Buy Flax Seed

Buying flax seed meal (aka ground flaxseed) gives you convenience. To get the full benefit of a whole flax seed, you have to grind them down or they will pass through you essentially unchanged and you will have just wasted your money. Buying flax meal takes away all this hassle – you just open up a bag or your jar, and sprinkle on your cereal, yogurt etc. But, there is something you should be aware of, there are draw backs to this convenience and that is a process called oxidation.

There is a lot of debate about the shelf life of flax seed meal. Light and heat soon starts the process of oxidation which turns the good healthy oils into rancid oils which essentially no longer serve any useful purpose in your body. Trans-fats are created which put more strain on your body particularly your liver – but it’s not all bad. There is no reason why you can’t enjoy the convenience of flax seed meal; you just have to keep in mind two things. Firstly, use your opened packet reasonably quickly and secondly, always store your flax meal in a cold dark place – your fridge is one good place.

To Heat or not to heat? That is the question with heat being one of the main causes of oxidation. Some authors believe you should not heat flax seed at all because one of the main benefits you get from their consumption, your omega 3 oils, are easily damaged in cooking and food processing. On the other hand there are those who state that flax meal is pretty stable and can tolerate temperatures necessary to make bread and muffins. I cannot at this time seem to find one argument any better backed up than the other so personally I lean on the side of caution and as often as I can, I avoid heating my flax seed meal and just sprinkle directly on my food.

The easiest source to obtain your essential fatty acids (EFA’s) from is oily fish or supplementing fish oils. It is a general consensus that to obtain the ideal amounts of your EFA’s you need to consume less amounts of fish/fish oil than flaxseed! – so why bother going to the trouble to buy flax seed?

There are some very good reasons:

• Obviously if you are a vegetarian or vegan – or don’t like the smell or taste of fish!
• If you do not want to eat fish, Flax Seeds are out of all seeds, the provider of the highest amounts of omega 3 (alpha-Linolenic acid) so more “bang for your buck”
• Flax seed fibre: Flaxseeds benefit you also by providing you with dietary fibre – soluble fibre which helps decrease cholesterol and insoluble fibre which helps move contents through your bowel.
• When you consume Flax seed you are also obtaining other essential nutrients in your diet, namely Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc etc – you don’t obtain the same amounts when you consume fish oil capsules.
• Another benefit when you buy flax seed is that flax seed provides flax lignans (although some manufacturers add these to their fish oil supplements) – they are a chemical compound (a major class of phytonutrients) that are estrogen like chemicals and also acts as an antioxidant.
• When consuming fish oils you have the added hassle of ensuring they are PCB free (Polycholinated Biphenyls), an industrial chemical that pollutes our oceans – obviously not a great addition to your body – you don’t have to think about this when you buy flax seed.

If you are reading this, looking to buy flax seed (aka Linseed), you are obviously someone who cares about what you eat and invest in your health and the health of your loved ones around you. But, it’s hard to eat healthily all the time isn’t it!!, so many nutrients to get every day from your food – enough amino acids (protein), carbohydrates (complex sugars), vitamins, minerals, trace elements, enough water etc etc. There is however one more group of nutrients that is essential for you health and that is good fats – your omega 3 (alpha-linolenic acid) and omega 6 (linoleic acid) and Flax Seeds are probably the best non-animal source of these oils!

Are you reluctant to buy flax seed because you are worried about the amount of fat in your diet? If you strive for an extremely low fat diet, it could be damaging to your health – not all fats are bad. omega 3 & omega 6 oils are called essential fatty acids (EFA’s) because your body cannot make them itself. They are needed for the proper functioning of everything from building your cells, proper nerve functioning, hormone balances, production of your natural anti-inflammatory agent etc etc. When you eat EFA’s, the systems of your body take what they need for optimum functioning first and only then if there is surplus, do you store the excess in your body’s fat stores. Eating saturated fats e.g. from meat, if you don’t need to use them to produce energy then the only thing your body can do is store them as fat!

Do you really need to buy flax seed? If you search the web or nutrition books, you will have concluded there is a lot of argument over just what the health benefits of flax seed and/or flax seed oil are and it is confusing when you try and decide who to believe. I think the best way to think about this is that if your body cannot make these essential fatty acids (ETA’s) then in some way your health has to suffer if you don’t get enough! and as I have already said, flaxseeds/flaxseed oil are a great way of getting these oils!

Final thought for now, when you buy flax seed, you don’t just eat them as they come. They are small, hard and you can’t get to their goodness inside – they will simply pass through you essentially unchanged. It is best to grind them in say a coffee grinder and then sprinkle your ground flaxseed on salads, cereals, yogurts etc. If all you are after is the EFA’s and are not too bothered about the other benefits of flax seed (because your diet is strong already in those areas), then for only a lttle more cost you will get more convenience buy buying flax seed oil capsules.