The ILEAD Company® welcomes you to Fitness Friday. On Fridays, I will educate you on becoming mentally sound and physically fit. Nutrition and Fitness is influential! 

We are still focusing in on super foods here on Fridays. The food of focus today is Flaxseed.

Healthy Food – About That Jewel Called Flax

Flaxseeds aren’t really a Superfood but rather a Superfood’s Super kin that deserve special attention because these seeds are the best plant source of omega-3 fatty acids. They’re a quick, easy way to get this important nutrient into your diet. Flaxseeds are also a powerful source of:

• fibre,
• protein,
• magnesium,
• iron, and
• potassium: an all-around wealth of nutrients.

Flaxseeds are also the leading source of a class of compounds called “lignins” which are phytoestrogens, or plant estrogens. Lignins influence the balance of estrogen in the body and help protect against breast cancer.

Flaxseeds are slightly larger than sesame seeds, darker in color—they range from dark red to brown—and very slimy. You can buy them in the form of flaxseed meal, or you can buy them in seed form and grind them yourself in a coffee grinder or mini food processor. The seeds must be ground, as the nutrients are difficult to absorb from the whole seed. Since the oil in flaxseeds spoils quickly, ideally, it’s best to grind them as you go. Some people use a grinder, dedicated to flaxseeds, and grind them in small amounts, keeping the ground portion in the fridge in a small glass jar. Keep flaxmeal—already ground flaxseed, which you can buy in health food stores – in a plastic container in the fridge.

How to Use Flaxseeds

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed a day on oatmeal, cereal, and yogurt, or use it in smoothies, pancakes, muffins, and quick breads. All you need is one to two tablespoons of ground flaxseed a day. This gives you more than the Institute of Medicine’s total daily recommendation for alpha linolenic acid (ALA, or plant-derived omega-3 laity acids). Two tablespoons of ground flaxseed is a safe amount, geared to providing optimal nutrition, and there are no data suggesting that this amount of flaxseed/ALA has any deleterious effect.

Stick around as we will be chatting about flaxseed during the TKO night show at 9p.m. EST. CLICK HERE to listen in.