Archive for March, 2008
March 25, 2008 at 4:24 pm
· Filed under Flax, General, omega-3 ·Tagged Flax, omega-3 fatty acid, Salmon, Scallops, Walnuts
I’ve previously posted a chart showing the amounts of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids in various foods. Here’s another chart I found at Live the Active Life:
- Flax Seeds- 2.7 grams per each two tablespoon serving
- Walnuts- 2.3 grams for each 1/4 cup serving
- Salmon- 2.1 grams per 4 oz serving
- Scallops- 1.1 grams per 4 oz serving
- Soy Beans- 1 gram per 1 cup serving
- Halibut- .6 grams per 4 oz serving
- Shrimp- .4 grams per 4 oz serving
- Tofu- .4 grams per 4 oz serving
What I like about the above information is that the serving are closer to what most people would normally eat.
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March 24, 2008 at 7:36 pm
· Filed under Flax, General, Health Benefits ·Tagged acne, Flax
Acne is the scourge of the earth for any teenager. I had it bad on my face as a youngster, but I never had it bad on my back or other parts of my body. But some kids are not so lucky.
For those suffering from back acne, the LA Chronicle suggests the following:
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Use an over-the-counter product containing benzoyl peroxide once or twice a day.
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Wash properly once or twice a day, using a mild soap, and rub lightly with your fingertips and warm water.
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Backpacks must not be used when you are being treated for back acne
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Consider taking flax oil on a regular basis.
Why flax? The author suggests flax will help rid your system of “unnatural chemicals and preservatives that might be triggering your breakouts.”
While this article only speaks about back acne, I suspect flax is good for all acne. There’s a lot more information on the site, so check it out.
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March 24, 2008 at 6:19 pm
· Filed under Flax, General ·Tagged Flax, Life cereal, taste
Many flax neophytes struggle with flax’s taste. This causes flax enthusiasts to constantly apologize, saying things like “the health benefits far outweigh the inconvenience of its taste.” These apologies may be unnecessary.
The San Marcos Island Sun Times published a story last week saying:
“The American Dietetic Association reported that in a blind taste test among almost 100 college students, muffins and cookies that were made with ground flaxseed had better ratings for flavor and tenderness than those made without it. ”
That’s right, foods with flax tastes better than foods without it! The above research makes we wonder if part of flax’s taste problem isn’t that we dump too much flax in, all at once. Mixing flax into a variety of our daily foods in smaller doses may be the better path to acquiring a taste for it.
I also couldn’t help but wonder if flax enthusiasts don’t need a little marketing campaign. You know something like, “Hey Mikey! He’ll eat it, he likes everything.” If it can work for something that tastes like Life cereal, it should be able to work for flax.
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March 21, 2008 at 11:43 pm
· Filed under Flax, Health Benefits, omega-3 ·Tagged anti-inflammant, Flax, omega-3 fatty acids
Greetings once again. Just want to bring you up to date on some of the documented benefits of omega-3, which we found in April 1, 2008 Bottom Line Personal publication.
Chronic inflammation is known to fuel the growth of tumors. Omega-3 fatty acids, nutrients abundant in fish oil and flaxseed, are potent anti-inflammatories that slow tumor growth and shrink tumors in animal studies. Recent research shows that omega-3 fatty acids may do the same for men with prostate cancer.
According to Bottom Line Personal:
“Researchers at Duke University Med Center, the University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina studied 140 men with prostate cancer who were scheduled to undergo prostate surgery in 30 days. They divided the men into four presurgical groups — some took 30g [about one ounce] of ground flaxseed daily…some ate a low fat diet and took the Flax-seed…some just ate a low-fat diet…and a control group used none of the regimens. After the surgery, researchers found that the tumors of the men who took the flaxseed had grown more slowly — at a 30%-to 40% slower rate than those of the other men. The men mixed the ground flaxseed in drinks or sprinkled it on yogurt and other foods. The study was reported at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Typical dose: 1 once of ground flaxseed…or 3g of fish oil.”
This is just another case to show ground flaxseed has more then one health benefit to it — that’s why we call it Gods seed of miracles.
Lowering your cholesterol–helps prevent heart problems. This study shows it will help prostate problems. Who knows what health benefit they will find next? We know there are more. ol jw
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March 19, 2008 at 10:42 pm
· Filed under Flax, General, Health Benefits, omega-3 ·Tagged Dr. Oz, Flax, flaxseeds, Hand cream, omega-3 fatty acids, Oprah
I have a problem with dry hands. For years I tried to use it as an excuse against washing the dishes, but my wife has never bought that excuse.
On yesterday’s Oprah show, a guest asked Dr. Oz what he could do to combat his , cracking hands. I anticipated, Dr. Oz’s response would be ”buy some hand cream.” Instead he impressed my by addressing the cause of the dry hands before looking at the treatment. “What generates a lot of the dryness is we don’t have enough of the omega-3 fatty acids in our bodies,” Dr. Oz commented.
Wow! Good point. Dr. Oz went on to recommend good sources of these omega’s — flaxseeds, walnuts, and oily fish — which any frequent reader of this site already knows.
But what about hand cream? Well, Dr. Oz said, “Hand cream obviously helps a little bit, depending on the job that you have.”
I’m not sure that I’m ready to put away my Neutrogena (Norwegians like me like that its a Norwegian formula), and I doubt eating omega-3’s will solve my dry hands problem by itself. But, I”m equally confident that eating my flax will sure help.
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March 18, 2008 at 7:58 pm
· Filed under Flax, General, Health Benefits, Recipes, omega-3 ·Tagged Cranberry Flax Muffins, Fiber, Flax, omega-3, recipe, recommended grams of fiber
As I mentioned yesterday, WKRG of the Mobile, AL/Pensacola, FL hosted nutritionist Brian Darmin on their morning “Healthy Foods” show, and he spoke about the health benefits of flax. While I was initially disappointed that the video did not demonstrate how to make the Cranberry, Flax Muffins, it did remind me of some other important facts.
Probably the most important reminder was that flax, in addition to being a great source of omega-3 oils, is also a great source of fiber. This means that people looking to increase their omega-3 oils with flax get a bonus of fiber — and eating fish can not do that.
But how much fiber does our bodies need and how much does flax have? Durmin tells us the following
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The typical American consumes only 11 grams of fiber each day.
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Men should consume 30-38 grams a day
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Women should consume 21-25 grams a day.
Since I’m probably closer to the 11 grams, I’ve got some improvement to do to accomplish this.
To find out how much fiber we get with our flax, I had to do a little more research. According to Caring4Cancer.com, “Just 1 tablespoon of flaxseeds contain three and a half (3.5) grams of fiber.” The site goes on to say, “That’s a lot of fiber for a small amount of food. ”
Although you won’t be able to get all your necessary daily fiber from 2-3 tablespoons of flax, it does go a long way to reaching that goal. And we really need to keep our nutrition in perspective; the best way to get our fiber is to eat a well-balanced diet that includes lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods.
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March 18, 2008 at 12:48 am
· Filed under Flax, General, Recipes ·Tagged Flax, muffins, recipe, Video, WKRG
When I look for recipes that use flax (or any recipes for that matter), I usually go to the sites that offer “bonus” video. I like to see video accompanying the recipe because as a cooking novice I need all the help I can get.
For example, last weekend I tried a chili recipe from the So Good: Food & Wine with Heather Johnston. Unfortunately, her recipe didn’t call for any flax, but I did hit the jackpot today when I found a video accompanying a Cranberry, Flax, Muffin recipe on TV news station WKRG’s website. The video appeared pretty popular because I had trouble downloading it; so I didn’t get a chance to review it before making this post.
I’ll try to check out the video later and report back. For those who don’t need the video and want to get started right away, I copied the recipe below.
Cranberry Flax muffins
1 ½ C. bran flakes cereal ¼ tsp salt
¾ c. all purpose flour 1 egg
¾ c. whole wheat flour 2 egg whites
½ c. ground flax seed 1 c. 1% buttermilk
¼ c. packed brown sugar ½ c. honey
2 tsp baking powder ¼ c. canola oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 ½ c. dried cranberries
½ tsp baking soda 2 Tbsp whole flaxseed
Preheat oven to 325° F.
In a bowl whisk egg, egg whites, buttermilk, honey and oil. In large bowl mix all other ingredients except whole flaxseed. Mix
liquid ingredients into dry. Stir to mix thoroughly but careful not to over mix.
Coat muffin cups with cooking spray or use muffin cups. Fill cups 2/3 full, sprinkle whole flaxseed on top. Bake at 325° F for 10-
15 min. Cool 5 min on cooling rack.
Hope you enjoy.
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March 15, 2008 at 10:31 pm
· Filed under Flax, General, Recipes ·Tagged amature chef, blueberries, Flax, pancakes, recipe
Since I argued the other week that it’s better for people to mix their own ground flax into a pancake recipe rather than buy a pre-mixed recipe with flax already in it, I thought I’d better practice what I preach.
To find a pancake recipe that uses flax I went to RecipeGroups.com and found the following titled “Blueberry and Flax Buttermilk Pancakes Recipe.”
Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup flax meal
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 beaten egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons oil
1 cup fresh blueberries
Directions
Combine flour, flax meal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
Make a well in center of dry mixture then set aside.
In another bowl stir together egg, buttermilk and oil.
Add liquid ingredients all at once to dry mixture then stir just until moistened.
Gently fold in blueberries.
For each pancake pour 1/4 cup batter onto a hot lightly greased skillet.
Cook over medium heat 2 minutes on each side then serve immediately with syrup of your choice.
Overall I liked the recipe. It’s relatively quick and easy, and the blueberries offer enough flavor so that one doesn’t need to dowse the pancakes in maple syrup. I did try one pancake before mixing in the blueberries and must admit that it lacked the flavor I like.
I might also point out that my batter seemed a little too thick, but I tried it anyway. This caused the pancakes to take longer than two minutes, and in the end there were still a little gooey. Next time I make them — and I will — I’ll add a little more buttermilk to lighten it up.
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March 11, 2008 at 6:24 am
· Filed under Flax, General
Well Virginia and I were able to get off the farm for a very enjoyable trip to the Black Hills area. We always enjoy our flax delivery trips, even if its only 1 or 2 days. Best thing about it we don’t have to cook [virginia] or wash dishes [john].
Our trip started on a cloudy, breeze day with the forecast of snow-we thought if we get ahead of the storm, we might have to hole up in Rapid City for a couple days, but no such luck.
Our deliveries took us to Huron-Miller-Pierre-Rapid City and Hot Springs. We make this trip 3-5 times a year, so we try to take a different road to see what a great state we have. The huge herds of cattle, some with little calves following mamma, was great to see.
One of the highlights of this trip was when we offered a hitch-hiker a ride. He had to sit some boxes of flax, but he had no complaints. He had been standing in the 26 degree temp for almost 2 hrs. A very interesting man, he travels all over the country–hitchhiking-working to help folks who can’t afford to have their appliances repaired–His mission was to walk in Christs steps. When we dropped him off, he gave us a blessing. Remember the scripture-Heb-13:2—Who knows . One thing about it, I’m pretty sure he is going to be a flax customer.
Arriving in Rapid City our 1st stop was at the Colonial House, where they have the best flax muffins ever made. They have our flax in their gift shop and market it along with their Dakota Pride candy and gifts. Check it out at www.dakotapride.com.
We checked into the motel and took advantage of the whirl-pool. Middle of the night it started snowing, so by morning there was 2 in of snow and ice. We were mighty slow to get going–heading to Hot Spring,but it was a beautiful trip–the rolling hills and the southern Hills were covered with fresh snow. We had planned to come home on the southern route Hwy 18, but the radio said the snow had gone that way so we headed back to RC and I90.
By the time we arrived in RC our stomach clock said we better see what the Colonial House has on the menu, man was it good. The roads were dry, the traffic was lite so it was a very enjoyable trip. We really like spreading that flax around.
Hope you’ll ride along with us next time. ol jw-vw
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March 8, 2008 at 8:12 pm
· Filed under General, Local Foods ·Tagged 4-H, Farmers Market, Howard SD, Local Foods, Rural Learning Center
Howard, SD will have a farmers market this summer — at least if some high school students in the community have anything to do with it.
You know I love the concept of local foods. Well a few years back, I helped a group of 4-H’ers in Miner County try to establish a farmers market. We ran into a few problems: We didn’t have a vibrant local foods community to sell their foods at the market; I didn’t provide enough support to the young people to make it more successful; and We tried to take the market “on the road” to the other communities in Miner County, causing it to not have a home.
Well Lindsey Karlson with the Rural Learning Center in Howard, SD is again working with a group trying to make it happen. Calling themselves “Teens Talk Tomorrow,” the group started under the direction of local extension educator Karen Beranek. For the last year or so, they’ve been working to educate other young people in the community about the jobs that are and will be available in the Miner County in the future. The group has also played an important roll in posting job opportunities on the www.opportunityhoward.com website.
When I heard about their efforts to start a farmer’s market, I felt compelled to help them find vendors. So, if you are a food vendor seeking to help people eat healthier or know of someone who is one, please contact Lindsey at lindsey.karlson@rlcenter.net. I haven’t talked to John Wunder about selling flax there, but I sure will.
PS – I’m going to find out the names of the young people who are working on this because they desire a lot of credit for being so interested in the community they call home.
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