Chris Shugart... Oatmeal=Evil?

Hey chris, I remember some time back you posted that you shy away from eating too much oatmeal,is there any particular reason? I know you said you are carb sensitive, but for us average t-men is there any sound reasoning behind avoiding a nice big bowl of oats? I personally love the stuff. any help would be appreciated.

No, I don’t remember saying that. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Now, a couple of weeks ago I did go on a rampage against cold breakfast cereals. Yes, I think cereal is THE physique killer of the modern age. I remember reading somewhere that even “healthy” cereals like Special K had a worse GI than white bread. I can’t think of a worse breakfast for a bodybuilder than cereal. (That said, a little bowl of Fiber One is okay sometimes.)

As for oatmeal, even when low carbing I like to get a bowl a day. One serving only has 27g of carbs so that’s easy to fit in when you eat 100 to 200g per day.

Just avoid those prepackaged kiddy brands that are flavored and use finely ground oats. Use old fashioned oatmeal (cooks up fine in the microwave) and some cinnamon. A scoop of AP or a little Grow! really makes it taste good and makes a great protein/carb meal if you follow Berardi’s dieting ideas.

What about Grape Nuts? I love those. They don’t have any added sugar and seem to be physique friendly. What is your take on those?

The serving size of Grape Nuts is very small as I recall. Like you measure it out and look in the bowl and think “That’s it?!” Here’s the kicker: 47 carbs per tiny serving. Not sure about GI, but I’d say to at least go very easy on the Grape Nuts.

I’m with Chris on this one; oatmeal is food of the gods. Eat away, add a couple scoops of protein after it’s cooked. Sometimes I add a whole egg before the oatmeal is done, too, to further lower the g.i. I always sprinkle ground flax seeds on my oatmeal, also. One of my favorite meals, big with pro bodybuilders, and something our own John Berardi eats a couple of times per day (answering in advance the inevitable question: “JM, do you eat oatmeal?”)

GI of Grapenuts is high (96), as is Corn Flakes (119). Special K is actually moderate (77). I think among the lowest GI was Bran Buds with Pysillium, but I’ve yet to see it in any grocery stores around where I live. What was surprising was that some of the sugary cereals like Honey Smacks (78) were lower GI than some “healthy” cereals like Total (109). Check out Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load.

I’ve gotta chime in on this one:-) Like Shugs and Johnny K, I feel that oatmeal is a STAPLE in the diet. That being the case, and my metabolism running rampant, I like to kick-start the day with three packages of regular oats. I like to mix in some calorie-free spray butter, ground cinnamon, Splenda and some maple extract after it’s cooked for a damn-near gourmet treat:-) BTW, Johnny K, you crack me up, big guy! You just know somebody’s fixin’ to ask the big guy JB if he’s an oatmeal guy…he’s also admitted his weakness to granola several times in case anyone is wondering.

Speaking of oatmeal has anyone noticed the macronutrient contents of Oatmeal changing over the years? If I remember correctly about 10 years ago most of the oatmeal on the market had about 5 grams of protein 18-20 grams of carbs and 2 grams of fat per 1/3 cup dry serving. Now most of the oatmeal I see has 2 or 3 grams of protein and 27-30 grams carbs…extra processing I guess.

Thanks chris for clearing that one up, That being said how terribley bad is it to add a bit of cinnamon and sugar to your oats for flavor? I love mine like this and really havent noticed any adverse affects from it. perhaps I just tolerate high GH carbs well. also when adding GROW to my oatmeal should i alter the serving size since grow has carbs in it?

A recent tick given to me a super health nut is the rotation of carbohydrates. One day use brown rice, the next day use Oatmeal, then potatoes, etc… This was to avoid reactions to the foods. Let me know what you think.
It does make cooking easy. Just one pot in the morning.

Cinnamon is fine. Ditch the sugar. Try Splenda. (I never have to be honest, but a lot of people do like it in oatmeal.)

When adding Grow! I don’t alter my serving size. Half a packet of Grow! adds 11 carbs and 20 grams of protein. One scoop of Advanced Protein adds 2 carbs and 20g of protein. BTW, chocolate powders taste pretty good in oatmeal too. I didn’t know this until I ran out of vanilla one day. Also, try a few strawberries with vanilla Grow! and oatmeal. Good stuff.

another good one is the addition of a banana and some peanut butter and honey with the vanilla advanced protein. As you can tell I obviously am skinny as a rail.

Something I learned in England. They have a cereal which is a mixture of raisin bran and oatmeal. So, I measure it out (remember to count kcal & carbs from milk). 1/3 cup oatmeal + 1/2 cup raisin bran. It’s a good change from eating plain oatmeal for years. I CANNOT go without cereal.

Oatmeal is a passionate topic, I see. Excellent. Try sprinkling nuts on your oatmeal, too. Cinnamon is great, but why all this sugar you people want? C’mon, kick it! It’s a texture thing, ya know?

If you don't want to add protein powder, make a big bunch of scrambled eggs and have them separately (continuing my Berardi theme, I've seen him do this very thing a couple of times at breakfast). Maybe this fall I'll set up a concession where I charge people a fee to come have breakfast with John and myself at the Olympia in Vegas. Any takers?

And just to let everyone know ahead of time, when we’re stuck for hours and hours in the Testosterone booth at shows, we’re always starving. So if loyal readers/fans would bring us food during the show hours, well, who kows what would happen, but we’d be oh so very happy. Of course, you’ve gotta bring Chris Shugart food, too, else he’ll get outta hand, and you don’t want to see that. I have, and it’s not purty.

Yes JB eats oats like a horse…Ive seen it with my own two eyes! Well, not exactly like a horse. But during weight gain phases it makes up about 75% of my carb intake. During diets, I try about 1 serving a day. The rest of the diet carbs are veggies and some Surge.

I am convinced that much of the reason I stay so lean year round is that my only carbs come from oats, veggies, and flax bread. On training days, I will chuck down some sugar in the pw shake and about 2 hours later will be my famous frozen cottage cheese plus Advanced Protein plus banana plus granola blend. But beyond those 2 meals 4x per week, it’s all oats, flax bread, and veggies.

Like my man Johnny K knows, my fav combos all include oats with protein mixed in. On top of that Ive been known to throw in fruit, or honey, or natural pb, or mixed nuts. Something I turn alot of people on to is 1 serving of oats, 2 scoops of chocolate protein, and 1 tablespoon of natural chunky (IT HAS TO BE NATURAL CHUNKY) peanut butter. If you desire, also throw in some mixed nuts. The taste and texture are to die for. I also like to, when feeling adventurous, use chocolate protein bars like a spoon to scoop up the oatmeal. Yum.

Since Ive been dieting for 6 weeks now and am lean as heck, all I can think about is food. Also since Im taking the next 2 months off to study from a big series of exams in July (to see if I get the PhD or not) I spend about 8 hours a day locked in my appt studying and reading text books. Ive gotta get on this here forum to talk about food to break up the monotony or else I may just go eat the entire contents of my fridge.

Not this, but next friday I will be stopping my diet. This day also commemorates the final day of Surge data collection. A celebration is in order and in my madness Ive just catalogued all the buffets in london ontario in order to find the best one to go get my grub on. And I pity the restauranteer that owns the establisment that myself, my 2 buddies and my girl enter on that day (they've all been dieting too)!

Oh yeah, and finally, Johnny K is on to something. We will accept applications for meal observers at the next seminar or bodybuilding show. If you buy the meal you can watch us stuff food in our faces (and in the case of john k, as some misses his face and lands on his lap) and we will discuss why we are putting those types of things in our mouths.

Also at those shows, those who bring us food are well rewarded (esp if they are bodybuilder friendly). This guy from canada brought me sandwiches at the last arnold classic and he walked away with some good free stuff.

Okay, I have to ask: is Quaker Oats (flavored) on the proscription list? I ordered a few boxes of their variety pack (Apple Cinnamon, Cinnamon spice and Maple Syrup flavors) and thought they would be all right, but maybe not? Do these count as “kiddie” oatmeals? Must I forgo my Vanilla Grow!/Maple Syrup blender-fest from now on? (Hate to admit it, but I haven’t even been thinking about my sugar consumption…)

John M.B., I think we should take this “oatmeal mania” a step further. Let’s begin selling oats under our “John M” moniker! Think Tim will go for a house brand, or should we do it ourselves (in our copious spare time). I’m thinking we could make plenty of money (free advertising on the Forum), and it couldn’t help but be tastier than the Met-Rx oatmeal, for example. Doesn’t Cy live in the great plains? Perhaps he knows some oat farmers.

Yeah, we'll be stylin in Vegas, wearing our kevlar Testosterone bibs! John M.K.

Chris C., I really think those instant oatmeals are crap. The GI is sky high for the instant stuff. It’s as if it is not even the same food. I would stick with the old fashioned slow cook variety. My absolute favorite is Silver Palate’s rough cut oatmeal. It is very hearty and flavorful.

Johnny K and JB, you guys are just too hella cool and I love every post! It’s been great seeing you boys around a bit more often.

Johnny K…love the idea of a Breakfast Fest. Though I am well-known for my scrawniness in these parts, I can pack the grub away like a big dawg with no shame and would love to join in the fun. I’m currently workin’ blue-collar to save up for the Vegas seminar. Any requests for dishes? I’d be more than happy to bring in a big pot of chicken, rice and broccoli. BTW, I do my oats with hard-boiled egg whites. Fill the whites with a scoop of oats and grub away.

JB...you never fail to bust me up. You'll have to show this big lil' man how to grub and where when you complete your buffet festival. I'm a strong follower in the veggies being the primary source of carbs during dieting, particularly the fibrous ones. You have convinced me to give the famous JB frozen treat a try. I've searched high and low for the flax bread without luck, though. Any suggestions? Good luck on your exams and way to go on the diet, bro. Any chance on that training article we begged about a while back?

Char-Dawg...I'd consider the flavored oats the *kiddie* ones, big guy. They have quite a bit more sugar than regular.

I don’t cook oatmeal; I just throw it in MRP shakes. Quaker Oats says there is no difference in nutritional value, cooked or uncooked. Are they right?