If I have a long day ahead of me, there’s only one option for breakfast - oatmeal. Oatmeal is quite simply the perfect breakfast for a long day.

With a big bowl of oatmeal, such as my cinnamon raisin oatmeal, I can go all day.

Here’s why it’s so great:

1) Oatmeal is natural and nearly unprocessed.

Oatmeal is healthy and natural for one basic reason - it’s made almost entirely of oats, which are very healthy grains. And even better, the oats are nearly unprocessed. That’s what really sets oatmeal apart from cereals that come out of a box.

(Those cereals are usually just white flour plus some added nutrients to make it appear healthy, when in actuality most nutrients were already stripped out of the ingredients during the processing.)

2) Oatmeal keeps you full.

Oatmeal keeps you full longer than most other foods. Since the oats are whole grain, there’s plenty of fiber, which helps you feel satiated. Oatmeal “sticks to your gut” as they say.

So if breakfast could end up being your only real meal of the day, choose oatmeal!

3) You can get 1,000 high-energy calories in one bowl.

You can get 1,000 calories in one bowl (if the bowl is big enough.) If you need to fuel for, or refuel from, a huge ride, this is the ticket. And a lot the calories are from carbs, so you should get tons of energy and feel great on your next ride.

4) Oatmeal is packed with protein, fiber, and tons of good nutrients.

While there are lots of carbs, oatmeal also contains protein, fiber, and other important nutrients. Among others, one beneficial nutrient is that soluble fiber which may reduce LDL cholesterol (the bad one) without lowering HDL cholesterol (the good one.)

To learn about more nutrients packed in oatmeal, just see the oatmeal page at World’s Healthiest Foods.

5) Oatmeal makes a great conduit for fruit.

Besides oatmeal, fruit is also great for breakfast. And oatmeal just happens to taste great with fruit mixed in!

Flavor your oatmeal with blueberries, strawberries, bananas, or peaches for a great breakfast where you also get potent antioxidants and nutrients from the fruit.

So what are you waiting for, go have some oatmeal!

Photo credit: nate steiner

I love oatmeal. I cook it myself almost every single day. (The pre-made packets are alright, but they usually contain too much extra sugar.)

Nevertheless, oatmeal is a great breakfast. It’s full of healthy, hearty grains, and fills you up - it “sticks to your gut” as they say. In other words, it keeps you feeling satisfied for hours.

I typically go with a cinnamon raisin flavor. I enjoy it, and it never gets old. Roughly speaking, here are the ingredients:

• Large bowl
• 1 1/2 cups Rolled Oats
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Organic Cane Sugar (optional, to taste)
• 1/2 cup Raisins
• 1 1/2 cups Milk

And here is how to put it all together:

Step 1: Rolled Oats

Dump about 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats into your large bowl. I usually use the quick oats (which are ground a bit more and make for easier cooking,) but some people swear by steel cut oats. Use whatever you prefer.

Step 2: Cinnamon

Now pour in the cinnamon! Cinnamon is extremely healthy, so I just dump it on. I’d say I use about 2 tsp, although you only need about 1/4 tsp to get great health benefits.

Step 3: Sugar

I usually put a little bit of organic cane sugar in, too. 1 or 2 tsp is plenty.

Step 4: Stir

Now that all the dry ingredients are in, stir them up with your spoon.

Step 5: Raisins

Add in 1/2 cup raisins. (This is where the real sweetness comes from.)

Step 6: Stir again

Now stir the raisins in so all the ingredients are mixed nicely.

Step 7: Milk

Add milk. I add enough to cover the oatmeal and saturate it. In a big bowl like this, that is about 1 1/2 cups. (With more milk, the oatmeal will be thin and soupy. With less milk, the oatmeal is thick and sticky.)

You can use skim or 1% milk; both are good for creating a creamy texture. You could also use water, but I hate oatmeal made with water, since it tends to be thin, clumpy, and flavorless.

Step 8: Microwave

Now put the bowl in the microwave to cook. I usually put the bowl in for a minute, then take it out and stir it, and then microwave again for about 35 seconds. This keeps it from clumping up.

Cooking time will vary by microwave and by size of bowl. (My huge serving size requires extra cooking time!)

Step 9: Eat

Sit back, relax, and enjoy eating your bowl of oatmeal!

* My bowl of oatmeal is pretty darn big. If for some reason you’d rather not have a 1,000 calorie bowl of oatmeal, you can scale back the portion sizes as you prefer. But I usually eat at least 3,000 calories per day, so my breakfast is usually this size.

Like to cook healthy food at home? Then you might use one of my favorite ingredients - oat flour. Oat flour is great because it is a hearty, whole-grain flour. It blows away typical white flour when it comes to health benefits. (Oats contain soluble fiber which has been shown to reduce bad cholesterol and improve heart health, which is why Cheerios are promoted as good for your heart.)

Oat flour also makes a great substitute for whole wheat flour, especially if you are allergic to wheat! Or you can mix oat flour and wheat flour together for a healthy combo!

Whatever you do, you can easily make your own oat flour at home! Here’s how:

You need:

• Rolled oats
• Blender

This is a very simple process:

1. Dump some rolled oats in the blender.

2. Blend.

Then just keep blending until the oats have turned into powder, and ta-da! You now have oat flour!

That was extremely simple and easy, and there you have a healthy, 100% whole grain oat flour.

(Aside from cooking bread and making your own energy bars, it could even be formed into a paste to soothe a sunburn!)