Oats Overnight seems like an easy health win to me

I hate to be one of those people who gets taken in by advertisements and the latest trend, but recently I’ve been taken in by advertisements and the latest trend: overnight oats.

Since Facebook is the devil, and constantly listens in on my private conversations and scans my Google search history to curate Julia-specific ads to blast me with every time I scan my newsfeed, I’ve been getting a lot of ads recently for super foods and the like. With this thyroid issue seemingly never getting any better, I figured I’d do what I could to help my body along to wellness by changing the foods I eat and the ways I eat them.

Within the slew of annoying advertisements, I kept seeing the same short video for Oats Overnight. You know, that video where the woman mixes up her oats the night before and then emerges the next morning ready for work, smiling and drinking her oats as she walks out the front door (which she then proceeds to leave wide open…). Yeah, that one.

While I’m certainly not the type of person to simply succumb to good advertising immediately, I did do some research into these mysterious “overnight” oats (like what makes them “overnight”? why can’t I just eat some regular oats?) and decided that the health benefits were enough to satisfy the curiosity I had to try the hype. So I logged on to Amazon, placed my order, and not-so-patiently waited for the box to arrive in the mail. Side note: the delivery guy actually delivered them to my neighbor by mistake, who opened the package without reading the name, and kindly knocked on the door to explain why the package was open. What a stand-up guy. My neighbor, not the delivery guy. Screw that guy, he should be fired for his incompetence. Just kidding. Not really.

Anyway, last night, I filled my Blender Bottle with the required amount of milk (which seemed like a ton when I poured it in, but I guess 8oz is only really a glassful), poured my choice of oats in (between the chocolate peanut butter banana, strawberries & cream, and green apple cinnamon, I decided to first try the strawberries & cream), shook it up a bit, and placed it ever-so-gently in the fridge to let it “activate” overnight. Whatever that means. This morning, in addition to my eggs, I got to try my first cup of oats overnight.

First, I had to get past the fact that I was drinking the oats, instead of eating them with a spoon, as I’d done all my life. It’s still a weird concept to me, but I didn’t hate it. I’ve heard you can warm them up in the microwave to eat them hot, and make them a bit thicker, but honestly, it was fun slurping them out of a bottle.

Next, I had to contend with the amount of milk I was consuming. I don’t really like to drink milk that much, but luckily these oats can be mixed with a milk substitute. Now I just have to convince myself to like Almond Milk.

The last and probably only real hangup I have about these oats is the expense. The starter pack, which included 3 packs of oats and the Blender Bottle, was $18, which I thought was reasonable, since it came with the reusable bottle. But now that I have the bottle, the smallest pack they have is a 12-pack for $45. That’s almost $4 a pack (and I’ve already checked, the price is the same whether you order direct from their website, or from Amazon). Luckily, I noticed I could really only “eat” about half the bottle for breakfast, so I still had half a bottle left, which I just finished consuming as an afternoon snack. So the packs seems to yield about two servings; whether I prepare the whole thing at once, or just use half the oats with half the milk, I think I’ll be able to stretch each pack into two meals, making it cost about $2 per serving. Those numbers I can get on board with. I also like the idea of having a healthy meal/snack option ready for me as I leave for work. I can envision myself eating half the oats with my typical eggs & gluten-free bagel breakfast, and saving the other half for a mid-day snack at work. I can just pop it in my mini-fridge in my classroom, and have zero prep when I’m dying of hunger halfway through classes and can’t stop teaching to sit and eat a snack. #teacherproblems

And who knows, with all the promised health benefits, maybe I’ll also start feeling like a human again soon. Not that I expect my life to become glamorous and elegant overnight like the woman’s in the commercial. But hey, if I keep eating these oats, I’m one step closer.