Despite what “Celebrity Personal Trainer” Bob Harper says…Oatmeal is NOT a Super Food

Well, you are REALLY playing devils advocate. I eat Quaker Instant Flavored oatmeal every morning. I can barely handle 2 packets without becoming satisified. Your suggestion that an 8 year old is going to eat between 3.4 and 5.5 packets, flavored or not, is ludicrous. That is 2-3 soup bowls full! So, while you berate Quaker for using a "professional" to skew facts about the "gospel" of using their products, you turn around and skew the facts (on the amount a child or adult would intake) to promote your "gospel" of not eating their product. At the very beginning, you state "I hate the crap!", an automatic bias. You compare the oatmeal to at least 4 different, truely marketed as candy or desert, items. At least the Quaker oatmeal does have a healthy, dietary benefit, FIBER! If kids are introduced to fiber at an early age, albeit with the flavor and sugar enticement, they are more likely to eat more fiber (regular oatmeal) as an adult. Or at least, eat the flavored kind that I do but also run 4 miles a day.

I fully agree. The Biggest Loser used to be a must-see show, but now it's a giant advertisement for (un)healthy food items.
For anywone who wants to try something other than oatmeal, give "Quinoa Flakes" a try. Easy to microwave, add some berries, and with a touch of unsweetened almond milk, it's a perfect start to the morning.

Good lord.....I think HangGlider needs to spend less time with his/her head in the clouds, and more time reading current research....LOL
Wow....someone who thinks that FAT causes a fundamental systemic break in the Glucose metabolism mechanism, clearly has no business discusseing nutrition at all.....or biophysics....or biochemistry......wait....hold on....HangGlider, you don't by any chance work for the USDA, do you!? hahaha!! or the Department of Agriculture?
I don't know....maybe I've had it all wrong all this time, and Insulin ISN'T secreted in response to Dietary Carbohydrates (sugar).....hmmm.....maybe insulin resistance, ISN'T part of the metabolic breakdown that occurs before someone becomes a full blown diabetic.
Damn, 100,000 years ago, the planet must have been absolutely COVERED by a bunch of over-weight, diabetic cavemen and women. The paleolithic diet of mostly saturated fat and protein, must have been terribly unhealthy for all those poor folks.
So let me get this straight.....I've been existing on over 65% calories from Fat, 30% calories from Protein, and around 5% calories from carbs.....eating no grains at all for over a year and half now, and maintaining 8-9% bodyfat, while doing no cardio exercise at all.....and it was all just pure luck that I'm not dead or diabetic?
Oh well, I guess I'll go back to eating a high carb, low-fat diet then.
LMAO!

"Doug is a personal trainer, a fitness blogger and author, a competitive athlete, and a student of nutrition and exercise science..." Really?
Sugar intake - even in massive quantities doesn't cause diabetes. Fat intake causes diabetes - a fact that's been established since the 1950's. I'd expect a "...student of nutrition and exercise science" to know that. I'd also expect said "student" to know that the fat in oatmeal is unsaturated fat, and therefore not comparable to the other foods you attempted to compare it with (e.g., "...a York Peppermint Patty, or a Klondike, Slim-a-Bear Chocolate Sandwich, or ...". You're distributing as much misinformation as Quaker.
Maybe it's time to go back to nutrition school?

Your article is as disingenuous as Bob's unspecific claim about Oatmeal's benefits... why choose the worst of their products? I Google-searched to see where the truth lies and instead got more hyperbolic hysteria.
Couldn't you have checked out their spectrum of products & said, "here's the lesser of the evils"? Or do you really believe these "moms" you're so concerned about will be serving, "leftover french herb sausage & super sweet grapefruit" to their kiddos as they rush out the door to school??
In a word, "puleeeeeese!"

Totally agree with you! You are definitely right on target. We all know it's all about money, they don't care about people's health!

Another well written, and 100% right blog post, Doug! NICE ONE! Keep 'em coming!

i still have some of that very package (and another flavour). its a couple months old. wont buy again. : ) .... plus i usually eat it at night.

What a great post, I love the way you call out quaker oats for selling that crap to moms & kids. I love to eat organic natural oats after a hard workout No sugar added! I don't like to start my day with that many carbs and much prefer to eat more protein in the morning. It keeps your blood sugar level from spiking and setting you up for a bad day. Wilford Brimley of Quaker Oats fame should have pointed that out to diabetics since that's what he is selling now! I love a good blog post that tells the truth. I blog as well on my website and really do my research before I Blah-Blah to the world. I'll be tuning in more often. I found this post on Twitter!

you could try plain quacker oats "quick 1-minute"
1/2 cup is 150 cals, 3 g fat, 9 g cholesterol, 27 g carbs (4g fiber, 1 g sugar) 5 g protein. I make a cup with a table spoon of natural peanut butter, a scoop of chocolate EAS whey protein, and some Cinnamon

What about old-fashioned quaker oats or a good brand of whole or steel-cut oats?
You seem to forget that not all oatmeal comes in little sugary packets.

great post. but the ad at the top was for Slim Fast.

@Natalie
It's almost always some variation of protein & fruit
This morning was some leftover 'french herb' pork sausage followed by an unbelieveably sweet & massive grapefruit

What would be your ideal brekkie?