Are Chia Seeds A Superfood?

Chia seeds: Superfood, or super-fad? What’s in them, and are they really worth trying?

In the recent years, Chia seeds, or salvia hispanica, have been touted as a new “superfood”.

While this term gets thrown around a lot, perhaps the term is of some merit when speaking about Chia seeds.

Let’s get down into the nitty-gritty details here, and see what Chia seeds are really made of.

Nutritional Content of Chia Seeds

Now, what nutritional merits do Chia seeds have to warrant this label? Well, let’s break down the nutritional content.
In one ounce, Chia seeds have:

137 calories

12 grams of carbs

4 grams of protein

9 grams of fat

Vitamin A, B, D, E

20% of your daily value in calcium

Among many other essential vitamins and minerals. Perhaps there is something to this reputation after all.

Let’s take a look at some of the possible benefits and results associated with consumption of Chia seeds.

Benefits of Chia Seeds

First of all, one of the most obvious benefits is to digestive health.

With ten grams of fiber, it’s very easy to see why these seeds might be beneficial to the regulation of your digestive tract.

Chia seeds are also well known to promote heart health, by lowering cholesterol, and ensuring regulation of blood pressure.

As well, they contain Omega-3 fatty acids, which helps to reduce cardiovascular inflammation.

This reduction of inflammation serves to reduce the strain put on your blood vessels, and lower your risk of heart disease.

Chia seeds have long been purported as a good source of energy, since the days of the Aztecs.

Compact and full of nutrients, it’s no wonder that these seeds were so highly revered.

Studies show that Chia seeds are prone to raising your metabolism, letting you burn fat faster, and giving you energy throughout the day.

A good suggestion is using a handful of Chia seeds, or a chia tea, to replace a sugary energy drink that you might otherwise consume.

It’s natural, longer lasting, and better for you too!

Long Term Health Benefits of Chia Seeds

Chia seeds don’t just have an immediate effect, they do have some preventive effects as well.

They’re high in what’s known as “alpha lipoic acid”, or ALA for short.

Researchers have discovered that ALA can help limit the growth of cancerous cells, helping to prevent the onset of cancer altogether, or halt the growth of existing cancerous sites.

While more research needs to be done on the subject, scientists have correlated it with the limiting of growth in both cervical, as well as breast cancer.

Another long-term benefit of chia seeds is an improvement in dental health.

The zinc in chia seeds help to suppress bad breath, which is caused by bacteria in your mouth.

As well, this resistance against bacteria can be extended to a prevention of tooth decay.

It’ll make it difficult for bacteria to grow and take root in your mouth, being an overall boon for your oral health.

One little known fact regarding Chia seeds, is that they’ve been shown to help the treatment of diabetes.

Chia seeds can assist in the treatment of insulin resistance. As well, they can help prevent the onset of insulin resistance.

In a study at the University of Litoral in Argentina, rats were shown to be much more resilient to the onset of insulin resistance, if chia seeds featured prominently in their diet.

More research needs to be done regarding this with humans, but this is nonetheless a strong indicator that chia seeds will help fortify your insulin recovery.

Side effects of Chia Seeds

As with any fiber rich food, there is the risk for your stomach being upset, should you consume a large quantity of chia seeds.

As such, in order to reduce this, be sure to drink plenty of water.

This will provide a more smooth digestion process to them, and overall settle your stomach.

Best ways to eat Chia Seeds

At first, chia seeds might seem a bit abrasive, not having much in the way of solid substance to them.

Sure, you can eat them raw, but that’s no fun. Eating them raw makes them a bit harder to digest, but it is admittedly easier.

If you’re on the go, or don’t have time to otherwise process them, feel free to eat them raw. There won’t be any ill effects.

However, should you wish to soak them, here’s the process. It’s very simple.

Just mix the chia seeds in an about one to ten ratio of chia seeds to water, it doesn’t have to be too precise.

So for an ounce of chia seeds, about ten ounces of water, and so on.

Chia seeds are actually incredibly absorbent, and are reported to be able to hold ten times their weight in water.

Chia Seed Flour

Another interesting way to process chia seeds, is to grind them into a flour.

You don’t need a special flour grinder, in fact even a coffee grinder will work when trying to make this.

Plenty of interesting recipes can be made using this. Chia seeds bread, chia seed pancakes, the possibilities are limitless.

You can even mix them in your protein shake to get a quick boost of energy before your workout, as the ground chia seeds mix incredibly easy with water.

The final verdict on Chia Seeds

So, chia seeds, a superfood or just another fad food? I’m inclined to think that they are in fact a superfood.

Besides the fact they’re just nutritionally dense overall, they provide an astonishing amount of health benefits.

Sure you can just look at how many carbs, fats, and grams of protein are in it, but I think that the benefits of this food start to really shine when you examine the vitamin and mineral content that’s found within.

For such a small food, the health benefits are incredibly potent. Ranging from not only preventative, but active curative benefits as well.

With such a wide variety of ways to consume this food, I think you would be missing out on a great experience, especially for the typical cost of chia seeds.

At the very least, pick up a bag of it and try it out. You never know, you might just like it.

If you like chia seeds and other powerful natural superfoods as part of your everyday’s diet, you can get the nutrients from these superfoods from Energize Max.

Go to the next page and & learn more about 6 group of superfoods that your body requires. –