As many of you know, I am on a journey to find a way to lower my cholesterol. It’s been eye opening to say the least. I even have an airfryer! I know- I’m late to that one. I don’t have oat milk in my coffee anymore 🤭… I’m learning….. The goal is to reduce processed foods as well and oat milk is just too processed for my liking. AND full fat milk is not actually the baddie it is perceived to be (more on that later)
I’m also learning all about the kinds of foods we can eat to help lower cholesterol. One of those foods is oats- or oatmeal. Oats contain a soluble fibre called beta glucan which helps lowers your blood glucose levels, boosts immunity and lowers your cholesterol.
You need 3 grams of beta glucan a day, for three weeks, to help lower your total cholesterol as well as lower your LDL cholesterol. A 40g serving of oats is 2g of beta glucan, & a 60g serving of oats is 3g of beta glucan.
Oats… How to Get Them in Your Diet
Sure, we can have oatmeal as a bowl of porridge. I also love my ‘overnight oats’ which are really just 15 minute soaked oats with all sorts of toppers like seeds, dried fruit and some dark chocolate 😆.
You can also get your oats in if you need a treat with your cuppa! So, these oatmeal cookies are the biz. They’re easy to make, delicious and healthy too! The seeds and nuts are high in unsaturated good fats for your brain, heart and skin health.
This recipe makes about 12 oat cookies which is 1g of beta glucan per cookie!
Oatmeal Cookies
Preheat Oven to 180C/ 350F
One cookie sheet/ baking tray lined with parchment
Recipe:
- 6 over ripe bananas- I usually have a few in the freezer that didn’t get eaten during the week
- 3 cups of oats (I just use my coffee mug here)
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- Some seeds, pecans, cranberries (whatever variety you’d like here to be honest)- and by some I mean about 4 or 5 tablespoons each
- 1 egg (optional)
Method:
Mash the bananas. Add the oats, seeds, nuts, dried fruit, vanilla and egg
Using a tablespoon, scoop out spoonfuls and place on tray
Bake for 20 minutes.
Eat hot, or add a blob of yoghurt for some extra protein
See video on instagram here
Let me know how you get on! They won’t last long, especially in my house….
Laura x
