The people at Levels, who do continuous glucose monitoring, say that oatmeal is one of the worst offenders.
You really need to spike your oatmeal with fats, protein, and fiber.
I regularly eat steel-cut oats for breakfast. My go-to is steel-cut oats, two tablespoons of Chia seeds mixed in (tons of fat and fiber), and a serving of mixed nuts and berries on top. On the side, I eat four scoops of powdered peanut butter mixed with water. This version of peanut butter is much higher in protein and much lower in fat and calories than normal peanut butter.
Doing all of this can keep the spikes to a reasonable amount (I also eat the powdered peanut butter first). Any kind of oatmeal by itself is bad. Instant oatmeal is worse. Instant oatmeal with all that sugar and stuff thrown in is terrible.
I suspect if you made your oatmeal with milk instead of water, it would help a lot, but I can't do this from being lactose intolerant.
Consider trying oatmeal with lactose-free milk. The number of lactose-free dairy products varies a lot around the world, but if you’re in a developed Western European or North American country, lactose-free milk itself is almost certainly available in at least two different fat levels. The most widely available brand in the US, but certainly not the only one, is Lactaid.
(Special mention: Germany has an impressive variety of lactose-free options. Even lactose-free Nutella equivalent, lactose-free cream cheese, and lactose-free mascarpone! Many lactose-free products in Germany have competition between the store brand, a major brand or two, and/or a brand or two focused on lactose-free.)
I've been wanting to try steel cut oats again but with chia. Chia seeds seem to help everything. Great stuff. Oats is one of the things I miss.
As for milk... I have issues with milk! I found out my morning latte by itself was raising my overall blood glucose. Milk seems to have a lot of sugar. Now (I feel guilty about this) I use heavy cream to which I get no spike at all.
I LOVE heavy cream. But it's gotten so expensive and perishes faster than I like.
FWIW, I've mostly switched to coconut cream. My local restaurant supply has a few different brands. So I mix it up. I go thru a box of 12 cans every 2 months are so.
Interesting; where do you buy it? Here in the US the standard grocery store has "heavy whipping cream" which I use. A quart lasts me a week or more; it's only used for coffee for me, and the occasional recipe my wife will make.
> I suspect if you made your oatmeal with milk instead of water, it would help a lot, but I can't do this from being lactose intolerant.
I dunno about that: milk contains a lot of sugar. Water doesn't. You could add 3 tbsp of cream for an extra 150 calories (no protein, no sugar) vs 1 cup of milk at 150 cals, 8g protein, 12g carbs.
I add almond flour to oatmeal and protein shakes for an extra 100 cals of fat.
You really need to spike your oatmeal with fats, protein, and fiber.
I regularly eat steel-cut oats for breakfast. My go-to is steel-cut oats, two tablespoons of Chia seeds mixed in (tons of fat and fiber), and a serving of mixed nuts and berries on top. On the side, I eat four scoops of powdered peanut butter mixed with water. This version of peanut butter is much higher in protein and much lower in fat and calories than normal peanut butter.
Doing all of this can keep the spikes to a reasonable amount (I also eat the powdered peanut butter first). Any kind of oatmeal by itself is bad. Instant oatmeal is worse. Instant oatmeal with all that sugar and stuff thrown in is terrible.
I suspect if you made your oatmeal with milk instead of water, it would help a lot, but I can't do this from being lactose intolerant.