The Oatmeal Myth Dietitian Stephanie Grasso Wants You To Avoid - Exclusive
When you wake up in the morning, what is the first breakfast food you reach for? Bananas, eggs, oatmeal, and cereal are some of the usual meals that fill people's plates at the beginning of the day. But do you know how well your breakfast is meeting your nutritional needs? The internet is always throwing around conflicting nutritional information, especially regarding your morning meal, so it can be tough to weed out which facts and figures are false.
According to dietitian Stephanie Grasso, oatmeal is the latest culprit of untrue nutritional information. In an exclusive interview with Health Digest, Grasso covered every food topic from binge eating to intermittent fasting to meal prepping. The TikToker, currently with 2.1 million followers and a mind-blowing 27.8 million likes, also named the biggest diet fads and food myths that are circulating the web right now. There's certainly no shortage of myths, as Grasso explained — including that oatmeal is currently being categorized as an "unhealthy" food.
Oatmeal gives you energy
Stephanie Grasso told Health Digest that oatmeal is not as unhealthy as the internet is making it out to be. The social media personality said, "Now we're coming to oatmeal, and people are saying that's bad for you because it causes insulin resistance and makes you gain weight." Grasso elaborated that the breakfast food is actually "really good for you" due to its energy-inducing properties, its ability to stabilize blood sugar, and its fiber content.
"If you add some type of protein — I like to add some peanut butter or granola, adding more fiber to it — that's going to slow that absorption [of carbs] down and not spike your blood sugar," Grasso continued. That places oatmeal outside the category of foods like sugary or highly refined cereals, pancakes, muffins, fruit juice, and buttered toast — which are all examples of breakfast foods that nutritionists would not recommend (via Healthline).
But you're not stuck with oatmeal if one of those less nutritious options appeals to you a little more. Grasso is a strong promoter of adding the foods you need into your diet rather than restricting what you eat, so if you instead take that buttered toast and top it with a protein-filled ingredient and leafy greens, then you are looking at a more viable morning meal.
Check out Stephanie Grasso's TikTok or Instagram page to keep up with her latest videos.