Alicia Mackey Huber breaks down what we get wrong about oatmeal: its history as peasant food, its fiber content, and how phytic acid actually affects your body. The nutritional story we've been told doesn't hold up.
Oatmeal has another name. It's called gruel, and it's what they fed peasants in Europe when they weren't going to feed them the good stuff. And the reason oatmeal satisfies you is that it has lots of fiber, which makes you feel full. The reason it's not good for you is it actually has high doses of phytic acid, which pulls minerals out of your cells, so now you're getting weaker over time. It also has things that irritate the lining of the gut and other stuff like that. But it was better than starving to death. And you gave it to the peasants. They tilled the fields and they gave you 90% of their income so that you could eat whatever you wanted in your castle. It's a really neat hack if you're a ruler and you convince the peasants that they want oatmeal instead of ground beef, because then you get to eat all the ground beef yourself. And we have that going on right now, so don't fall for it.
