- Start by soaking your porridge oats over night (1 generous cup of oats to 3 cups of water should be good for 2 portions), covering them in enough water and adding either your lemon or vinegar. This will draw out the phytic acids, which naturally occur in beans & nuts, making it harder for us to digest them. If you plan on adding dried fruit & nut, also add them to soak.
- In the morning pour out the old water and add your porridge with fresh water to a pan. You can also go for plant-based milk if you want something creamier, I often cook it with water, lemon peel and then add some frothy plant-based milk on top.
- Leave on the stove top and cook for at least 15 mins on low heat – the aim is to break the structure of the oats to avoid blood sugar fluctuation
- Just as you are serving, add some saturated fat to your porridge - this allows for the fat-soluble viatmins to be released from the oats, and allows you to stay full for long. A small teaspoon of coconut oil, ghee or butter will do the trick.
- You often see bananas being served with porridge. Whilst they are great – the general rule of thumb should be: everything in moderation. Bananas are a tropical fruit, which we tend to forget because they are available all year around now. That means they have cooling properties, something you generally want to during the colder seasons. An alternative would be to fry them in a pan for a bit, heating them up with some cinnamon or whatever spices you like. Try adding seasonal fruit, add some nuts & seeds. Often porridge bowls are covered in tropical fruit & honey. This will spike up your blood sugar levels, giving you an initial boost but will also lead to an eventual crash - the more we balance out our blood sugar levels, the more balanced we will feel in terms of hunger & energy
- This way of preparing your porridge is supposed to avoid that – it will leave you feeling balanced and should not make you crave anything until lunch !
Variations
I love the lemon peel version with some dried nuts, I also love adding different chai spices – cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, some pepper and then add a little maple syrup. On other days I cook the porridge in cacao powder and add some hazelnuts and pear, just make sure that you add the raw cacao, not the sweetened one. This will be more expensive but you don’t need much and so a bag should last you quite some time.
Oats can be replaced with other grains – the longeveity diet is all about diversity and its great to switch things up. Millet is a great option, so are quinoa, buckwheat or rice. Or perhaps a mixture of two. I tend to make enough for 2 days so I only have to heat it up with a splash of water the following day.
