Alba's favourite recipe: Overnight oats

Ingredients

• 1 banana
• 300 ml coconut milk
• 3 g vanilla extract
• 25 g dessicated coconut
• 50 g rolled oats
• 25 g chia seeds
• 10 g honey

Have you heard of this delicious oatmeal breakfast that is prepared at night in five minutes? It's a favourite of our champions. The Barça Innovation Hub, the platform for FC Barcelona's sports knowledge and innovation centre, explains its simple recipe in order that you can take care of yourself during confinement with elite food, energy and good cheer.

Overnight + Overday

To start the day well or to gather strength, we combine all the properties of oats with those of a very high nutritional quality seed, chia, and with fruit. That is, a trio of very healthy foods, with a high density of phytonutrients: the organic components of plants that act as protectors in our body. Ideal at a time like this, when we must take care of ourselves more, and with easy-to-find ingredients which we can combine with delicious results by applying a little imagination.

How this recipe nourishes you

Did you know that oatmeal contains beta-glucans that help us control blood cholesterol levels?

Well, besides that, chia has a high concentration of minerals and healthy fats, it provides soluble fibre that helps satisfy, and creates a very pleasant texture on the palate when we mix it with a liquid, in this case coconut milk.

The fibre in this recipe helps a gut that has been getting lazier these days, and it's also a good prebiotic that feeds healthy gut bacteria.

• Gives you power = complex carbohydrates from oats + bananas
• Improve your agility and coordination = potassium from banana + calcium, magnesium, and antioxidants such as selenium and zinc from chia.
• You gain strength = with the vegetable protein of cereals.

Adapt it to your goal

If you're taking advantage of these days to go to bed late and watch series or movie marathons, this is a good option to avoid unhealthy snacking. The BIH overnight oat is ideal as a healthy snack, to kill anxiety, and avoid uncontrolled intake of sugars and carbohydrates. If you choose it as breakfast you will be taking control of your diet from the morning.

And also to your palate

You can have endless alternatives, exchanging coconut milk for almond milk or semi-skimmed milk. You can substitute oat flakes for quinoa flakes or granola. You can also add cinnamon instead of vanilla. And decorate it with different fruit, adding colour and imagination to your snack without losing its qualities.

Or with fewer calories

If what concerns you is calorie intake, do not add honey. The sweet taste of the banana may already be enough, and if you need more, add a little stevia, a natural low-calorie sweetener.

Keep taking care of yourself. We want to be with you now, and when you return.

For those who can't wait for our next recipe, you can discover more healthy meals on the website Eat Like a Pro:

* This article was written by Maria Antonia Lizarraga and Mireia Porta.