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Oatmeal Squares


I can't believe I haven't taken a photo of the meal I eat most often: oatmeal squares. I'm not a big breakfast person, what with not liking eggs and all, and sugar first thing in the morning makes me sick; so cereal is usually my go-to. Plus, it's quick. Perfect for someone like me who doesn't like to spend more than 10 minutes on a meal.

And I really do turn this into a meal. Rarely do I ever eat oatmeal squares by itself. I will always add pepita and chia seeds if I have them on hand (and I try to have both) and some form of fruit. Blueberries and strawberries are my go-to, but raspberries are my favorite when they're in season and I can pick them right from the back yard. If I'm in a bind, I'll put a banana in there. I love bananas and eat them multiple times a day, but I don't like them so much in cereal. They get soggy and make everything taste like banana. Then I'll top my cereal off with some granola, maybe some raisins, and another type of cereal, like Bran Flakes or Kashi's Heart to Heart, if I'm feeling it.

As I said, it really is a meal, and I always feel really proud of myself for how healthy and well-rounded it looks. It may only be cereal, but it's cereal with a ton of fruit, nuts, and oats.

In spite of how healthy it looks, I've always wondered how healthy it actually is. I know it's not laced with sugar and figure it must be pretty high on the fiber content, being made from oats, but that's as far as I actually know about it. But today I did a search for oatmeal squares and the first thing that popped up was this:


I was incredibly surprised. The fiber content is actually lower than I expected (that's okay), but the protein content is much higher than I expected (which is to say, none); and I'm blown out of the water that the iron content is 91%! I've always struggled with reaching my daily iron intake because I don't eat most of the foods that iron is strong in (e.g. eggs, pork, fish), so this is a big deal for me. 

As a side note: while I was just now looking up iron-rich foods, I found out that pepita seeds fall under that category AND they are also one of the highest sources for magnesium. Here was me thinking I didn't get enough iron or magnesium this entire time!

On that same note, oatmeal squares also have a decent amount of magnesium, which is a mineral that I've been focusing a lot on lately for exercising.

So it turns out that oatmeal squares are actually a lot healthier for me than I thought! I won't feel so bad about eating it practically every day now, haha. 

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