Food Talk And Fabulous Finds - what to eat on oatmeal/cereal?

I am moderately lactose intolerant, and trying to keep my dairy products at a limit...I'm aiming for only 1 a day. As a result, I haven't been eating oatmeal or cereal lately...I miss it! *lol* Does anyone have any suggestions for low-cal/yummy substitutions for milk? :?:

Also, what does everyone eat for cereal? Any healthy/low-cal suggestions that keep you full and aren't loaded w/sugar? Other than oatmeal, I haven't had much luck! :dizzy:

A lot of people here eat Kashi - I can't stand it, and would rather eat packing foam! I live on oatmeal in winter. I'm in England and have discovered some gorgeous organic muesli. It's 325 calories per serve, so I have a half serving with a cup of low fat yoghurt and a cup of fruit - blueberries this morning!

Have you tried the lactose free milk? I can't remember what it's called, but Meg (in maintainers and ladies who lift) has a completely lactose intolerant husband and daughter.

Or soy? I'd give soy yoghurt a try with some cereal and fruit. I put so much stuff on my yoghurt you can barely taste it!

I've noticed there are a few choices in the grocery store, but before I buy a whole carton of something, I was curious what experiences people have had. I remember drinking rice milk after getting my wisdom teeth out when I was younger, and I hated it. I even tried it again, since my neice drinks it due to lactose intolerance. Icky:(

And one of my sisters swears by her soy milk...I think I remember tasting it and being disgusted...while another sister swears against it. I had a chocolate soy drink once, it was pretty good, but FULL of sugar and high in calories. I'm sure the chocolate was just covering up the taste.

Have you tried soy milk? I put unsweetened, unflavored soy milk on my cereal and my oatmeal and I really like it. The calories are about the same as skim milk but it is lactose free and I think it tastes better (but I've never liked milk much). The only soy milk I don't like is the fat free variety. It is the lowest in calories, but pretty watery. The taste actually isn't that bad, but it just doesn't look appealing.

For only a few calories more, you can get unsweetened vanilla flavored soy milk if you don't like the plain. Or you could try the sweetened varieties, they aren't that much higher in calories.

I look for cereals that are high in fiber but low in calories (I'm not paying that much attention to sugar). There are a bunch of different varieties out there. My favorite is Flax Plus which I get at Trader Joe's but it is now available at my local Safeway as well. It has about 130 calories per cup and 7g of fiber but it does have 6g of sugar. I also like Trader Joe's High Fiber Cereal (yes, that's the name--it's similar to All-Bran); it has 9g of fiber and 5g of sugar.

Fiber One and All-Bran are other alternatives that are high in fiber and fairly low in calories/sugar (in fact, I think both have 0g sugar). There are also a bunch of flake type cereals out there. Safeway makes a toasted oak flakes cereal that is pretty low in calories (I think they might make some other varieties, as well).

I don't like the Kashi cereals. I've yet to try one that I like, they are usually higher in calories than I want for my cereal, and I don't find them to be very filling. I think Kashi as a brand in general is very overrated.

- Barbara

Try the fresh soy milk (in the cooler, not in the tetra-packs on the shelf), and you'll barely notice a difference. The soy milk that's not fresh is the one that has a really noticable taste that most people don't like, so I wouldn't recommend trying that. Milk itself just grosses me out - I don't mind the flavour, but the idea of milk.... doesn't work for me, so I use soy milk all the time - the fresh stuff (So Nice is great) tastes like milk to me, and you can get it fortified, too.

When I was younger I could not handle a lot of cheese or just about any milk. I now can handle a lot more cheese but still don't handle milk beyond maybe a glass a day well. I personally don't drink any milk, even with cereal or oatmeal. I eat oatmeal plain - cause I don't handle milk well, and because it helps me control the calories much better. The last milk product I tried was a Rice Milk product and it was actually very very good. Cheaper than Silk, which I also can't handle much soy well, but much more tastier and I could drink about 4 cups a day and would have no bad side effects like I did with regular milk and soy milk. If I were to buy milk again I would without doubt buy milk made from rice, cause this stuff is very good. The brand I got had various flavors of milk, like vanilla (which I got), regular, and some other types. They also made choc. milk so they got variety.

As for oatmeal I get the old fashioned type cook it without anything added, and when done I usually add some splenda or sweet and low.

For cereal I have tried a lot of different healthy ones, and I can honestly say I have found one I will continue to by for a long while, which is Kashi Crunch Cereal. They got some variation too and different types, but I get the Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal which is very tasty. It taste as sugary as a granola bar and kinda has a mix of stuff which is good. There are other types within the Go lean and outside it that aren't as tasty but still good. My dad eats the more bland and much less sugary tasting one but it has much more fiber. I rather stick with the Crunch as a good sugary snack if I need one or as a good replacement for a meal when I can't or don't have time to set one up.

I put a tablespoon of peanut butter in one cup of oatmeal with some splenda--240 calories. Its really good.

I eat oatmeal all the time, and usually, I eat it plain. I prefer the regular, not instant, kind. I cook it with water, not milk.

OTOH, I have been known to use toppings with it. My favorite is the absolute worst, not recommended for a diet: salt and butter! Second favorite is a teaspoon of brown sugar, which is entirely justifiable, because it only adds 15 calories. The one teaspoon goes quite a long way. I tried using 2 spoonfuls, as that's still only 30 calories, and that was too much. A sprinkling of cinnamon, with or without the sugar is great, too. Occasionally, I'll put fruit in it, but I usually prefer to eat the fruit on the side.

Re cold cereal, Cheerios, Chex and large flakes can be eaten by hand, like chips.

8th continent makes a light vanilla soy milk that is sweetened with splenda, and I have this on cereal every morning (and yes, I'm one of the people who swears by Kashi aka packing foam). Its on 60 calories a cup, so you get the sweetness covering up the plain soy taste, but without the fat and calories of the full sugar/full fat flavored varieties.

I added blueberries to oatmeal and loved it!

If you really miss your cereal, I'd definitely at least try soy milk. I use plain unsweetened soy milk and I enjoy it. It has a different taste than milk but I like the taste. One thing you could do is make oatmeal in the microwave with soy milk and add some berries. That way you aren't directly drinking the soy milk.

You could also make oatmeal with water in the microwave. Then add some fruit to sweeten it up.

I had oatmeal with frozen/thawed cherries for breakfast this morning and loved it!

Maybe you could give soy milk another try ... your tastebuds may have changed. I don't use it as a substitute for milk on everything, but it tastes great in coffee.

I'm not a huge Kashi fan, either. I don't hate it, but I prefer Barbara's GrainShop.

I don't like the regular Kashi cereal. I think it tastes like styrofoam but I love the Kashi Go Lean Crunch. It has 3g of fat, 36g carb. 8g fiber, 13g sugar, 9g protein. I have it with Rice milk. I don't like soy either. Also soy is higher in fat than rice milk. Rice milk comes in regular and vanilla flavor. Try both. For me the vanilla is too sweet. As far as oatmeal goes I like original 3-5 min cooked better than instant and I use a teaspoon of brown sugar or maple syrup. I don't think that little bit of sugar is going to make or break me if it gets me to eat the oatmeal.

I love 8th continent vanilla low fat soy milk. (fat free is good but watery like fat free regular milk). I eat it with Hi Lo or shredded mini wheats or whole grain cheerios. You can also microwave the soymilk with instant quaker oatmeal and sprinkle a pinch of brown sugar splenda and almonds (yummy)!

I put a few spritz' of "I Can't Believe its Not Butter" (0 cals) and 1/2 packet of SweetNLow with mini dash of Morton's Lite Salt.

I use water in my oatmeal, and if you like it to taste rich, then I add a whole egg to it (beat it in with the water well and keep stirring while it cooks). I find I don't miss the milk if I've got my egg in there! If you can taste the egg, then put cinnamon and splenda in it to cover it up! ;)

I make my oatmeal with water, and add about 1/4 cup of 1% milk, along with a few raisins, 1 oz of walnuts, and a tsp of brown sugar after it's cooked. I also like to put dried currents or cranberries instead of the raisins, or pecans instead of walnuts. Fresh or frozen berries are good too. I just stir the frozen ones in cold, that way you don't get a lot of extra liquids. :)

I have cream of wheat every morning with Lactaid lactose free milk. My parents started drinking it before I did, and at first I refused because I thought the concept was kind of weird. Then, I got to the point where I realized that regular milk daily wasn't quite what my body wanted. I went out and bought some...it's been several years now and I still buy Lactaid skim milk! Tastes great!

I like steel cut oats prepared only with water, then I top with either frozen berries or fresh sliced banana.:)

We use Lactaid lactose-free milk (the non-fat versions) as well (DH is very lactose intolerant). I think it is sweeter than regular skim milk, but really only use it when cooking something that requires milk.

Like WaterRat and 2Frustrated, I also cook my oatmeal with water, and then use fresh berries, or cinnamon and brown sugar to flavor.

Also, what does everyone eat for cereal? Any healthy/low-cal suggestions that keep you full and aren't loaded w/sugar? Other than oatmeal, I haven't had much luck! :dizzy:

I make oatmeal with water (1/2 cup oatmeal, a little less than a cup of water - I love thick VERY thick oatmeal) and love to add 1/4 cup dried blueberries and chopped nuts (especially walnuts). I've also made oatmeal with soymilk, it tastes decadently rich after making it with water.

I can't have cold cereal in the house, it's a trigger food for me and I have a hard time managing it. My absolute favorite breakfast is whole grain toast with natural peanut butter, it's been my breakfast for over a year now.

I make oatmeal with water, too. Oatmeal anda packet of splenda are really all I need. If it's way too thick, I've added unsweetened applesauce.

For cold cereal, I also like the Organic (some word I can't remember) Flax Plus. I've discovered over time that I HATE ALL THINGS SOY!! So, were I lactose intolerant, I would definitely start with Lactaid.

I make my oatmeal by taking 1/2 cup old-fashioned (not instant) oatmeal, mixing in 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup Horizon Organic 1% milk and nuking it for 6 minutes on 50% power. That last part is important and if you do all this, you will get lovely, creamy oatmeal. I top w/ either brown sugar or Splenda (found out the brown sugar version of Splenda has MORE calories than regular brown sugar!), a handful of nuts (usually pecans) and occasionally some dried cranberries, raisins or "fruit bits" (mixture of different dried fruit).

I currently love Kashi Go Lean Crunch as my cold cereal of choice.