Does Kelsey really need an introduction? ? You may know her from her two guest posts, Cookies N Cream Overnight Oatmeal and Spiced Parsnip Oatmeal, or perhaps from her frequent appearances in the “This Week in Oatmeal” series. I have collaborated with her so often that I just assumed I had already featured her as an Oatmeal Enthusiast–turns out I hadn’t! Thus, it is my great pleasure to pass the keyboard to Kelsey and let her tell her story.
Hi there!
My name is Kelsey, but you might know me as @fortheloveof_pb on Instagram. I’m beyond thrilled to be your Oatmeal Enthusiast for February!
At 23, I’ve finally gotten to the point in my life where I’ve made health and fitness a priority. I exercise daily (swimming with a masters’ group, Blogilates videos, and hot yoga are current favorites), and I eat an incredibly “clean” diet: vegan, unprocessed foods with minimal added sugar and oil.
It wasn’t always that way. My favorite food used to be boxed mac and cheese, and for the first two years of college my fridge was regularly filled with frozen mozzarella sticks, cookie dough, and chocolate frosting. And you know I wasn’t baking those cookies.
Right after I turned 21, I contracted an H. Pylori infection, but I wouldn’t know that for almost four months. It was like, overnight, my digestive system just turned on me. I was battling constant heartburn and nausea that kept me up every night. It took four months to figure out what was wrong, but even after the infection was eradicated, I spent another year dealing with the lingering symptoms from this infection.
I realized, in order to combat these lingering symptoms, I needed to overhaul my diet.
Over a couple months, I cut out most processed foods and started eating more fiber. One of the first swaps I made was eating oatmeal for breakfast in place of frozen waffles. I can’t tell you how many bowls of strawberry and peanut butter oatmeal I ate my senior year of college because it was about the only thing that never made me feel ill.
This past May, I decided I was tired of taking medication to manage my symptoms. I had heard stories about people with digestive issues that were cleared up by a vegan diet, so I decided to try it. And it worked. I no longer take any medication and have been symptom-free since July.
Throughout my recovery, oatmeal was a constant in my diet because it was one of my “safest” foods; no indigestion or nausea here, ever. Over time I began to expand my oatmeal repertoire and discovered Lauren’s blog. From there I got inspired. There was so much more you could do with oatmeal than just add strawberries. It was something you could put vegetables in!
And I do – every day. Oatmeal is actually where I get a lot of the veggies into my diet. I love that oatmeal offers the opportunity to “sneak” more fruits and veggies into my diet in delicious ways. Sometimes I think about how ridiculous it is that I’m having, say, chocolate carrot cake oatmeal for breakfast. It tastes like dessert, but its really just fruit, veggies, whole grains, and of course some peanut butter.
The funny thing is, even though I eat more adventurously than I ever have, I still eat oatmeal more than anything else. Although, let’s be honest, my oatmeal is often pretty adventurous too. It’s easily my favorite food, and I’m so excited that I get to share it with my family (my Dad posts about my oatmeal on Facebook every time I come home to visit), my friends, on Instagram, and with you all this week! With that in mind, I tried to line up a week of oatmeal that highlights everything I’ve ever considered to be a favorite. I hope you enjoy it and get inspired to try out a new oatmeal flavor!
Saturday: Strawberry PB Oatmeal with Parsnips
I figured I would start the week off with my first oatmeal love, strawberries and peanut butter. Back in the day I would have made this with instant oats and frozen strawberries in the microwave, but today I stepped up my game. I still made instant oats, but I added some shredded parsnips to add some volume and cooked everything on the stovetop. And, because I’m excessive, I made some PB2 to stir into the oats and then topped them with my all time favorite peanut butter from Trader Joe’s. Side note: look how beautiful those berries are! I mean, its January, how did this even happen?! Continue reading
