Introducing protein oats, or in this case ‘zoats’ thanks to the sneaky addition of veggies! What on earth are 'zoats' you ask? The name sounds pretty fancy, but it’s simply just when you add zucchini to your porridge, make it even more nutrient-dense. We promise you won't notice even it’s there! While the zucchini may give your breakfast a twinge of green, don’t let that put you off—eating zoats is an easy way to add veggies to your breakfast bowl—somewhere it’s rarely found.
A big thank you to our fabulous Nutritionist Emily White for kindly supplying us with this recipe. For more from Em, head along to her website here.
PROTEIN OATS - WITH A SNEAKY ADDITION OF VEG!
Serves 1
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup oat
1 cup grated zucchini/courgette (optional)
1 cup milk or water
1 serving protein powder
1 tsp cinnamon
METHOD
Place the oats, grated courgette in a small pan with the water or your chosen milk. Stir in the protein powder and cinnamon.
Bring to a high heat, then reduce to a simmer for about 5 minutes, until the oats and courgette have softened and absorbed most of the liquid.
Remove from the heat, leave to cool for a few minutes. Serve in a large bowl and sprinkle over your chosen topping e.g. shredded coconut, berries, chia seeds….
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Per serving - prepped with almond milk, 1x medium zucchini, and 1x serving of NUZEST protein powder - plain. Without addition of any toppings
Protein: 30.6g
Carbohydrates: 25.6g
Dietary fibre: 7.5g
Sugars: 0.5g
Fat: 6.9g
Satiety has an important role in energy balance, preventing us from eating again until our hunger returns. In a study ranking the satiety impact of thirty-eight common foods, porridge (cooked oatmeal) ranked 3rd overall, and 1st among breakfast foods (1).
Zuchini is rich in antioxidants, which are plant compounds that help protect our body from damage caused by free radicals. Zucchini is particularly rich in the antioxidants carotenoids which include lutein, zeaxanthin and beta-carotene (2). These may help benefit our eyes, skin and heart, and offer protection against some cancers, including prostate (3).
REFERENCES
1) Holt, S. H. (1995). A satiety index of common foods. Place of publication not identified: Publisher not identified.
2) Blanco-Díaz, M. T., Río-Celestino, M. D., Martínez-Valdivieso, D., & Font, R. (2014). Use of visible and near-infrared spectroscopy for predicting antioxidant compounds in summer squash (Cucurbita pepo ssp pepo). Food Chemistry, 164, 301-308. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.05.019
3) Fiedor J, Burda K. Potential role of carotenoids as antioxidants in human health and disease. Nutrients. 2014;6(2):466-88. Published 2014 Jan 27. doi:10.3390/nu6020466
