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The Goldilocks Porridge Formula

Forty grams of oats, weighed. Poured straight from the bag you end up at seventy or eighty, which is enough carbohydrate in one hit to leave you foggy and heavy all morning.

serves 1 5 mins breakfast vegetarian quick basics
The Goldilocks Porridge Formula

why it works

At 40g you get about 150 kcal from the oats but crucially around 4g of beta-glucan — the specific soluble fibre with the strongest evidence behind it for lowering LDL. The 5g of chia adds another 2g. That's a 6g fibre wall before you've left the house, without the food coma.

Ingredients

  • 40g rolled oats
  • 250g skimmed milk, or 250ml
  • 5g chia seeds, roughly one teaspoon

Method

  1. Weigh the oats. Digital scales, 40g. This is the entire point of the recipe and eyeballing it defeats the object — most people pour nearly double.

  2. Cook the oats with the milk however you normally would, hob or microwave.

  3. Stir the chia seeds straight into the warm porridge and let it sit for two minutes to thicken.

remix

  • Heavier training days: 65g oats, 1 tbsp chia and 20g skimmed milk powder, about 370 kcal
  • Stir the chia straight into the warm porridge and let it sit two minutes. No soaking, no faff
  • Pre-mix the dry portions into bags or one big tub so a morning portion is one scoop and hot water
  • A wide-mouth stainless steel flask works brilliantly — dry mix, boiling water, sealed, perfect by the time you arrive
  • Berries or a chopped banana on top, not sugar