Better Than Oatmeal Cauliflower Porridge

 

Better-Than-Oatmeal Cauliflower Porridge | High Fiber Low Carb

There’s a new bowl on the block: welcome cauliflower porridge! Crave the warmth of a bowl… of carbs… without the carbs? Say hello to this bowl! You can pack veggies, protein, AND fiber into this one and create so many variations your spoon will spin. I can tell you one of the biggest points of resistance to smoothies for even the biggest smoothie fans is shivering downing one post-workout in the winter. If that’s you too, or you’re just ready to swap your insulin resistance and high carb meals for something a little more midlife (and beyond) friendly, then try it!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cauliflower rice
• ½ cup unsweetened almond milk
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp Stevia
• 1 serving (or be generous) Protein Powder 
• ½ T nut or seed butter
• 1T ground flax meal
• 2 T chia seeds
• 1 strawberry, sliced (or other berries in small amount)
• Optional, Fiber Boost (adds 3 or more g fiber!)
• Optional, addition collagen

Instructions:

Place cauliflower rice in a pot with your choice of unsweetened milk, cinnamon, and Stevia. Bring to a boil while stirring.

 Add a teaspoon of flax seeds for more bite in the soft oatmeal. You can also add them after boiling to get a bit more “crunch”.

Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and continue stirring until the oatmeal reaches your desired thickness, about 8-10 minutes.

Turn off heat, stir in protein powder, collagen, and creatine.

Transfer to a bowl. Drizzle with melted nut or seed butter and a dash of cinnamon.

FLIPS: Add sliced almonds, walnut pieces, or hemp seeds for a little more crunch. Add more fruit (knowing it will be higher in carb)

Carbs: about 31 g fiber 17 for net carbs 14g.

Protein: 21 – 40 depending on how you add. (Read labels and understand EAA-rich protein vs collagen) You want a minimum of 30 g and the better the amino acid profile, the more support for muscle and blood sugar levels.

Don’t confuse collagen with a high quality essential amino acid profile protein

Bump up the fiber:

While you’re waiting for the porridge to boil, combine enough water to cover 2 T chia seeds to a small bowl. Set aside. Stir in the chia gel with your protein at the end. Fiber boost 10 grams!

So many variations to share:

Tropical taste Cauliflower Breakfast Porridge

Coconut milk, raw coconut shavings, kiwi slices to top

Chocolate and Nut Butter

Use chocolate protein powder and or vanilla or unflavored PP with 1 tsp – 1 T raw cacao

Oatmeal Cauliflower Porridge

Can’t quite let go? Blend the best of both worlds, reduce your carb count from a typical bowl of oats, get veggies in at breakfast, and get a fiber boost too. Follow instructions on oatmeal, and cut in half, then add cauliflower as you cook.

Why High Fiber?

There’s a post you’ll want to locate to get the full monty on fiber’s list of desirable traits! Stay full? Check! Blood sugar benefits? Check! Better digestion? Check! All fiber isn’t created equal. You may be getting less than you think. Read the post to learn more. 

An excerpt from the post:  In new research we see that nutrition is not complete without the addition of sufficient fiber to meet gut and colon nutritional needs. Diets containing more than 50 g of fiber per day are associated with low colon cancer risk. Current dietary fiber requirements are based on cardiovascular health ignoring needs for colon health. Add to that the benefits of fiber for weight loss support, and you have a persuasive argument for fiber.

Why Low Carb?

Make no mistakes, I’m not a no or low low carb girl. I am a “lower” than used-to-be carb advisor for myself and many of my clients. In midlife, hormonal changes mean insulin sensitivity is reduced. Otherwise said, insulin resistance, the pre-cursor to pre-diabetes/diabetes becomes a concern. When you struggle to lose weight doing the things that used to work, consider monitoring your carbs. Additional support:  Try a Continuous Blood Glucose Monitor for a month. Here’s mine and I return to this over and over because you know in real time and you can change it. Today. (This is an affiliate link. While I may make a small commission from sharing it, you benefit with $25 off your first month. It’s always something I know, use, and trust if I share it with you). The time of day you eat your carbs as well as the type of them matter. Early in the day you don’t need them. Evening, you’ll do well by including resistant starches (read more when you read about Fiber) because it will help you sleep! and Poo!

Why High Protein?

Let’s first visit “high protein.” It’s really most likely higher “than you thought.” It’s not “high” protein. Though it may be, relative to the percent of carbs or fats at a certain meal or in your diet. Muscle requires protein. It also requires carbs. So if you’re struggling to gain lean muscle (aka, boost metabolism), and going low to no carb, that’s one limiter. You’ll also be full for longer if you have adequate protein at a meal. So to address “adequate protein:” It’s been known in science for 25 years. It’s been slightly more mainstream since 2008. And there’s still a ton of confusion about it. If you know your lean body mass (in pounds), your Fat Free Mass on many Smart Scales now, that would be a target for your grams of protein. If that’s unknown, (first, I’d suggest fix that! Link to my Amazon page for 3 Smart Scale recommendations for this need-to-know number) our ideal body weight in pounds in grams of protein is what you need. Now if you weight 200 and want to weigh 150, you might think that’s where you want to be. Not true. If you need to LOSE weight to be at your ideal, you need to increase protein by about 10-15% while you’re in a calorie deficit so that while losing weight you KEEP muscle. Again, loss of muscle means loss of metabolism. That means? The inevitable regain of weight. Questions? There is an abundance of content in blogs, podcasts here on Flipping 50 to help. Try the Food Flip (open select times a year) for support if you need a real shift in your dietary habits. Make the Cauliflower Porridge? Which one?  Comment below and lmk how you like it or tweak to your liking!