Ground Flax Seed
 

Hello Chicks:

My doctor wants me to get more Omega 3 in my diet. I take supplements, but apparently not enough and I eat fatty fish and nuts. Anyway, I bought some flax seed meal, per his suggestion. So far I have mixed it in my oatmeal and yogurt. Not bad... I am trying to get 2 - 4 tablespoons a day into my diet. It's 4.5 - 9 extra grams of fat a day, but I will make up for it with the rest of my eating. I really want to get my HDL up in the next few months. I exercise 5 - 6 times a week. Both cardio and weights. He thought that that would help, but he said it might just be genetics.

Anyway...

Any suggestions for what else I can do with flax seed meal?

I put it on my salads. Not meal.. but I grind my own flax seeds in a mortar. Freshly ground whenever I need it.

Don't forget you need to store you flax seed meal in the fridge or freezer. Because of the high fat content it goes rancid pretty quickly at room temp.

I usually just add some to oatmeal and yogurt, I also have a flax seed bread recipe but you lose some of the good things about flax when you cook it.

I've also made smoothies with silken tofu, fruit, protein powder and flax meal. It tastes pretty good. I don't make it very often because I tend to drink the entire thing in 1 sitting.

Sarah

Is it necessary to grind flaxseed?

Yes, if you don't grind it, it'll go right through you ...

Dh added, flax, bran, beans, anything fibrous to his diet when the Dr. said his cholesterol was border line, he also only eats meat 1-2/week eats lots of fish.... he's lost 13# in 2 months, which he didn't need to lose :rolleyes:. He goes to the Doc's tomorrow to see if it's gone down, I'm so anxious to find the results out... I'll let you all know how it went... I get the results of mine too :crossed: ...

I use ground flax seed all the time. We sprinkle it on top of cereal, mix a spoonful with orange juice, and anytime I bake bread or muffins, I add a couple of Tablespoons. It definitely helps keep one regular and has done wonders for my eczema/dry skin which was the reason I started using it in the first place.

I cooked with it a lot as well as adding it to cereal, etc. but then my husband said if you cook with it, you won't reap the benefits from it. Is that true?

I also sprinkle it on my peanut butter on my toast.

It's best to eat it raw, otherwise, as Ilene said "it will go right through you"!
Heating also kills off most of the good nutrients in flax.

You can store the whole seeds unrefrigerated (I read somewhere they have a shelf life of about 10,000 years unless they are ground!) It's best to grind them fresh each time you use them or store the ground flax in the 'fridge.

I usually mix my ground flax seed with yogurt and it makes a kind of pudding consistency.