Fuel Note 1: Why an overnight-oats mix?

Fuel Note 1: Why an overnight-oats mix?

Fuel Note 1: Why an overnight-oats mix?

Welcome to Fuel Notes.

You may already have read the Why NADA? page, which explains a little about where the idea came from and what I want NADA to become. Here, I want to look more closely at the food itself.

This first Fuel Note introduces the ingredients in NADA’s overnight-oats mixes and some of the thinking behind them. Future notes will explore individual ingredients, carbohydrates, protein, fibre, food processing and nutrition for training in more detail.

It starts with oats

It would be difficult to make an overnight-oats mix without oats, but they are here for more than the name.

Oats are predominantly a source of carbohydrate. The body can store carbohydrate in the muscles and liver as glycogen, and these stores help support exercise—particularly as its duration or intensity increases.

That doesn’t mean everybody needs to eat the same amount of carbohydrate. An athlete’s requirements depend on factors including their training load, goals, body size and the timing of the meal.

Oats also provide unsaturated fat, several forms of dietary fibre and a useful amount of protein.

Oat protein contains all nine essential amino acids. In that literal sense, it contains a “complete” set. However, these amino acids are not present in equal proportions: oats are relatively low in lysine, making it one of their limiting amino acids.

Remember lysine—we’ll come back to it.

One particularly interesting component of oats is beta-glucan. This is a soluble fibre that absorbs water and contributes to the characteristic texture of prepared oats.

Why add dates?

Dates give the mixture sweetness without relying solely on refined sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Dates naturally contain sugars, including glucose, fructose and, in some varieties, sucrose. Their precise composition varies according to their variety and stage of ripeness. Dates also contain dietary fibre and a range of plant compounds, including polyphenols.

It would be tempting to say that dates provide both “immediate” and “sustained” energy, but the science is more complicated than that.

The glycaemic index, or GI, compares the blood-glucose response produced by a fixed amount of available carbohydrate from a food with the response produced by a reference food, usually glucose. A lower value indicates a smaller overall blood-glucose response under those controlled test conditions.

GI can help us describe how a carbohydrate food behaves, but it does not tell us whether a food is automatically good, bad or suitable for a particular training session. Research has not found a universal performance advantage from choosing a low-GI meal before exercise.

For longer or more demanding training, easily digested carbohydrate can be useful during exercise or when rapid recovery is required. In everyday meals, GI is only one consideration alongside portion size, fibre, protein, fat, overall diet and personal tolerance.

In one study, five varieties of whole dates produced GI values between approximately 46 and 55 in healthy participants. These results placed the tested varieties within the study’s low-GI category.

This tells us something about those particular dates when eaten in portions containing a standardised amount of carbohydrate. It does not tell us the glycaemic response to chopped dates eaten as part of a mixture containing oats, nuts, seeds and yoghurt.

The complete meal, its portion size, how it has been prepared and the individual eating it can all affect the response.

That is exactly the kind of distinction I want Fuel Notes to explore: what the evidence actually demonstrates, rather than simply repeating claims that sound good on a packet.

Nuts, seeds and the return of lysine

Nuts and seeds add texture, but they also broaden the nutritional profile of the mixture. Depending on the particular variety, they can provide unsaturated fats, fibre, minerals and additional plant protein.

They contain mixtures of soluble and insoluble fibre rather than fitting neatly into only one category.

Seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower and chia seeds, and nuts such as almonds and cashews, all contain lysine—although the amount varies considerably between foods.

Remember the lysine that is relatively limited in oats? Combining several foods adds different quantities and proportions of amino acids to the meal. The nuts and seeds therefore contribute further protein and broaden the overall amino-acid profile of the mixture.

That does not automatically prove that they completely compensate for the amount of lysine in oats; establishing that would require a calculation or analysis of the complete recipe. However, it demonstrates why it is more useful to consider the combination of foods in a meal rather than judging each ingredient in isolation.

What you add matters too

NADA is a dry mixture, so its final nutritional profile depends partly on how it is prepared.

Adding milk or yoghurt can increase the protein and carbohydrate content of the finished meal. Dairy proteins contain all nine essential amino acids and provide considerably more lysine than oat protein, further broadening the amino-acid profile of the meal.

Different additions will produce different results. Greek-style yoghurt, ordinary yoghurt, milk and plant-based alternatives do not all provide the same amount or quality of protein.

Some yoghurts contain live cultures, but that does not mean every yoghurt—or every bowl of overnight oats—automatically improves the microbiome or athletic performance.

The relationship between fermented foods, gut microorganisms, health and exercise is an interesting subject, but it deserves a separate and properly evidenced Fuel Note of its own.

Putting it into a training day

Nuts, seeds and fibre increase the energy density of the meal, but context still matters.

A substantial meal containing carbohydrate, fat, protein and fibre may suit someone eating several hours before training. Someone eating immediately before a hard run or race may prefer a smaller meal that is lower in fat and fibre and easier to digest.

Individual gut tolerance also differs. A meal that works perfectly for one athlete may be uncomfortable for another, particularly when eaten close to intense exercise.

Good sports nutrition therefore cannot be reduced to one universal breakfast or a rigid list of “good” and “bad” foods. The appropriate food, amount and timing depend on the person and the training they are preparing for.

This is only the starting point

NADA began with a fairly simple idea: to create a convenient breakfast from recognisable, minimally processed ingredients that could fit around training and everyday life.

However, simple ingredients still contain complicated science.

Over future Fuel Notes, I’ll look at:

  • how the body uses carbohydrate during exercise;

  • how much protein active people actually need;

  • the different forms and functions of dietary fibre;

  • the individual ingredients used in NADA;

  • food processing and what “ultra-processed” really means;

  • meal timing before and after training;

  • fermented foods and the microbiome; and

  • where the evidence is strong, uncertain or commonly exaggerated.

The purpose isn’t to present one product or ingredient as a magic answer. It is to understand what is in our food, what the evidence says it does and how it might fit into a practical approach to training and everyday life.

Fuel Notes provides general information and is not a substitute for individual medical or dietetic advice.

Research behind this Fuel Note