This is probably going to sound strange also, but when I've tried oats be it porridge or ready break, I've found it makes me feel worse too. Not the same as what it seems to be doing to you, it makes me bloated and uncomfortable and seems to make IBS worse in my case. Shredded wheat used to cause bloatedness but since stopping Atorvastatin it is fine and helps me too. I would also like to see what others may have to say regarding oats.Hope you are well and that your dad is recovering quickly also x
I was told not to take atorvastatin in the morning and not with oats as they arnt as effective. Apparently your body makes most cholesterol at night time so I was told to take them at night . I've added a screenshot, I needed to check first I hadnt dream't it haha
I didn't know about the oats & Atorvastatin, thank you. However had to come off them due to cramping so finding most stuff out by accident tbh. I did used to take it in the evening though whereas pharmacy used to put it in the morning section of my mums dossette box.
I had to stop eating oats because I was getting a lot of daily ectopic heart beats and palpitations which (after a process of food elimination) I realised were the cause. I have paroxysmal AF and waiting for a pacemaker. I believe the oats were affecting my blood sugar levels.
I’ve been having oats for breakfast for many years - I usually have two dessertspoonsful with a few nuts or sunflower seeds and maybe dried fruit and fresh fruit, flavoured with either fruit juice or plain yoghurt. Tastiest breakfast ever! But I’ve never had nut butters with these - I might try this, as it sounds good.
It's doesn't but definitely try it with peanut butter (not daily) .I cook down some strawberries in a tablespoon of water , let them cool then add to my overnight peanut butter oats, absolutely lush.
There is a lot going on with the food combinations for each of your breakfasts so it would be hard to breakdown the culprits.How long have you been taking the medication?
If it is relatively new , then it could still be giving you some mild side effects as your body adjusts to them , or it may be worth checking about the doses you are on.
But , it could be food and medication combinations you are having together with both breakfasts that could cause problems.
I personally take my biggest combination of medications , which happen to be in the morning, with just a small bowl of probiotic natural yoghurt, half a teaspoon of honey and sometimes a small sprinkle of blueberries and a few nuts (almonds and hazelnuts) with a big glass of water.
I call this my first breakfast , a bit like a Hobbit!
My second breakfast I have an hour to an hour and a half later when the medication has passed through my system , began to do their jobs and my stomach is settled.
Then, I might have a small bowl of oats with some blueberries , nuts , sometimes a small banana or some nut butter ( usually homemade almond or hazelnut)
Or I might have eggs with smoked salmon or nitrate free ham , sometimes some sourdough toast , sometimes some dark green salad leaves with a sprinkle of olive oil , mushrooms and tomatoes.
You could try this option and see if it works for you or make some changes in ingredients choices to be able to continue to enjoy the health promoting oats.
Your breakfast combos could be interacting with your medications , and the medications could need adjusting, it's hard to say with such complex food and medication choices it can take trial and error to get things right.
For example , you are taking two antiplatelet medications and a medication that lowers blood pressure.
What people often don't realise is that Peanuts and Peanut Butter are natural antiplatelets .
So there is the possibility that the peanuts are increasing the effect of two antiplatelet medications and affecting how your stomach responds.
So choosing a different nut butter or leaving that off the oats might help unless you choose to eat this at a different time to taking your medication.
You could be very sensitive to the blood pressure lowering effects of oats , maybe taking the blood pressure medication at the same time as them is causing a very quick dip in blood pressure in your case, So taking the medication at a different time to the oats could help.
There is also a possibility that the oats are making you feel queasy because of glucose stacking. Although you are choosing blueberries which have a lower sugar content , if you are also having cooked strawberries ( this increases their sugar content) and the oats you are having quite a high carbohydrate breakfast even though the individual foods are low glycaemic varieties.
Either the blood glucose spike you have or the affect that digestion can have on your blood pressure at the same time as medications could cause the symptoms.
Digestion lowers your blood pressure slightly as the body is put to work doing " rest and digest" activities and your "fight or flight" responses are delayed.
Sometimes a high fibre, carbohydrate rich meal can cause your blood pressure to lower more even if your sugar spikes.
This is why some people with Hypotension or on blood pressure lowering medications can sometimes become lightheaded or feel queasy after a big meal or sugary pud, especially if they get up from a table quickly or try to do physical activity straight afterwards.
As you are taking your blood pressure medication at exactly the same time both food and meds could be working together to make your blood pressure drop lower than you need for a short time during digestion , the blood pressure drops can make you feel lightheaded and that can cause queasiness.
Adding more protein to the oats from dairy or dairy free milk or yoghurt and non peanut based butter may help.
Some people use unsweetened quark or cottage cheese in their oats too.
If your oats are only partially cooked or overnight , raw varieties and the nuts are whole, and the portion of fibre is large, this can also unsettle the stomach if it has begun to feel more sensitive since beginning antiplatelet medications.
Overnight oats, insoluble fibre, and raw nuts can increase IBS and gastric symptoms and this can happen more often if you take medications at the same time as these foods.
Which is why you may want to take you medications earlier with a lighter snack if you are choosing oats or fibre for breakfast.
You are having the peanut butter with your egg on toast but you are also eating Kale at the same time.
The higher protein content could be improving the symptoms, but it could also be that this leafy breakfast changes how your body is absorbing the medications.
The higher portion of protein in this breakfast means that your sugar levels do not spike as quickly and digestion may not affect your blood pressure or heart rate in the same way the oat breakfast might for you but it could be the wrong greens that have made a difference too.
Green vegetables are great but raw leafy greens, particularly kale, contains quite a lot of Vitamin K1 , which can break down the aspirin , antiplatelet, anticoagulant, and blood thinning medications and reduce how much of your dose that you absorb if you have them in your stomach and digest them at exactly the same time .
Therefore , you may not be getting symptoms caused by your medications because you aren't absorbing as high a dose , but this may not be so great if that is the dose you really need.
This is why we are generally recommended not to eat raw leafy greens at the same time as medications or some people on blood thinners are encouraged to only eat leafy greens lightly cooked and not at the same time as they take their blood thinners.
As you can see choosing foods to eat at the same time as your medications or finding the culprit of your side effects can get quite complicated even if your food is healthy and recommended.
Maybe try different combinations or different timings as a sort of fact finding experiment, then you should be able to see if it was actually the food, or the medication , or the combination of both together that was causing the symptoms and you will know if you have something to discuss with a GP or not.
Hi that all sounds really complex, I never think about what I eat with the meds I take, except grapefruit which is a definite no no. I can't eat an hour before or after my meds ( morning and night) maybe that's why I have never had any effects from any food I eat, In the morning I just take Scott's porridge oats made in a pot with a tiny bit of salt and milk, warming and delicious 😋 especially in winter or an egg with toast. I try and have fruit as an afternoon snack. Thank you for an insight into the different ways meds and food can react with each other. Char
I use (best?) rolled oats (40g), a little honey, vanilla essence, cinnamon and milk/water, soaked overnight. Cook for 5 - 10 mins. I then add blueberries to serve. One hour after eating I get a finger prick reading of over 10 (10.2 - 10.5).
I’m classified by the NHS as in remission from T2 but still do a finger prick at least once a week or after anything that my food diary has previously shown a large spike (eg scones with jam & clotted cream).
I was going to look up the sugar content of dates then thought wait a minute, I should not be pretending to be a nutritionist! So I'll leave that to you, but to be honest I suspect they'll be quite high. Maybe find a forum dedicated to nutrition?
I am impressed how good the knowledge, and use, of modern nutrition thoughts on here! I am a diabetic and wear a 24 hour blood glucose monitor…we are all supposed to be different in the way to react to carbs, but I find I am particularly susceptible to dates, they send my BG high and oddly staying there for many hours. I do intermittent fasting for 16 hours to get away from ‘ the appropriate high carb breakfast’ and follow the Zoe nutrition guidelines.
We’re told that blueberries are good even for T2’s, or people who just want to control BG, and honey is better than granulated sugar. I never put granulated sugar in anything and I cannot stand artificial sweeteners. I only drink tea, coffee (good for your heart) and water.
Thanks for the suggestions which I’ll try, but I find just a bowl of plain porridge unappealing. I’ll see if I can force it down and then do a finger prick.
I’ve tried the “natural” sweeteners - all foul, I’m afraid. They are all many times sweeter than sugar, which is why (as you’ll know) they are used in smaller quantities, but for me, they all leave an unpleasant aftertaste.
One of my best friends had a heart bypass and then, unfortunately, had two strokes. He was advised to substitute honey for sugar, so I’ve assumed it’s the better of the two. When I add to the oats to make porridge I use very little.
Of all the alternatives I've only tried erythritol but I've used that quite often and I can say for a fact it is not "many times sweeter than sugar". In fact I just checked Wikipedia which puts it at 60-70% as sweet. And it tastes fine to me in porridge, which is mostly how I used it (never tried it straight). Of course tastes vary, but it seems a little odd that all the sugar replacements, natural and artificial, should taste equally bad to anyone. Is it just that they're not sugar?
Quite possibly, but it occurs to me that sugar is “natural”. Or am I wrong? For the moment though I’ve stopped having porridge in the morning. I make it for my wife a couple of times a week and have a continental breakfast of cheese and cold meats.
Of course sugar is natural, so are the natural replacements such as erythritol. But if you have an emotional reaction when you think of anything as unnatural that could well explain why you find them all uniformly foul.
Thanks for the comments and discussion. Fortunately I can take or leave porridge and I’ve pretty much cut out sugar. But it is convenient for me to make porridge for both of us rather than two different breakfasts. I’ll look out for erythritol and give it a go. It’ll be interesting to see if I can find a way to enjoy porridge without a spike in my BG.
Honey is considered a better option in small amounts , in terms of Diabetes it's considered as a better option than artificial sweeteners and natural sweeteners like Erythritol because they can also cause sugar and insulin imbalance themselves , as well as having the potential of affecting bowel movements and kidney function if large amounts are eaten.Honey is considered better in small amounts , especially if it contains some comb or is the thicker creamed variety because although the sugar content is the same these honeys are more fibrous.
Small quantities of honey or real maple syrup are considered better if necessary for Diabetics because many other sugar substitutes can cause health issues that Diabetics are more at risk of.
Blueberries are considered a better lower sugar content fruit in small portions.
Dates or date sugar are considered nice and tasty options because they are sweet and have a high sugar content similar to sugar but they contain a lot of fibre. This means that although they do cause a spike in blood sugar when you initially eat them they take longer to digest , and so the sugar dip is not as pronounced.
You can make your own date syrup or pastes just by mixing dates and water in a blender to a consistency you like and keeping them in a jar or bottle for daily use. Keep it in a cool dark cupboard or fridge if you prefer.
Oats are a carbohydrate and great source of fibre. They are considered good in a low glycaemic diet.
Steel cut or rolled oat varieties are better with a G.I score of under 55. The glycaemic index of a carbohydrate or sugary food is important, it indicates that the food does not cause a rapid sugar spike , but that the food also takes longer to digest so it doesn't cause such a rapid dip in sugar levels as well.
This could be the reason that as much as an hour after eating your oats your sugar levels is still at 10.
It could be the portion size that is making the difference for you, and , depending on what your vanilla essence is made with and the size of the splodge it could be a factor, many essences are made with sugar syrup as a carrier.
One thing I've learnt over 30+ years of looking after people with both Type1 and Type2 Diabetes is that people need to consider not just how high your glucose level rises after a meal but how quickly it drops too.
Your glucose level obviously rises with any meal, especially one containing carbohydrate, but what you want to avoid is rapid and very steep rises followed by very quick drops .
It's portion control that matters and helps you get the healthy balance between reducing how high your blood glucose levels rise and getting the daily amount of carbohydrates that you require for the body to perform it's necessary functions.
You could still have your oats but a much smaller bowl and combine it with a smaller protein based breakfast like some egg or unprocessed fish and meat.
Oats often cause a glucose level rise that lasts longer because it takes longer to digest and gives you are more sustained energy source as well as providing fibre and other nutrients that help improve body function and cholesterol .
One thing you need to be conscious of with heart problems as well as Diabetes is that glucose changes are not the only thing that matters.
Other foods , which may not cause a higher glucose spike , can often be unsuitable for you to eat everyday for other reasons like high fat , high cholesterol or high salt content.
This can be the case with the continental breakfast of cheese and cooked meats depending on the options you are choosing to have.
Processed meats and various cheeses are considered to be eaten in small quantities or as rarer treats for these reasons.
Food does need to be enjoyed though , it shouldn't feel like a punishment or just part of your treatment each day , so you can mix it up .
A ramekin or small sweet bowl size porridge with a small portion of unprocessed meats , egg or fish to follow is a good balanced option.
Or add more protein into your porridge if it's just porridge that day with a spoon of unsweetened quark and some nuts and seeds alongside your blueberries.
Remember , you may have a higher G.I score with certain breakfasts but this is more allowable with the first meal of the day because you are going to be more active and require the energy.
Wow, thank you so much for all that. I’m going to copy and paste it so that I can reread it and slowly digest the information - pun intended.
My wife loves porridge which is why I’ve started again doing it for breakfast. In light of your comprehensive information I’m going to experiment with portion size and the other things I add - fruit, sweeteners, etc - and see what works best.
Having gone into remission on the T2 I’m concentrating on my heart health but don’t want to slip back on anything else. I do still have regular HbA1c tests and the retinopathy scans.
Thanks again and thank you to the OP and everyone who’s contributed to the discussion it triggered.
I also forgot to mention that it may make a difference if you check your sugar levels two hours after eating rather than one hour , which is what is generally recommended.Guidelines quote that a normal healthy reading is between 4-7 before eating .
8-9 two hours after eating a meal.
You could try your normal porridge , or a slightly smaller portion and test at the two hour point.
It also helps to know what your blood glucose is before you prepare food rather than just after.
For example, if your waking figure was already 7 , to be at 10 an hour later would not indicate a high spike , the increase would only be 3 .
But , if you began at 4 or lower and then two hours after your result was 10 or higher , that would be a spike of 6 or higher , and would have caused a rapid sugar spike in the hour after eating and be considered inappropriate .
So you see , you need both readings taken at the right time to see what is going on.
If you wake up and your sugar levels are 6 or 7 , you can choose to have a smaller portion or more protein based breakfast or do some exercise after your meal has settled.
If your levels are 5 or lower you can choose a carbohydrate option with more additions.
Thanks again. Yes, I didn’t explicitly mention it but I do check one and two hours after eating. I’ve also copied and pasted this, so thank you for your help
A complex carbohydrate is glucose molecules that are joined together. Enzymes break complex carbohydrates down into glucose, and this process begins in the mouth before the food is even swallowed. The "complex" nature may help a bit in terms of peaks and timeframes but the overall effect on the body is much the same as sugar.
As you say, it’s the spike I’m trying to avoid. I’m juggling three things:
1) heart attack, 4 stents and classified as suffering from heart failure
2) initial diagnosis of T2 diabetes, now apparently in remission based on my hard work, exercise and weight loss, but still something to manage, and
3) stage 3 chronic kidney disease.
What’s best for one of these “ailments” is sometimes detrimental to one of the others. I’ll just keep juggling and these various forums are very useful to discuss other people’s experiences.
I have been having 50g dry weight of oats using coconut milk and cooked in the microwave or have it made with skimmed milk and 20g honey. Same breakfast every morning since 2017 as I wanted to lose weight. 2 years ago lost 7st and have kept it off since but would still like to lose another stone and bit being trying the last 2 years. Was over 19st size 32 now size 16.
Have you tried eating porridge without the blueberries and nuts. Before changing your breakfast . As it may be the nuts that was causing the problem.
Also did the leaflets that came with your tablets tell you to avoid certain food or drink.
I can't have grapefruit and alcohol with my tablets . Also found any thing with sweetcorn or cornflour, and if I eat lettuce more than once a week gives me diarrhoea.
I think as we get older our bodies can no longer tolerate certain food stuffs but that's just my theory. 🤷
Ethical nutrition have an article on soaking oats overnight in water with a bit lemon juice. I contacted them and asked if I could use vinegar instead and basically it's anything acidic so I used a teaspoon of vinegar. I did this and had no problem and being Scots woman I was brought up on Scots porridge oats.
I found that if I have too much in the bowl at a time it caused something similar. When I dropped it back to the recommended amount rather than guessing it was absolutely fine
Hi Baly, oats dint do it for me as a breakfast either . Even when I cycling with a club I’d try oats as other cyclists swore by them , I’d feel really under gunned when I ate them. I have avocado, poached egg, homemade bread, grilled toms /and mush most mornings, that suits me. I take my oats as an evening snack with mixed toasted nuts , easy peeler , Greek yoghurt , frozen blueberries 👍🏻
I have done the ZOE programme and found out that oats gave me a glucose spike, but I am much better on barley flakes, so may be worth a try if you don’t want to give up porridge! I have no idea though whether barley flakes had the same effect on cholesterol!!
Yes, going back to Zoe Nutrition and Food…they recommend only organic oats ( they are not that pro organic in general) as lots of chemicals are sprayed on the crops.
Out of all the grains, oats do a particularly good job of absorbing glyphosate, which is a known carcinogen. Personally I avoid all grains, but I think oats are particularly bad for numerous reasons.
Hi I have eaten porridge all my life and I didn't know that anyone put anything on it or in it, I use Scott's porridge oats, I make it in a pot with water only, it takes 3 minutes I pour milk over it and a small sprinkle of salt, my partner puts sugar on it as did my dad but I don't like it like that at all. I always thought it was nutritional, warming and a great start to the day but I noticed someone says it's full of sugar! I have attached the ingredients as I do not really understand nutritional information too well 😅 maybe someone can tell me if It should be taken as a treat and not an everyday food ta char
I love porridge but hadn't eaten it for many years. Two weeks ago I decided it could help my cholesterol so I started having it for breakfast. My stomach is only just s tarting to settle down. I had nausea, terrible gurgling and felt dreadful to the point where the GP sent me for an abdominal scan. Stopped the oats and it's slowly settled down. I'm wondering if they now add something to oats.
The worst thing you can eat for breakfast is cereal and I include all form of oats. The reason you feel like crappie is that your body is not processing all those carbohydrates which is just sugar.
Stay away from processed and ultra processed foods.
I haven't eaten cereal for over a year and my triglycerides were 0.5, and H1b was 33.
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