Making Your Own Gut Healthy High Fibre Hot Breakfast Cereal

There are many advantages to creating your own multigrain hot cereal. You can carefully select the ingredients, and avoid what you do not like, or tolerate, while adding high quality extras like chia and hemp seeds.

If you buy from the bulk food section, you will get a nutritious blend of grains at a fraction of the cost. The central idea is to go for the grains with the least amount of processing.

Some of the pre-mixed multigrain blends include whole wheat farina, which is a more processed form of the wheat kernel. Cracked wheat has all of the wheat kernel, without removing the bran, and is slightly more crunchy.

Steel cut oats are more nutrient dense, and less processed than fast cooking oats. In fact steel cut oats look very different than regular oatmeal, or Quaker oats as we are probably most accustomed to.

Therefore if you start with a 50/50 mixture of steel cut oats and cracked wheat, you can add some millet, and red quinoa. All of these grains take about the same time to cook, whereas barley and brown rice take much longer to cook. I put a quarter cup of these mixed grains in a small bowl and pour boiling water over them to reduce cooking time to ten minutes.

Once added to the pot, I put in a cup of water, a bit of salt, and then add another quarter cup blend of chia seeds, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, ground flax, and whole flax seeds. I keep this container in the fridge because they stay fresh longer.

I also add a handful of sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and a few raisins. Although I haven’t tried it yet, I think I will try adding some brewer’s yeast. I did try adding some ground milk thistle, but find that even when ground, the kernels are too tough.

There are many options such as adding ground almonds, walnuts, corn meal or soy. You can base the blend on how much protein you want to add, without sacrificing fibre, and on what sensitivities or preferences you might have.

Many people have chosen to go gluten free, which is mostly due to the mass marketing against gluten a few years ago. There is also a realization that white bread, white flour, white pasta, and white rice, have been stripped of their nutrients.

Overall, wheat has been a dietary staple since the beginning of time. Celiac disease is a genetic autoimmune condition leading to a complete intolerance of the protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Many people carry the HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8 genes without ever developing Celiac. In recent years, these genes can be identified, and a definitive diagnosis can be made. Only about 1% of the population have true Celiac disease.

The problem for those with Celiac disease, is their body reacts to even tiny amounts of the proteins, often homeopathic levels, they picked up without knowing it. They have to be very vigilant, and cannot use bulk food bins, or eat at buffets where cross contamination of grains is high. Even the spatula or utensils used from one pan to another, can cause cross contamination of grains, the same as it can for transferring food allergens like peanuts or shell fish.

In Celiac disease, the autoimmune system reacts by attacking the lining of the gut. Due to the excessive cross contamination of grains, they end up having frequent bouts of gut problems, diarrhea, headaches, bloating, fatigue, and other health problems.

For those with sensitivities to certain grains, the breakfast cereal can be adjusted to remove the offending grain. In the case of sensitivities or allergies, it is best to avoid the bulk food bins, and buy the grains in packages, carefully reading the labels. 

We tend to think of high fibre foods as being whole fruits and vegetables. Although fruits and vegetables do have fibre, especially if the peel is left on potatoes, zucchini, carrots etc. the amount of fibre is much less than what you find in whole grains.

For optimal gut health, we need a mix of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in our diet. We need a mix of both soluble and insoluble fibre.

Soluble fibre dissolves in water. It slows digestions and lowers cholesterol. Examples are oats, peas, beans, barley, apples, and citrus fruits.

Insoluble fibre does not dissolve in water, and promotes regularity. It is also thought to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. Examples are whole wheat, bran, nuts, beans, and certain vegetables like cauliflower, green beans, leafy greens, and broccoli.

Whatever our choices or sensitivities might be, it becomes pretty clear that we are best to choose a wide variety of whole foods and grains in our diet. The gut feeds off trillions of different kinds of bacteria, therefore the variety increases the amount of healthy gut bacteria.

Although most of us know how much antibiotics kill healthy gut bacteria, we should be wary of many medications to include over the counter medications like NSAID’s, antihistamines, and certain supplements. Recent research has pointed out that probiotic supplements are not good for restoring gut health. Fibre, whole foods, and fermented foods will restore or maintain gut health. 

The old adage to let food by thy medicine seems to ring true. The back on the farm principles of eating whole foods, home baked bread, fresh eggs, free range beef and chicken, home made pickles – and plenty of fresh air, sets a better pace for our health in general. We do not need oats that cook in less than a minute. If so, we are far too busy for our own good.