Buckwheat vs. Oatmeal: Two Grains Enter, One Grain Leaves

January 10th, 2008 · 6 Comments

Picture this: A West LA Whole Foods. Two days ago. Me, cereal aisle, contemplating new grains to replace morning oatmeal.

A woman arrives and picks up a box of Buckwheat Cream of Wheat. I ask her about it, and she tells me that unlike oatmeal, it’s gluten-free so won’t make me fat. Something sounds fishy about this, but oats have felt heavy to me lately, and my gosh: This woman is THIN. Super thin. She must know her shizzat!

So I gots me some Cream ‘o Buckwheat, and I like it well enough. But I mean, it’s no oatmeal! And today I finally remembered to compare it to oats and guess what: Oats are gluten free too! (Sometimes they have gluten contamination, OK, but not enough gluten to “fatten” you up, if we’re going to buy the gluten-makes-you-fat theory for the moment.) Plus my oats have fewer carbs and more fiber and protein than cream ‘o buckwheat (which also must be more processed, because the granulates are teeninsy).

So it’s back to oats for me. There are a couple of recipes on the buckwheat box that I’m excited to try: Cheesy Green Chile Grits and Indian Pudding. Yum!

You can choose among three morals to this story:

1) Faddish LA “health nuts” have no idea what they’re talking about. Next week she’ll probably throw away all her buckwheat and switch to the raw meat diet.

2) Just because they’re skinnier, doesn’t mean they know more about health.

3) Who cares if she was right about gluten? It’s fun to introduce a new food to your diet.

Tags: Health News

6 responses so far ↓

1 Melissa H. // Jan 11, 2008 at 3:36 pm

I don’t know if I’ll ever tire of oatmeal, but it’s good to know there are other alternatives out there…and hey everyone loves a fad ;-)
2 heather // Jan 11, 2008 at 4:09 pm

I love cold oatmeal!
3 Lorie E // Jan 14, 2008 at 9:52 pm

You crack me up, Sarah! Love the title on this post. You are such a hilarious writer in the the way you put things, but especially because you’re so dead on with your content! (As in, “it’s funny ’cause it’s true”). NEway, it’s definitely too true what you said about those “diet fad of the moment” type of people. :)

But good for you, trying Cream O’ Buckwheat, I didn’t know about that one so I’ll have to look for it and see what it’s like.
4 Melissa G // Jan 15, 2008 at 10:28 pm

I was all set to bemoan my inability to find Cream o Buckwheat in Switzerland, but 1) I’m scared I’ll turn into a twiggy health nut giving false advice 2) I now have something to look forward to when visiting the states and 3) I’m going to take your story as inspiration to go out and find out what new and exciting grains are hiding in the isles near here!
5 Seth // May 9, 2008 at 2:30 pm

Hey, some oats DO have gluten, although I’m not sure that the presence of gluten would make you fat. Gluten’s an issue for people with celiac’s disease and not necessarily an issue for people with weight issues.

That said, I’ve tried and like the cream of buckwheat. I think it provides a nice change of pace from oats…Steel cut oats are kick-ass, though.
6 Kym // Oct 11, 2008 at 10:33 am

You never know; she could have been paid to promote ‘Buckwheat Cream of Wheat’. :P