The Health Benefits of Flax Seeds

Learn about ways that you can get more Omega 3, anti-inflammatory, fiber packed flax into your diet. Why it’s good, why you want to eat it, and where to get it.

You’ve probably heard about these in the news and maybe sprinkled in your bread that you’ve bought from the store. The good news on these is that they are powered packed with goodness. They have Omega 3 oils (the good kind of oils) to help combat all sorts of health issues. This same oil is found in salmon, olive oil and algae. The good thing about flax is that it is really inexpensive and anyone can eat it… vegetarian or not. For vegetarians, flax is, literally, essential because we aren’t getting the Omega 3 oils from fish.

Healing properties of flax seeds:

• Has been found to help bring down inflammation and pain
• Can be anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial
• Seeds have been found to have anti-cancer properties
• Helps with constipation and supplies roughage in the colon
• Helps with joint and muscle pain
• Skin conditions such as eczema, rashes and psoriasis
• Can help reduce arthritis pain and swelling

Flax comes as a seed and as an oil. It is recommended that you buy the seeds whole and then grind them right before you are about to eat them. If you are buying the oil, keep it refrigerated to preserve the freshness and so that it doesn’t go rancid. Both forms are very inexpensive.  You can order organic flax seeds from Amazon.

There are several different ways that you can take flax:

• The easiest way is to put 2-3 tablespoons into a smoothie. This way, you don’t need to spend time grinding them.
• Leaving them whole or grinding them , either in your blender or in a coffee grinder and then sprinkling 2-3 tablespoons into your cereal (hot or cold) in the morning.
• Sprinkle them onto a salad, steamed vegetables, or your main dish at dinner.
• Add them into any of your baked goods.  However, if you have picky eaters at home, I recommend grinding them up before you add them to your recipe.  My little one definitely notices them and doesn’t necessarily like the extra ‘crunch’ it adds.
• If using the oil, you can add to any of the above mentioned ways to use it.

I do have to warn you, though, that flax, when mixed with water, becomes very thick and gooey, which is great when you are using it as an egg substitute, but not so great when you are trying to eat your cereal or drink your smoothie. I recommend drinking, whatever you have made, pretty quickly so that it doesn’t thicken too much.

I bake with flax seeds quite often, either to add some of the good fats into my food, or when I use it as an egg substitute. I use this in my chocolate chip cookie recipe and when I am making my gluten free bread. The flax works really well in place of eggs.  Again, I recommend grinding them before adding them to your recipe.

Next week, I’ll post some great flax recipes for you, along with a bonus video. For today, so as not to make this post to lengthy, I’ll post an easy smoothie recipe that I’ve taken from Dr. Dharma Khalsa’s book: ‘Food as Medicine’, which is an awesome book, if you haven’t read it yet. It’s packed with so much valuable information about food and it’s many healing properties.

‘Pain Relief Shake’

1 small red (organic) apple
1 (organic) plum
1/2 cup (organic) blueberries or cherries
1 teaspoon flax oil (or more, if desired)
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 scoop green powder
1 cup ice or pure water

This isn’t part of the original recipe, but I like to add 1-2 teaspoons of turmeric paste to the smoothie. For information on how to make turmeric paste, you can watch my youtube video

Put into blender (Vitamix is the absolute best, most powerful blender! I’ll send out more information on this later, but I highly recommend that you invest in one of these) and blend. Make sure you drink this soon after you’ve made it, so that it doesn’t lose it’s nutrient value. I sometimes take my smoothies in mason jars, if I don’t have time to drink it before I leave the house.

This pain relief shake supports healthy immune function by giving you lots of anti-oxidants, omega-3 oils, and trace minerals.

Enjoy!