Archive for January, 2008
January 31, 2008 at 7:40 pm
· Filed under Flax, General, Health Benefits ·Tagged cell regeneration, Flax, ground flax, healthy living, sleep
Eat some flax before going to bed, and it will help your body’s cells regenerate. That’s what self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, ultravagabond, and author Tim Ferriss tells readers of his blog. I have to thank Lindsey, a co-worker at the Rural Learning Center, for sharing this information because I found a ton of good advice in Tim’s post about health and sleeping.
Tim recommends consuming a mini snack of 150-250 calories before going to bed as a way of filling your tank with enough energy so that you don’t wake up energy deprived. And flax — or should I say flax oil — is his snack of choice because it helps ones cells repair themselves during sleep. Guess that’s what beauty sleep is all about.
As for the taste of flax oil, Tim’s apparently not into it; comparing it to “a mixture of cat urine and asparagus”. That comment prompted two thoughts on my part: First, I like asparagus, but I’m never going to try mixing it with cat urine. And second, does flax oil taste that much worse than ground flax? Maybe Tim has his reasons for consuming flax oil, but I’m sticking to ground flax.
If you are interested in learning more about maximizing your sleep, I’d highly recommend Tim’s post. Its loaded with tips for falling asleep, ranging from taking an ice bath (no thanks) to reading specific types of books.
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January 31, 2008 at 2:09 am
· Filed under Flax, General, Recipes ·Tagged Flax, meatloaf, omega-3 fortified eggs, recipe review
Had some trouble making the meatloaf this weekend. No, I didn’t blow up the kitchen. The problem was I opened the door to the refrigerator and discovered that we didn’t have any eggs. Since I didn’t want to waste the gas going to the grocery store for just one ingredient, I postponed the meal until yesterday.
Overall, I was very impressed with the meatloaf. The best part was that it seemed moister than usual. I don’t know if this can be attributed to the recipe or luck, but it was good either way. As for the taste, I’ve mentioned previously that I am not a huge fan of the taste of flax — hence I usually mask the flavor in smoothies or oatmeal — but I think the “nutty” flavor people talk about added just the nice flavor to the meatloaf.
I should also mention that the egg I used was Omega-3 fortified. If you have not replaced your factory raised eggs with more naturally grown omega-3 fortified eggs, I’d encourage you to read up on the subject.
Overall, I’d have to say the recipe is worth a try. And from my wife’s perspective, the best part of the meal was no disaster in the kitchen.
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January 30, 2008 at 6:45 pm
· Filed under Flax, General, Health Benefits ·Tagged alternative cancer cure, anti-aging, Flax
The main reason for starting this blog was to inform more folks as to the multitude of ways flax can improve every users health. That is why “The Wunders of Flax” call flax — Gods seed of miracles. In our seminars on flax–we always make sure to mention–everyone over 35 should start to use flax in their diet–because it will help slow down the aging problems. Its not good to be old at 50-60. As our Dr. said after our physical last month–it sure is good to see 80 yr old acting like a 60 yr old instead of 60 acting 80.
This flax business got started as a search for an alternative cancer cure. There was a doctor in Germany that was curing many kinds of cancer with linseed [flax] oil and cottage cheese. Canadian health officials have results of flax retarding breast cancer. In our search of what flax can do to have a healthy, active life we have just scratched the surface. Hope we can answer your questions. oljw
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January 26, 2008 at 9:54 pm
· Filed under Flax, General, Recipes ·Tagged cooking, Flax, meatloaf recipe
I’ve never made meatloaf, but I’m going to try my hand at it either tonight or tomorrow. Of course, I’m going to use a recipe that uses flax, so I’ll post how it turns out.
I’m somewhat hesitant to comment on my cooking because I’m not much of a chef. I’ve never had much of a chance to cook because my wife kicked me out of the kitchen in our first year of marriage (14 years ago). That’s right: I was willing to do my share of the cooking, but she felt the mess I made while cooking outweighed the benefits of the food I prepared. Since the food I made wasn’t too bad, you can only imagine what the kitchen looked like. She’s recently let me back in because of a chaotic work schedule, but I’m sure she has been praying that she doesn’t come home to any food on the ceiling again.
Hopefully, my first attempt with this meatloaf recipe goes well, so that we won’t have to debate whether its my cooking or the recipe that caused the failure. We’ll find out by tomorrow.
Here’s the recipe for those that don’t want to go to the Flax Council’s website:
Meat Loaf
| 1 kg |
lean ground beef |
2 lbs |
| 250 ml |
skim milk |
1 cup |
| 125 ml |
ground flax seed |
½ cup |
| 125 ml |
dry bread crumbs |
½ cup |
| 125 ml |
chopped onion |
½ cup |
| 1 |
egg, beaten |
1 |
| 15 ml |
Worcestershire sauce |
1 tbsp |
| 5 ml |
black pepper |
1 tsp |
| 5 ml |
garlic powder |
1 tsp |
| 5 ml |
dry mustard |
1 tsp |
| 2 ml |
celery salt |
½ tsp |
| 1 mL |
ground thyme |
1/4 tsp |
| 50 ml |
ketchup |
1/4 cup |
- In a large bowl, combine beef, milk, ground flax, crumbs, onion, egg, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, garlic, mustard, celery salt and thyme. Mix well.
- Pat mixture into a 22 x 13 x 8 cm (9 x 5 x 3 inch) loaf pan.
- Spread ketchup over top of loaf.
- Bake at 180°C (350°F) 1 to 1 Ѕ hours, until no pink remains.
- Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes.
- Remove from pan, place on platter to serve.
Yield: 8 servings
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January 19, 2008 at 9:19 pm
· Filed under Flax, General, How to use flax, Recipes ·Tagged Flax, healthy foods, smoothie recipe
Once my wife introduced me to my my ”berry-laden” version of a smoothie, I became a stick in the mud. Blueberries, strawberries, banana, yogurt, flax, and a little honey comprised my smoothie of choice. Heck, I was so stuck my idea of a smoothie adventure was adding a few more strawberries at the expense of the blueberries.
For some reason this morning, I decided to be adventuresome, and I tried a smoothie recipe found at Nature Mom’s Blog. I had to make a few alterations: frozen rather than fresh strawberries and almond soy milk rather than homemade almond milk. Although the smoothie was not as thick as I am use to, I thought it was pretty good and will try it again.
If you’re looking for a smoothie adventure I’d sure recommend this recipe. I’d also recommend checking out Nature Mom’s Blog. Tiffany, the author, is a cancer survivor and has lots of good ideas about living a more natural life.
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January 17, 2008 at 8:16 pm
· Filed under Flax, General ·Tagged alzheimer's disease, fish, Flax, Howard SD, omega-3, omega-6
Both fish and flax are hepful in reducing the risk of contracting Alzheimer’s Disease. But which is better?
That’s a question I don’t have an answer to, but Jennifer Jacquet at The Shifting Baseline blog makes a good point on the subject: Whether its fish or some other food like flax, its really the omega-3 oils that make the difference in combating Alzheimer’s.
Jacquet also argues that the meats we consume today have lower percentages of omega-3 oils because animals are fed more corn today, resulting in meat with higher omega-6 composition.
I was first introduced to the idea of feeding flax to animals to improve their nutrional value when I first started working with Dakota Beef Company to establish their operation in Howard. Dakota Beef is an organic beef company, and they feed their cattle flax as a way to increase omega-3 oils in their meat. Go to the grocery store, and you will find omega-3 fortified eggs as well. Personally, I’d rather increase my omega-3 consumption by eating these types of foods rather than taking flax oil or fish oil pills; but again that’s a personal decision.
You may want to check out Jacquet’s entire post because there are some interesting comments posted about the flax, fish, and corn-fed animal topics. The bottom line for us, however, is that: If we are really concerned about our health, we should have a balanced diet that includes all types of omega-3 rich foods.
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January 14, 2008 at 6:10 pm
· Filed under Flax, General, Local Foods ·Tagged Flax, Local Foods
If you are looking for information on where and how to buy locally grown foods in South Dakota, I’d recommend looking to two sources: First, there’s the South Dakota Made website. Its a on-line storefront for all types of products, including foods made/grown in South Dakota.
The second source is a Local Foods Directory found at the Dakota Rural Action website. The directory identifies farms by region in South Dakota. Unfortunately, I didn’t see Wunder Flax identified anywhere. Might need to work on this.
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January 12, 2008 at 8:45 pm
· Filed under General ·Tagged Chron's disease, Flax, joint inflammation, nutrition, omega-3
Awhile back, I wrote about flax helping reduce joint inflammation, which has always been a concern of mine Well, many experts also recommend flax as a means of reducing the intestinal inflammation experienced by people with Chron’s disease.
While its important to keep in mind that flax is only a part of the solution — the bigger picture is a healthy diet — it does appear to play an important role. Check out what others have to say:
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In addition to flax,
Sandra Kim Leong recommends fish, walnuts, canola oil, and other foods high in omega-3 oils to help reduce the irritation.
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A Google search on Chron’s disease will provide further research, so I’d encourage anyone who suffers from Chron’s disease or has a family member suffering from it to dig in deeper.
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January 9, 2008 at 10:26 am
· Filed under General ·Tagged currency, Flax, flax straw, linen
Were you aware that Canadian money is made of flax? Well that’s what is the people at CanadianFarmersMarket.com say. I had never heard of this before, so I set out to learn more.
First, it makes a lot of sense. Flax straw has a high percentage of long, tough stem fibers, which throughout history have been used to make quality linen. I was aware that paper currency had to be made of some something other than just normal, tree-based paper because its much more durable than normal paper.
Second, I learned that the paper for US currency comes from a single producer, so as to protect the paper from counterfeiters. We do know, however, that flax fibers make up 25% of each dollar with the remaining 75% coming from cotton. Interesting, I would have thought trees were necessary to make a dollar bill.
And finally, I learned that there’s some discrepancy about whether or not Canadian currency is made from any flax. At least one source says its not. If its not, it would be rather ironic because flax is a much more important crop in Canada than in the US. Either way, I’m sure the folks at CanadianFarmersMarket.com would rather have people buying the flax seed; after all, it means money in their pockets.
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January 9, 2008 at 2:28 am
· Filed under General, How to use flax ·Tagged Flax, gandhi, How to use flax, Miami Herald
Some guys are just plain smart, and Mahatma Gandhi fits that category. In addition to his humanitarian and political leadership, Gandhi recognized that flax was essential for good health. According to Ellen Kanner who blogs for the Miami Herald, Gandhi once said, “Wherever flaxseeds become a regular food item among the people, there will be better health.”
Pretty heady stuff. Unfortunately, the “wherever” Gandhi alluded to is not the United States — and our health shows it.
Kanner goes on to recommend flax consumption, and promotes ground flax — rather than whole flax seeds — to her readers. She even critiques a few brands of pre-ground flax.
While I can appreciate the time-saving element to buying pre-ground flax, I can’t help but wonder what sort of nutritional value is lost in the preservation and packaging of pre-ground flax. After all, freshly ground flax seeds will go rancid if its not refrigerated and eaten within a few weeks. (Some people say three months, but it doesn’t seem to last that long for me.)
I suppose buying the ground stuff is probably the way to go if having to grind it yourself reduces your usage. But, if you are looking to gain the full benefits that flax has to offer, I’d still recommend buying the whole seed. Something tells me Gandhi would have agreed.
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