Instant porridge harm and benefit and harm. Are instant baby cereals good for you?

06.09.2019 Meat Dishes

Usually, instant food is not healthy, but instant porridge is sometimes healthy.
Useful are not those instant cereals in glamorous cardboard packages, with the inscription "Fitness" or the prefix "Fit" and with a picture of a piece of a thinned belly that you have dreamed of for so long. And just porridge of coarse grinding or in grains, correctly selected and properly cooked.

I have to warn you - really healthy cereals and cereals in grains usually do not have glamorous packaging, the tempting word "Fitness" is not written on them, there is no "Fit" prefix, there is no piece of a thinned belly that you have dreamed of for so long, no mentions of vitamins in large print under the name and it is not even written that it is for weight loss.
Many girbalees will have to step over themselves to buy "THIS", because they always buy everything only if it says that it is for weight loss or for fitness, for body shaping, or if at least a piece of a lost belly is drawn there. It will be difficult for you to buy normal porridge, but I believe in you!

It will not be difficult for adequate people with a psyche not crippled by pink weight loss magazines to choose the right porridge and learn how to cook it as expected. At the end of this article, I will give you a useful article on porridge, which explains in detail what kind of porridge you should eat. This will help you learn more about cereals, what they are, which ones to choose, and will open your eyes to important nuances that you have always considered not important trifles. And in this article we will focus on instant porridge. We will learn how to cook healthy instant porridge in any conditions.

What you need to quickly cook very healthy porridge

In order to cook and eat healthy instant porridge, you will need:
1. Thermal dishes (I usually use a 500 ml thermal mug. You can also use other types of thermal dishes);

2. Coarse groats or in grains (oatmeal, buckwheat, wheat or barley);

3. Boiling water (hot water that is still boiling);
4. A spoon or fork (with which you will taste the porridge, and then eat);

5. Salt, oil, etc. as desired (but if you really want to eat, then eat it without anything and it will be very tasty);

Learn to cook healthy instant porridge

1. We fill up the cereal in a thermal dish;

2. Fill with boiling water (so that the lid does not touch the water). Please note that boiling water should be 2-3 times more in volume than cereals;

3. We put on a flat surface and cover with a lid (so that the water does not flow out and the lid does not touch the water - this is to keep the heat better);

4. We are waiting for 10-15 minutes (it is important not to miss, so as not to digest);
5. We drain the water and open the lid (so that the porridge is not overcooked, because it is in a thermo-dish, and it is hot in a thermo-dish);

6. We take out a spoon and eat it promptly (because the porridge must be eaten warm);
7. The porridge should be a little harsh, as if not boiled by 1%;

Why is instant porridge so healthy?

Despite the simplicity of preparation, these cereals will be very useful, because they are not cooked, but steamed, and therefore they have a lot of vitamins. This porridge is much healthier than boiled one, because it was cooked at a temperature of 90 degrees Celsius and below.
When you pour boiling water into a cup, the water quickly cools down by 5-10 degrees, because part of the heat goes into the inner walls of the thermal dishes and into the cereal itself. But then the temperature is kept stably and slowly drops and this heat supply is enough to cook porridge.
Porridge that is cooked at a temperature below boiling water is much more useful than that cooked in boiling water and retains many times more vitamins and useful elements.
If you are worried about germs that may have been on the cereal, then they were killed as soon as you filled the boiling water.

The very method of cooking porridge saves a lot on business trips, on camping trips, on long car trips, office plankton will be useful, irreplaceable for those whose life goes on tour and business trips, for security guards, loaders, watchmen and in general for everyone who has a busy schedule and a minimum of free time ... Except those who are always at home and those who are constantly driven by a mobile kitchen with a personal chef. You just have to know, be able to do it, so that later you do not whine that you do not have the opportunity to eat normal porridge and you are forced to eat dry food and noodles of quick resistance from which the health benefits are like milk from a goat.
And even if a mobile kitchen with a personal chef always follows you, then this method will be useful to know just in case, you never know what. The cooks get sick, the wheel will break in the mobile kitchen, you may run out of money for servants, etc.

But what about other types of cereals?

You will have time to eat other types of cereals at home. Oatmeal in grains, green or fried buckwheat, wheat groats, barley groats - these are types of cereals from which you can cook healthy porridge in 10-15 minutes by simply pouring boiling water over it in a thermal dish.
The cooking time for porridge depends on your dishes and the ambient temperature in which you cook the porridge. I usually get an edible porridge in 10-11 minutes.
As for such cereals as barley, corn, rice, you will have time to eat them at home. They can also be cooked in thermal dishes, but this requires a very heat-saving thermal dishes, more experience and they are cooked for 30-40 minutes.
Therefore, for the quick preparation of healthy porridge, it will be optimal to use oatmeal in grains, green or fried buckwheat, wheat groats, barley groats.

Where to get boiling water?

To get boiling water you need to be smart. I usually get boiling water from an electric kettle, sometimes from a fire, sometimes from a camping gas burner. You can also extract boiling water from an ordinary gas stove, a small boiler bought on the market, a cup with a built-in heater that can be powered through a regular outlet or a car cigarette lighter. Also, do not forget that boiling water must be boiling. That is, when it boils and erupts, you must immediately pour it, if it boiled 5 minutes ago, then it is no longer boiling water.

NUANCES and ADDITIONS - it will be useful to know

1. Thermal dishes can be very different, we live in the 21st century, in our time there are many optimal solutions. There are thermal dishes in which you can boil water from the cigarette lighter in the car or from the mains.
2. There are not only thermo mugs, but also thermo plates and thermo pots and so on. It is important that the dishes hold the temperature well and are comfortable to use for you.
3. Why oatmeal should be in grains and why porridge should not be snot read the article"What kind of porridge to eat"
4. You cannot eat the same porridge for many days in a row, because it will not be very useful. Remember - food should be varied. Optimally, every day there is porridge that you did not eat yesterday and constantly ask yourself what exactly you want today. You should always have 3-5 types of instant cereals.
5. Be sure to practice right away at home, so that later you can quickly and on the first try to do everything right.
6. Porridge can be packed in special sealed bags, pre-measure portions with a measuring cup, because with a package of 1 kg. walking is not always convenient.

7. Germ. the bags are free to buy, I don’t sell them, but you will find them.
8. If your groats are dirty (with dust and pieces of straw), then they can be washed and dried in advance. But I would recommend that you buy clean cereals right away.
9. Portions can be measured out with a measuring cup. I use a 100 ml glass. - this is optimal for one serving. You will know your portion when you cook and eat porridge several times, but for a start it is better to store these volumes. Take as much cereal as necessary so that you DO NOT overeat or malnutrition. Remember that throwing away food is not only a sin, but it is also unwise to constantly carry an extra load.
10. Even if it so happened that you have been eating fast food, cookies, buns and various types of dry food all day, one serving of healthy instant porridge will greatly improve your digestion, increase the level of efficiency, enthusiasm and, in general, will very well increase the efficiency of your day.
11. As it turned out, in 10-15 minutes you can cook a healthy porridge. Someone may say that it takes a long time and noodles or instant soup cooks faster. Perhaps someone will say that there are special cereals that are prepared in one and a half minutes. But the benefits of this real porridge are incomparable with any instant porridge. You just need to pour boiling water over it and cover with a lid, then set the timer for 10-15 minutes, drain the water and eat. That is, in fact, you are wasting very little time and you are getting a super healthy meal.
12. And be sure to wash the dishes after you, the remnants of the porridge can be washed off with just water.

It is no coincidence that it was in Russia that the saying “cabbage soup and porridge is our food” appeared - we have always loved cereal dishes. More popular than others are buckwheat, rice, semolina and oatmeal. The last two were also loved because they prepared faster than others. Why are these two cereals so convenient when cooking?

Semolina, in fact, is flour, more precisely, the waste of the milling industry. Its grains are only slightly larger than flour particles and, due to their very small size, quickly boil down. With oatmeal, the situation is different: the original whole grain porridge also takes a very long time to cook. But the grains themselves, after being treated with hot steam, become looser and flatten into flakes well. As such, they cook quickly. And if you cut them additionally, then the cooking time will be even less. In the form of flakes called "Hercules" and "Extra", oatmeal became popular, finally replacing whole grains of oats.

Now, if only other cereals could be done this way. Food technologists have been conjuring over them for a long time, especially over buckwheat and rice groats. But these grains did not flatten like oats, and instead of flakes they turned into fragments that did not want to boil faster. Rice was distinguished by a special "tenacity" - after steaming it was cooked even longer. But the food workers were able to tame them too. In the late 1980s in England, a company mainly engaged in horse feed developed a technique thanks to which almost all the grains could not only be quickly cooked, but simply brewed - pour boiling water, and after 3-5 minutes the porridge is ready. And in their raw form, they became more nutritious for animals.

This is how not only quick-brewed buckwheat, rice, millet, wheat, barley, but also rye appeared. Previously, they did not make porridge out of it, but now - please. All of this is sold today both as individual flakes - rice, buckwheat, etc., and as a mixture of several cereals. Are these cereals healthier than the usual ones that require cooking?

“The process of making soluble flakes is called micronization,” says Dmitry Zykov, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Food Technology Specialist... - To understand its essence, you need to remember the ordinary microwave: it, unlike other cooking methods, heats the dish as if from the inside. Under the influence of microwave rays, the water in the product heats up and transfers its heat to it. Something similar happens during micronization, but special infrared (IR) rays are used for irradiation, which penetrate only into small grains. The cereals are pre-steamed so that there is a lot of water in it, it boils, evaporates and swells or explodes the grains (by the way, about the same happens when popcorn is prepared). Then they are flattened, and due to their small size and increased porosity, they quickly weld. "

Food, but not the same

But all these processes inevitably affect other properties of cereals. For example, to our taste, rice flakes do not turn out rice porridge, but something else. But the main thing is different - due to the increased porosity from such flakes, protein is absorbed better than from ordinary cereals. And that's good - protein is an important and valuable nutritional component. What is worse is that some of the starch is converted into sugars and that they are also easier to digest. This is not good: we eat a lot of sugars, and the more difficult they are to be absorbed by the body, the more useful the product is - it does not sharply increase blood sugar and thus less contributes to weight gain. But the faster and easier cereals are prepared, the easier they are absorbed from them.

“This is a very important issue,” says Viktor Konyshev, MD and renowned nutritionist... - In recent years, special attention has been paid to the ability of carbohydrate foods to increase blood sugar - this is the so-called glycemic index of the product. The higher it is, the worse it is for health. Unfortunately, it is not customary for us to indicate this index on products, including cereals.

The problem with the usefulness of cereals is also what the manufacturer added to them. Today, more and more often they are produced already with deliberately unhealthy sugar and salt, as well as with flavoring additives. Sometimes they imitate useful components that are completely absent in the product. For example, manufacturers of quick oatmeal added pieces of apples, but with the help of flavoring substances they created the illusion of the presence of more expensive fruits. However, the apples themselves are often added a little.

If we talk about the cereals themselves, then buckwheat, oatmeal, barley are better than others - they have a lot of useful substances. But semolina is not very good, there are few minerals in it, mainly potassium and phosphorus, there is vitamin B1, but the necessary dietary fiber is extremely small, moreover, it is deficient in the amino acid lysine. We can say that the most important part of semolina is milk with its favorable composition. "

Everyone knows that oatmeal is an extremely healthy product. Of course, oatmeal is most beneficial when cooked at home with fresh ingredients. But in the morning there is often not enough time to prepare such a healthy breakfast, and therefore you will probably be interested to know how things are with instant oatmeal. How is such porridge good for health and what is the harm from it?

Oats themselves have many beneficial properties. It is a rich source of fiber - 100 g of cooked oatmeal contains about 5 g, making it good for digestion. Oats are also higher in fat than other grains, but mostly heart-healthy unsaturated fats that are rich in essential fatty acids and antioxidants. When consumed regularly, "quick oatmeal" has a positive effect on high blood cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension, and also acts as a preventive measure. Due to the fact that oatmeal contains a lot of fiber, speeds up metabolism and saturates for a long time, it is useful for losing weight and preventing weight gain.

Useful material

Cellulose;
Unsaturated fatty acids;
Vitamins B1, B6, E;
Iron;
Calcium.

Does Instant Oatmeal Have the Same Health Benefits? The main difference between traditional oat flakes and quick-cooked ones is the amount of processing. Instant oatmeal is processed more so that cooking time is reduced. This does not have a significant impact on the health benefits, so they are almost as beneficial as regular cereals, but that is not when it comes to the glycemic index.

Due to the active processing of the grains, instant oatmeal has a higher glycemic index. This means that it keeps the blood sugar level for a shorter time and creates a stronger and more dramatic rise in glucose levels. This means that some of the health benefits of oatmeal, such as the positive effects on glucose and long-term satiety, are being lost.

The harm of instant porridge

For those who watch their weight;
with diabetes;
with chronic constipation.

How much instant oatmeal to eat

You should not get carried away with quick-boiled oatmeal. If you eat it every day, then a deficiency of a number of nutrients may appear in the body.

How to choose and cook instant oatmeal

When it comes to health, it is also important to choose oatmeal without added sugar or flavors because it adds extra calories, fat and increases the glycemic index. For healthier oatmeal, buy organic flakes and create the flavor yourself with fruits, a little honey, or spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla.

Healthy Instant Porridge Recipe

If you are short on time and instant oatmeal is your only option, you can still lower the glycemic index of the dish. Add a low GI carbohydrate source, or a source of fat or protein. Low fat milk, yogurt, or nuts are ideal. This will slow down the absorption of carbohydrates and, therefore, the blood sugar level will be more stable.

Such a concept as instant food has come into our everyday life relatively recently, with a general acceleration of the rhythm of life. Now in any grocery store you can buy a variety of products that require both long-term and short-term processing. If you decide to choose instant porridge for yourself to save time, the benefits and harms, as well as their features, should be fully known to you. This will allow you to make an informed choice.

Varieties of instant porridge

Today, under the words "instant porridge", various kinds of products are produced. Therefore, you should immediately indicate the difference between them. Instant porridge itself falls into one category. They need to be cooked, but this process only takes about 5 minutes. The second variety would be best labeled as an instant product. It does not require cooking at all. You just need to pour the cereal with hot milk or water, and in a few minutes you will get ready-made porridge.

To understand the fundamental difference between the two, it is best to understand the manufacturing techniques for both.

The essence of the production of cereals in this case is that the flakes are more thoroughly crushed. It is this kind of mechanical processing that allows you to shorten the cooking time for porridge. Smaller particles boil down faster. In all other respects, they are no different from regular flakes.

So, oat flakes differ in the degree of grinding. Information about this is present on the packaging. As for buckwheat, wheat and other types of flakes, they do not have such a gradation. This is simply not necessary because they are very thin and porous. Thanks to this, porridge from them does not require long cooking.

Instant porridge

The shops have a wide selection of instant oatmeal porridge. During their production, the flakes are processed in a special way. The most commonly used technology is steaming or long-term simmering followed by drying. As a result, to prepare the dish, the consumer only has to pour boiling water over the flakes. They fill with liquid and become soft in just a couple of minutes.

it is permissible to include in your menu, without abuse

The benefits and harms of instant porridge

Most often, manufacturers offer instant oatmeal, the benefits and harms of which will be taken as a basis in this material. Not in such large quantities, but there are also rice, buckwheat, wheat, millet and some other flakes that allow you to get a ready-made breakfast in a short time. Their properties after processing are largely the same, so they should be considered as a single group.

Useful properties of quick cereals

Herculean flakes, which require short-term cooking, are the most useful product of everything discussed in this article. They are not much different from ordinary, large, oatmeal. They are simply crushed in order to make it possible to cook the dish faster. Therefore, the product contains all the useful minerals and vitamins, fiber and other active substances that are important for our health. And the shortened cooking time also helps to ensure that they are preserved to the maximum in the finished dish.

Other types of flakes require special processing in order to get the desired shape. They require cooking, but at the same time they go through a preparation process similar to the process of making instant porridge. Thus, much of the benefit in both is ultimately lost. Only a small fraction of the vitamins and minerals remain. Therefore, any instant porridge, as well as porridge made from processed cereal flakes, will be useful only as a way to quickly satisfy the feeling of hunger.

The harm of quick cereals

As for the harm, here it is worth noting all types of flakes, except for oatmeal, as well as any cereals that do not require cooking. It should be noted right away that their harmful effect on the body is very conditional, and depends on a number of points.

First of all, you need to pay attention to the chemical composition of the flakes. After special processing, few useful chemical compounds and a lot of starch remain in them. The latter is quickly absorbed and breaks down into sugars. Therefore, with regular use, instant porridge can lead to the development of diabetes mellitus and obesity. If you eat them only from time to time in small quantities, then there will be no harm to a healthy body, as well as benefit.

But this remark is true only if you choose a quality product. If we consider cereals of quick and instant preparation with additives, then most often you can find in them not only dried berries and fruits, but also chemical additives. Many of them cause real harm to certain organs. If possible, you should avoid such products, even if only natural ingredients appear in the composition. It is better to add frozen or fresh berries, nuts, dried fruits to the dish yourself.

So, we examined instant porridge - the benefits and harms of this product category are relative. So, finely ground oat flakes that require cooking have a number of useful properties. And any instant porridge without additional additives can be called neutral. You can snack on them from time to time without overusing them.

The best breakfast is oatmeal, everyone knows about it. And many follow the advice to eat a portion of porridge in the morning. But the lack of time makes some people buy porridge in bags, which takes just a couple of minutes to cook. Is instant oatmeal good for you?

How is instant oatmeal different from regular oatmeal?

We all know that oatmeal is a very healthy product. Therefore, many do not pay attention to the composition of this product. But oatmeal, especially instant oatmeal, may contain components that are not only useful, but also frankly harmful.

If you pour the oatmeal "quick kasha" on a plate, then with the naked eye you can see that it contains a lot of sugar- its white crystals are directly visible there. Eating such porridge leads to the fact that the level of glucose in your blood rises quickly and then drops just as quickly. The pancreas and the body as a whole suffer from this.

The abundance of sugar is the earlier aging of our blood vessels, organs and even skin.

Porridge manufacturers promise us a large number of useful fillers - berries and dried fruits. However, they, as a rule, are negligible - after all, these products are quite expensive. But since the berries are not enough, then the producers come to the aid of flavoring and aromatic additives, the use of which is questionable.

Oatmeal with milk is often added not with natural milk powder or cream, but with vegetable cream based on palm oil. I think you've heard a lot about the dangers of palm oil.

Perhaps your breakfast, which you want to make healthy, should not be turned into a batch of food chemistry.

Does "quick" oatmeal help you lose weight?

Rather, oatmeal or other quick-cooked porridge will inhibit weight loss.

This is because there is a lot of sugar in it. Firstly, this is an unjustifiably increased calorie content, moreover, due to fast carbohydrates, which, when losing weight, it is desirable to limit.

In addition, a large amount of sugars increases appetite and shortens the time until hunger reappears. Even if you have a hearty meal, after a meal full of sugars, you will soon feel hungry again.

But it should be regular cereals without added sugar.

How to replace the "fast kasha"

Fast food is convenient, of course. However, just pouring boiling water over ordinary oatmeal (rolled oats) without any additives, you will also get ready-made oatmeal in 1-2 minutes.

If desired, its taste can be "decorated" with pieces of fruit, dried fruits, fresh or thawed berries.
Porridge with grated or whipped banana is very tasty. Oatmeal porridge with half a spoonful of cinnamon is unique.
Any nuts and even seeds will add sophistication to a healthy breakfast. Some can be crushed, others left intact.
An interesting taste is obtained from porridge mixed with lightly fried onions.

Options - just the sea! Among them there is sure to be one that will satisfy your discerning taste too 🙂

Is it worth spending the extra money and buying a "quick kasha", and even with fillers, dyes and harmful milk substitutes, if you can buy ordinary oatmeal and get a really healthy and natural product for your breakfast?

We wish you health and longevity! If this post was useful to you or just liked it, share it or your impressions of it with your friends. We will be grateful to you, and friends will learn the whole truth about instant cereals and will stop wasting money and spoil their health.

Mini tips for losing weight

Reducing portions by a third is what will help you slimmer! Briefly and to the point :)

Should I put on supplements or stop? When this question arises, it's definitely time to stop eating. This organism gives you a signal of imminent saturation, otherwise you would have no doubts.

If you tend to overeat in the evenings, take a warm shower before dinner. 5-7 minutes, and you already have a completely different mood and attitude towards food. Try it - it works.

No matter how delicious the food is, you will eat it many more times. This is not the last meal of your life! Remind yourself of this when you feel like you can't stop and swallow tightly piece by piece.

The environment affects us - that's a fact! Avoid conversations like “I lost weight here, and I couldn't”, “but we will still remain fat”, “there should be a lot of good people”. Well, let them be "a lot" - but what have you got to do with it?

Remember a simple word: graceful. This is exactly what your portion of dishes harmful to the figure should be. And then you too will become graceful - it's only a matter of time.