Why add overnight oats to your breakfast routine?
Oats are a great source of fibre and carbohydrates. By leaving dry oats to soak overnight, you get something called resistant starch. It is a type of starch (carbohydrate) that isn’t digested by your body – so it skips the small intestine undigested, and gets into the large intestine where it nicely ferments and feeds your gut bacteria. Amount of resistant starch changes with heat, so choosing overnight oats over your cooked porridge every now and then could be a fun (and beneficial) addition to your breakfast routine.
Rooibos is a wonderful dietary polyphenol (dietary antioxidant), and tastes amazing! It’s just another way to include more antioxidants in your diet. If you’re not a fan of its taste, you can swap it for any tea you like- earl grey goes particularly well!
Disclaimer: all types of fibre are good for us, so aim for variety. If you are new to eating more fibre-rich diet, go slow and keep up your water intake throughout the day to avoid any digestion issues.
Serves: 1 large or 2 smaller portions (will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days)
Ingredients
2 tbsp oats (gluten-free if needed)
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp of seeds of choice (e.g. pumpkin or sunflower)
1 cup (~250ml) of brewed, cooled rooibos tea
2 tbsp of yoghurt of choice
1 tsp honey or maple syrup
1 medium carrot, finely grated
pinch of salt, ground cinnamon to taste
toppings: any fruit you like, tsp of nut butter or seeds of choice
Method
Simply add all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix a few times. Then, add the rooibos tea, honey and yoghurt. Last, add the finely grated carrot. Leave it for 10 minutes, for the seeds and oats to soak up the liquid and mix again. If the the mixture seems too thick, add a bit more water or milk (or the tea, if you have any leftover). Put in the fridge or keep in the kitchen counter overnight. A note here: for fermentation to happen, a warmer temperature is actually needed. So, you can safely store on the kitchen counter overnight for even more benefits.
In the morning, stir it all again and add more milk, yoghurt or more flavour if you like (e.g. cinnamon or some fruit). I really enjoyed it with an orange and toasted pumpkin seeds, which added a nice zesty flavour and a bit of a crunch!