Drink
Morning oat tonic
Oats are a nervine. That is the herbalist''s word for a plant that nourishes the nervous system over time rather than doing something right now, and oats are the best known of them.
It does nothing the first week. That is not a fault, it is how nervines work. They build up, slowly, in step with you remembering them.
Soak the oats in the evening, and breakfast stands ready for the morning when you are too tired to make anything. That is the best quality of this recipe: it asks nothing of you at the moment you have least to give.
The cinnamon is not decoration. It keeps blood sugar steady through the morning, and steady blood sugar is an underrated part of a steady mood.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp rolled oats
- Water or plant milk to cover
- 1 tsp cinnamon, preferably Ceylon
- Fresh fruit in season, apple, pear or berries
Equipment
- Bowl or jar with lid
- Spoon
Method
- 1
Soak 2 tbsp rolled oats in water overnight, add fruit and cinnamon in the morning.
Dosage
One portion every morning.
Give it at least 4-6 weeks before judging. Oats work by repetition, not by strength.
Shelf life
Soaked in the evening and eaten the next morning. Keeps 2 days refrigerated.
Safety
If you have coeliac disease, choose oats labelled gluten-free. Oats contain no gluten themselves but are almost always contaminated during harvest and processing.
Use Ceylon cinnamon rather than cassia if you eat it daily. Cassia contains coumarin, which in larger daily amounts can strain the liver. A teaspoon of cassia daily is borderline, and Ceylon does not have the problem.
Oats can lower blood sugar. If you have diabetes and take medication, watch it the first weeks.
And most important: a breakfast bowl is not a treatment for depression. If things have been black for more than two weeks, if you lose interest in what you usually love, or if you think about not being here, speak with your doctor. Getting help is not weakness, it is the wildest thing you can do.
How the herbs work
Oats contain B vitamins, magnesium and avenanthramides, and have traditionally been used as a nervine, a plant that nourishes the nervous system through sustained use rather than acting acutely.
The beta-glucans in oats are soluble fibres that make blood sugar rise slowly instead of spiking. Steady blood sugar through the morning means fewer of the drops where mood and energy go with it.
Cinnamon contributes to the same. Several studies suggest it slightly improves insulin sensitivity.
Neither lifts mood directly. They remove some of the swings that make an already heavy mood heavier.
The content here is general knowledge and folk herbal lore, not medical treatment. In illness, pregnancy, breastfeeding or alongside medication: always talk to your doctor first.