Stay calm, eat oats! Let’s make them organic and gluten free too!
A little chatter about oats – why not all oats are created equal, and why I use certified organic and gluten free oats.
Did you know the oats in Sunbird products are organic and gluten free?
Not everyone has this as a top priority when oat shopping – but for me – when sourcing my ingredients for Sunbird it was really important.
Why?
Well, organic speaks for itself – but why gluten free? In the early days of Sunbird I was on a strict GF diet and sourcing oats that were both organic and GF was tricky – yes – you can get them – but usually only in specialist stores – you can buy organic easily enough, and GF too – but trying to find oats which were both organic and GF was frustrating at times, grr!
And I can’t make and sell products that I can’t eat myself right? So organic and GF oats it was.
I buy mine from Glebe Farms – they’re based in Cambridgeshire and come with a reassuring certificate that shows they are organic and GF. (https://www.glebefarmfoods.co.uk/)
Aren’t oats naturally gluten free?
Yes – but they can be grown next to a field of gluten containing crops (wheat, rye, barley etc) – and they might be processed on machinery which has been used to process wheat etc. Animals can also cross contaminate oat crops.
So – the grower and processor has to have procedures in place to avoid cross contamination. Then – each batch has to be sent off to a lab to be tested to ensure it complies to gluten free legislation.
To pass – the legal requirement is to contain 20 parts per million (ppm) or less of gluten.
Can coeliacs eat gluten free oats?
If you’re coeliac you know that you have to follow advice from a medically trained professional – ultimately it will depend on a range of factors – that only you and your doctor can determine.
If you’re not sure about Sunbird products – I am always happy to send you samples to try without spending your hard earned £££ - so just get in touch.
Sunbird assurances
While I’m here – I should highlight that on the back of each Sunbird product – I say:
Made in a kitchen that handles gluten, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, eggs, soya, and milk. May also contain shell fragments.
I just can’t guarantee that my products are 100% GF as they have not been lab tested.
I have strict prcedures in place to make sure that during production and packing the area is free from gluten containing ingredients (as well as peanuts – as my son has a peanut allergy) but in my opinion, without lab testing I can’t hand on heart say that my products are 100% GF.
It’s a tricky one – I do plan to start lab testing products to get data on this – but it’s expensive and my batches are small so it’s not cost effective to do for every batch.
Nutritional benefits of eating oats
Oats
- are high in fibre
- a great source of beta glucan (soluble fibre)
- reduce cholesterol
- aid healthy digestion
- are anti-inflammatory
Oats are a great source of fibre – both soluble and insoluble. Not only will fibre help you feel full, the soluble fibre (beta glucan) is thought to help reduce LDL cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of developing heart disease.
Beta glucan is also said to improve blood sugar control. The insoluble fibre helps to move waste products through your gut and with the prevention of constipation.
Oats contain avenanthramides – these are anti-oxidants which are reported to help with inflammation and also may play a role in controlling blood pressure.
100g of raw oats typically contain:
389kcal, 55.7g carbohydrates (0 sugar), 16.9g protein, 6.9g fat, 10.6g fibre, plus traces of thiamine, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, manganese, selenium, and iron.
SOURCES:
https://www.glebefarmfoods.co.uk/
https://gluten.org/2020/11/20/are-oats-and-oat-flour-gluten-free/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coeliac-disease/treatment/