Primer: the Many Health Benefits of Seeds
As a consciously healthy eater, you probably consume a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and beneficial oils. But are seeds in your nutritional treasure chest?
Just think about it: a tree or plant puts all of its genetic punch into the seed, hoping that the seeds will sprout to create a new plant. Put holistically, you could say the seed contains a lot of life force energy and by eating it, you too will absorb that rich energy.
The best way to get the nutrition from seeds is to eat them raw. When seeds are roasted or cooked, they lose valuable enzymes and no longer have the same chemical make up. Some of the healthiest seeds to include in your diet are flax, pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds.
FLAX
Very high in alpha linolenic acid (not to be confused with alpha lipolic acid) and Omega-3 fatty acids, flaxseeds can be used in place of fish oils. I always grind the seeds to make flax meal or use flax oil because the whole seeds don’t actually digest. Because of its complex, nutty flavor, flax meal and oil is great over salads, whole-grain pastas and a whole variety of other foods.
PUMPKIN
High in zinc, pumpkin seeds have a reputation for being beneficial to men’s health. They support the prostate and help lower cholesterol, but they are also excellent for bone health because they are high in magnesium, manganese, and phosphorous. And pumpkin seeds make a great protein-filled snack.
SUNFLOWER
I love munching on raw sunflower seeds; I toss them into salads, smoothies, pasta sauce and any other recipe where the deliciously mild flavor will enhance. High in vitamin E, a potent antioxidant, sunflower seeds help rid your body of damaging free radicals. They can also help lower bad cholesterol.
SESAME
Sesame seeds – in the form of tahini, or sesame butter – are an essential part of my diet. I use tahini to make salad dressing, sauces and desserts. The seeds are high in copper and are a great source of iron and calcium, making them very important to my meat and dairy-free diet.
If you are vegetarian or limit your meat consumption, be sure to enjoy sesame seeds regularly!
POPPY
The top image is of poppyseeds, which, believe it or not, are exceptionally high in calcium! And Middle Eastern cultures have long used the seeds as a digestive aid.
And be sure to visit EcoSalon tomorrow to catch Bonnie’s delicious Seeds of Life gel recipe.
Image: ShazzMack
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3 Comments
March 4th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
i had no idea that poppyseeds had calcium. thx.
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:02 am
There are a lot of good seeds out there, and even better seed oil. However, there is only one that can do wonders for your body, and that is the flax seed oil. Truth be told, flax seed oil benefits are great, but a lot of people do not know for sure why they are good for you. Today we are going to talk about why flax seed oil is good for you, as well as some great cooking ideas so that you can work flax seeds into your everyday cooking. In the end, you will see that it is very easy to work flax seed oil into your diet, and with all of the great benefits you get for doing so, there is no reason not to.
First of all, you need to know that one of the many flax seed oil benefits comes from the fact that it has a very high content of alpha linolenic acids. For people who do not know, this is actually a plant derived omega-3 fatty acid. It is actually very similar to those found in fish, which studies have already proven is very good for you. Not only that, but flax seed oil benefits also include lowering total cholesterol and the LDL cholesterol, which is known to many people as bad cholesterol). However, that is not all this great miracle seed does, in fact, it can also lower blood pressure levels
and help to keep them at a safe level. Thus, it is very easy to see why it is used to help reduce the risk of heart attack. Of course, it reduces the risk of heart attacks in a few ways. One way is by keeping your platelets from sticking together and blocking blood flow. People have even proven that flax seed oil benefits include the prevention of breast cancer in women.
Putting flax seed oil in your diet is a great idea. Not only can it do everything that we talked about, but it can also heal the inside of your body. In fact, flax seed oil has been proven that it can heal the inner lining of inflamed intestines. There are not many foods that can do that! Now that you know about all of the great flax seed oil benefits, you may want to know how you can include it into your cooking. The truth of the matter is, you may already be getting a little bit of flax seeds. A lot of bakery goods and cereals have flax seeds in them. You can also choose to buy flax seed flour to use in your baking. However, to get more flax seed in your diet, you may want to try sprinkling a little ground flax seed on a salad or on your cereal. A lot of people also like to make flax seed muffins and pancakes. Last, but not least, try just using flax seed oil instead of other oils when cooking.
Flax seed oil benefits go above and beyond what other oils do to the body. This is one kind of seed that you are not going to want to live without. In fact, it is such a good health benefit to the body that you can actually buy flax seed oil capsules to get your daily dose of flax seed. However, it is always better to get it naturally.
September 15th, 2009 at 6:48 am
Hemp seeds contain all the essential amino acids and essential fatty acids necessary to maintain healthy human life. The seeds can be eaten raw, ground into a meal, sprouted, made into hemp milk (akin to soy milk), prepared as tea, and used in baking. The fresh leaves can also be eaten in salads. Products range from cereals to frozen waffles, hemp tofu to nut butters. A few companies produce value added hemp seed items that include the seed oils, whole hemp grain (which is sterilized as per international law), hulled hemp seed (the whole seed without the mineral rich outer shell), hemp flour, hemp cake (a by-product of pressing the seed for oil) and hemp protein powder. Hemp is also used in some organic cereals, for non-dairy milk somewhat similar to soy and nut milks, and for non-dairy hemp “ice cream.”
About 30–35% of the weight of hempseed is hemp oil, an edible oil that contains about 80% essential fatty acids (EFAs); i.e., linoleic acid, omega-6 (LA, 55%), alpha-linolenic acid, omega-3 (ALA, 22%), in addition to gamma-linolenic acid, omega-6 (GLA, 1–4%) and stearidonic acid, omega-3 (SDA, 0–2%). Hempseed also contains about 20% of a highly-digestible protein, where 1/3 is edestin and 2/3 are albumins. Its amino acid profile is close to “complete” when compared to more common sources of proteins such as meat, milk, eggs and soy. The proportions of linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid in one tablespoon (15 ml) per day of hempseed oil easily provides human daily requirements for EFAs. Unlike flaxseed oil, hempseed oil can be used continuously without developing a deficiency or other imbalance of EFAs. This has been demonstrated in a clinical study, where the daily ingestion of flaxseed oil decreased the endogenous production of GLA.
Hempseed is an adequate source of calcium and iron. Whole hempseeds are also a good source of phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, copper and manganese.
Hempseed contains no gluten and therefore would not trigger symptoms of celiac disease.
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