A shake a day keeps the cholesterol at bay

my fave kind, old fashioned

When I used to work a 9-5, I brought my oatmeal daily to the office to have as my breakfast. I cup of oatmeal, preferably the hard old-fashioned kind, some skimmed milk powder and some raisins for sweetness. When I got to work I just added water and went to town. It kept me from buying fried dumplings with gravy or fried fritters and ackee or curry chicken. Or Burger King breakfast with hash browns. YUM.

This was a win for my pocket as well as my health. Now that I work from home, oatmeal has lost its appeal to me. Dunno why but I have the same box I bought in May when I quit my job right now on top of my freezer. I prefer to have cereal when I’m home. The problem with cereal is that its got a lot of calories and not the same filling effect, and I imagine oatmeal has much more nutrients as well. My husband came for a visit recently (we currently live on two different islands) and reminded me that oatmeal is quite flexible. He loves him some oatmeal too. He made a shake with it every morning. I love me a shake!
My shakes normally consist of way too many fruits, milk plus honey. Too much sugar, so I had stopped having shakes while on my HCG. Now, I am starting to have them for breakfast like the hubby and learning to control the things I put in them. the shake I made this morning had:

1 cup skimmed milk
4 oz oatmeal
one banana (frozen makes for a creamy shake)
4 oz papaya
2 tablespoons honey
a dash of flax seeds

According to my Spark People nutrition tracker, this shake was 604 calories, 122 grams of carb, 9 grams of fat and 18 grams of protein which came mainly from the milk and the oatmeal. sounds like a whole lot but this was two servings, one for me and one for the munchkin so divide everything in two and the numbers are looking good

Eventually I’ll learn to love the flavour of the fruits by themselves and can give up the honey as those 2 tablespoons cost me 128 calories. Loving my new breakfast idea! It hits most of the major food groups all in one gulp….drink up!

And yes, if you love to gobble up the cholesterol-laden shrimp like me then the power food that is oatmeal should definitely be a staple in your diet.

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