OAT OF CONTROL BOWL

As the damp winter chill starts to settle in on Vancouver, you’ll likely notice yourself gravitating to more warming foods – especially breakfast. While I love a good smoothie for a boost of vitamins, minerals & nutrients, a warming bowl of oats is a cozy, hearty and really pleasant way to start the day. The new Oat of Control bowl does its name justice; for me, it has the perfect blend of beneficial nutrients and comfort/nostalgia. My mum used to make me porridge sprinkled with brown sugar most mornings in the winter months, and this bowl boasts a very similar flavour. 

The oats are gluten-free and provide a nice source of carbohydrates to fuel you (especially great after a morning class, run or walk!), and the homemade almond milk (sans preservatives) gives it a really rich creamy texture, while the cinnamon helps add some warming spice and keeps blood sugar stable. The bowl is topped with strawberries for fibre and vitamin C and adds just the right amount of tartness to the sweet and creamy oats. And then perhaps my favourite element: the caramel date paste, which is made up entirely of nourishing & naturally sweetened foods like cashew, date, almond milk, cocoa and vanilla – no artificial ingredients or flavours here, rather a nice source of healthy fats and fibre that lend to keeping insulin levels in check. Pro tip: give the bowl a good mix before diving in and watch the paste melt and integrate into the oats…heaven. The bowl is sprinkled with TurF’s famous homemade granola, a major source of joy and one of my favourite “soul foods” – i.e. an add on that is more about flavour than nutrients, and in moderation that is a beautiful and necessary thing! Even as a soul food, the granola is relatively low in sugar, sweetened naturally and contains nuts and seeds for some added beneficial fibre, fats and minerals. 

I could go on about this bowl for awhile (can you tell I’m a #1 fan?), but I’ll leave it right here – i hope you’re enticed to give it a try (or maybe you’re already on the oat of control bandwagon). Enjoy and take note of how warming, hearty meals like the Oat of Control bowl resonate with your system this time of the year :)

– Trilby, TurF teacher and soon-to-be Certified Nutritional Practitioner