I like your musical selection -- I know you do too!
About the flax seeds -- I have heard the thing about how they need to be crushed, too. As far as I can tell, there are two benefits to eating flax seeds -- fiber and omega three fatty acids. You get the fiber benefit by just eating the seeds, crushed or uncrushed. Apparently, most people don't get the 20-30g of fiber/day that the FDA recommends (the average daily intake in the US is 11g) -- and the FDA recommends it because it can help protect against cancer, heart disease, and even (my favorite) inflammatory bowel diseases. And by making people feel fuller after ingesting fewer calories, a high-fiber diet can help people lose weight.
By the way, on a raw vegan diet, you're probably getting loads of fiber with or without the flax.
But flax seeds are a source of dietary fiber because, by definition, their seed coat is indigestible by humans. To get the second beneficial dietary component, the O-3 fatty acids, you do need to somehow break the seed coat. This could be done by chopping the seeds up or by pressing them, or by chewing thoroughly.
1 comment:
I like your musical selection -- I know you do too!
About the flax seeds -- I have heard the thing about how they need to be crushed, too. As far as I can tell, there are two benefits to eating flax seeds -- fiber and omega three fatty acids. You get the fiber benefit by just eating the seeds, crushed or uncrushed. Apparently, most people don't get the 20-30g of fiber/day that the FDA recommends (the average daily intake in the US is 11g) -- and the FDA recommends it because it can help protect against cancer, heart disease, and even (my favorite) inflammatory bowel diseases. And by making people feel fuller after ingesting fewer calories, a high-fiber diet can help people lose weight.
By the way, on a raw vegan diet, you're probably getting loads of fiber with or without the flax.
But flax seeds are a source of dietary fiber because, by definition, their seed coat is indigestible by humans. To get the second beneficial dietary component, the O-3 fatty acids, you do need to somehow break the seed coat. This could be done by chopping the seeds up or by pressing them, or by chewing thoroughly.
Post a Comment