don’t waste time thinking about those nutrition facts written on the food I bought.
That’s great post; thanks for introducing this stuff for oatmeal; offered content is delicious and healthy; I do prefer these oatmeal over other ingredients.
Hi Chris, thanks for sharing this health informative post to us! This is really one of our biggest problem nowadays when it comes to picking grocery food for our family. We can’t identify the real food and the culprit food that is loaded with preservatives.
Thanks for introducing to us these Better Oats oatmeals. 🙂
If we say oatmeal, all I know is Quaker. We are not really fond of oatmeal. Maybe because we are not used to it. We eat rice.
Hi Chris,
Actually I don’t have a degree in chemistry, so articles like these are greatly appreciated 🙂
I didn’t know the brand Better Oats, but now after reading this, and doing a little research of my own, I must say it looks good. Both the ingredients, the way they produce it, and the vision and values of the company.
Thanks Soren, we are still enjoying it. 🙂 Many hard core foodies might scoff at anything store bought but I think if a company is trying to make a more healthy product they get points in my book.
Most instant oatmeals are so salty I gave up on them. Thanks for writing this up.
Hello Chris,
Maybe a little off topic, however, I’m just talking about the original, unflavored. Is it just as good as the big tub of dry oats they sell? I want to use the instant because it helps me with portion control. Is the regular, unflavored instant oatmeal just as healthy?
Cheerio
Hello Bill, the easy answer is it depends. 🙂 The big tub of oats you can buy usually is just that – oats, so they don’t usually add any other bad ingredients. When you buy the prepackaged oatmeal it usually has other preservatives or ingredients that you don’t need – just check the ingredient list if there is more than just oats you know they are trying to sneak something by you. When you use whole oats to make oatmeal you can always just prepare a smaller proportion if you are just making it for yourself.
Another tip for making whole oats is to soak it over night in some water with a bit of either yogurt or buttermilk as this allows your body to absorb the nutrients in the oats better.
Instant oats are very convenient to make instead of the other types of oats which takes even hours to get cooked. Oats is the ideal breakfast and its more nutritious than bread toast. I like oats as usual with yoghurt and with either dried fruits or fresh fruits with honey.
This will be a great food for kids. Nutritious and healthy. Much better to have milk and fresh foods. YUM! very delicious breakfast meal.
It really is amazing the difference in the way you feel when you eat healthy. Thanks for bringing to light the advantages of a diet free of synthetic dies, chemicals, flavors, etc….anything by Mom’s Best Organic is great.