I have no doubts that you’ve heard of, eaten, and potentially have in your kitchen these three fabulous seeds: hemp, chia, and flax.
In this post, we’ll break down the benefits of each, as well as go over some simple, easy, and unique ways to incorporate these small but mighty specs of gold into your diet!
Here’s a little insight into just how amazing these little dudes are:
HEMP HEARTS
- Contain all essential amino acids, making them a complete protein! A quick, easy, and versatile choice to get those grams of pro-pro in
- Rich in B vitamins, folate, copper, zinc, iron, and phosphorus
- SUPER high in the mineral manganese, supplying 99% of your daily value in just 3 table spoons!
- Can reduce constipation (hello, fiber)
- Good for your bones, thanks to the lovely minerals (magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, and iron) that are found in these seeds, that your bones need to stay happy and strong
- Chock-full of supremely wonderful essential fatty acids, Omega-3 + Omega-6
CHIA SEEDS
- 64% more potassium than a banana, what what!
- Incredibly high in fiber. That’s great news for your digestive system
- 32% daily magnesium intake
- Mega-rich in antioxidants
- 5x more calcium than milk
- 3x more iron than spinach
- Regulates blood sugar levels (awesome for Diabetes)
- Helps you feel fuller longer
- Energy-boosting
FLAX SEEDS
- Anti-inflammatory
- High in Omega-3 fatty acids
- Richest known source of lignans… holy wow!
- Good for skin and hair
- Contain both soluble + insoluble fiber, helping with digestion, colon health, and aiding constipation
- A great egg replacer! Whether you’re a plant-based person or trying to lower your cholesterol, mix ground up flax seeds with water to substitute egg in any baking recipe!
- High in vitamin B1, copper, molybdenum, magnesium, and phosphorus.
How to incorporate into your daily life
Yes, yes, blend into a smoothie and all that jazz. We know this. Let me introduce you to some other ideas that’ll knock your socks off:
- Blend into homemade (or store-bought) salad dressings.
- Upgrade your oatmeal, cold cereal, yogurt, or fruit bowls by adding some seeds!
- Sprinkle over veggie dishes (be it salads or oven-roasted dealios).
- Add to your desserts: over ice cream, on top of brownie sundaes, bake into cookies/pantries… If you can type it, Pinterest has it.
- Eat raw! Yep, for real. It ain’t that bad, just a little dry and nutty, but have you ever eaten a bag of mixed nuts? Same vibe.
- Add to pasta, rice, or other grain dishes — in sauces or just thrown in!
- Make your own seed milk! Blend any of these guys up with some water, strain, then add to your fav latte/smoothie/cereal (or whatever) or just drink it up!
- Great in pancakes, energy bites, and homemade granola (bars)!
(Totally not an exclusive list. Get creative! Or, search the glorious interweb for ideas!)
*PRO TIP: Ground flax + chia seeds absorb insanely better than whole ones — just check out the seeds in your poop next time you eat them without grinding them up! An easy fix is to blend them up in a decent blender or coffee grinder, then throw them back in the bag and keep them in the freezer. Freezing them won’t f-up their consistency, but it WILL keep the good nutrients in that you just exposed from grinding.
You can do so much with these little guys, and they are so freaking easy to add into, well, pretty much anything. They don’t have any kind of super strong flavor, so they adapt well to anything they’re paired with.
Give them a try, and let us know your favorite way to consume ’em!