Recently while reading another blogger’s comments about flax, I realized that my passion for flax seeds has blinded me to the idea using flax seed oil in my diet.
While I still believe that flax seeds are the best source of omega-3 fatty acids for me (because of the lignans and fiber), I’ve made up my mind to give a little flax seed oil a try.
Now, I can’t see taking flax seed oil by the spoonful, so I’ll try to incorporate it into some of the foods I make. Since Red Headed Frog was the blogger who helped raise this issue for me, I’ve decided my first foray into flax oil will use their Flax Seed Oil Bread Dip recipe.
Flax Seed Daily Omega-3 Bread Dip
1/2 ounce of Flax Seed Oil (Daily recommended amount from your doctor)
1/4 ounce Balsamic Vinegar
Black Pepper to taste
1 slice of toasted Dark Rye Bread
You are going to mix the flax seed oil, balsamic vinegar and pepper in a flat plate and serve. I actually take quite a bit of Omega-3s daily, but everyone should consult their own physician before they decide on how much to take. This is just how much my doctor asked me to take daily. (from Red Headed Frog)
If I can find the flax oil at the local health food store, I will give it a try tonight.
I’d also recommend stopping by Red Head Frog’s blog. They have a business that focuses “on designing and developing eco-friendly apparel and home decor products for the design savvy.”
The message about the need to grind flax seeds is getting out there. But just in case if you haven’t heard, you MUST grind flax seeds before eating them because the seed’s hard shell prevents your body from fully digesting flax.
So what’s the best way to grind flax seeds? Most people I know use a coffee grinder, but couple months ago I switched from a coffee grinder to a Magic Bullet brand mini-blender. The process for using it is even simpler and cleaner than a coffee grinder:
Scoop the flax seeds into the one of the Magic Bullet cups. (I only fill my cup about 1/2 full.)
Twist the blade cap on the cup.
Set the cup on the Magic Bullet power base and let it grind up the flax seeds.
Twist the blade cap off the cup.
Twist on one of the Magic Bullet caps.
Place the cup of flax in the refrigerator.
Not only is the Magic Bullet powerful, but I don’t have to transfer the ground flax to another container after grinding. It seemed like I was forever spilling the flax when I used the coffee grinder.
You may disagree with me or have better ideas — and I’d be real interested i hearing them. You may also want to check out Joe Bartmann’s Squidoo Lense for “Choosing a Flax Grinder.”
My wife and I went grocery shopping last night, and we changed some of our food selections after reading the labels. For instance, my wife put down the omega-3 supplemented yogurt because it also included high fructose corn syrup, and I purchased Organic Valley Half & Half because it was the only half & half that was made up ONLY of milk.
In a moment of weakness, however, I snuck a bag of Doritos into the cart, which my wife didn’t notice until we were in the checkout line. When she did see them, she threw a scowl my way and mumbled sarcastically; ”I suppose you’re going to tell me they have flax in them?” to which I smiled meekly and replied; “No, they’re mostly corn. But I’m going to be home alone this weekend, so I deserve them.” (The discussion ended with silence.)
I won’t go into great detail about the article (even though it was pretty funny), but apparently there are some chips made with flax. My point here is that I have to agree with the author — no chips should be considered health foods.
And that is probably what scares me the most about the current hype about omega-3s and flax. Flax is good for your health. But soon, food companies will be adding flax and other omega-3 foods to ALL of their products, and marketing them as health foods.
Will the American public see through this ruse? I sure hope so, but I’m not very confident.
I sure appreciate visiting with folks who are very health conscious. It makes me wish I had gone to college instead of the school of hard knocks–farming.
It was after retiring from farming that I started absorbing all I could find about flax. In the 15 years of trying to help folks reap the benefits of what is in that little flax seed, it became very clear; it truly is GOD’s seed of miracles.
We are now in 2008, trying to develop the magic pill that will prevent aging, eliminate heart disease, ease the pain of arthritis. Do you think we could stick in some kind of exotic speck that would prevent cancer, and eliminate constipation? Let’s see a pill like that will only cost about $22 a day. Notice it seems like most of the new pills only treat symptoms, not provide a means of having a better, longer more enjoyable life.
As you can see I should have gone to college, by now I should have everyone in South Dakota eating flax and living to a ripe old age. Maybe, just maybe we have found that pill. The ratio of omega 6 and omega3 could be a huge benefit to reaching that magic pill. These 2 omegas are in every cell in our body, according to Ms Allport. When we realize, flax has the majority of the pill in that seed, all we have to do is bring that omega6 down to a level so the omega3 can do its miracles. Did you know a diet high in omega3 have been known to help ADHD. Just think what that $5-6 a month bag of flax can do to everyone who uses it. That’s why we call it GODS SEED OF MIRACLES.
Sure hope you have a good one, I sure have. oljohnwunder
The short answer to that question in the title is “yes” — unless you want to experience omega-3 deficiency, which can result in death.
But lets get real. An omega-3 deficiency leading to serious health issues like death is unlikely, unless one is on a highly specialized diet. While we don’t exactly know when an omega-3 deficiency will lead to death, its probably require a much higher omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of (40:1 to 50:1) that the most unhealthy of eaters probably have. (Remember, however, that an optimum range is somewhere closer to 4:1.)
That said a recent conversation with a vegetarian friend left me thinking we needed to talk a little more on the subject, so i went out to do a little research.
Suite101.com offers the following advice for vegetarians:
Vegetarians and vegans are notmore likely to be deficient in omega-3s compared to meat-eaters. It is fairly easy for everyone consuming a balanced diet to meet the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations for alpha-linolenic acid intake; equivalent to 0.6% – 1.2% of daily energy.
A typical adult consuming 2000 calories per day would need about 1.3 – 2.7 grams ALA per day; equalling about one-quarter of a teaspoon of flax seed oil, less than a tablespoon of walnuts or 1.3 tablespoons of soybean oil. But don’t worry about numbers – a balanced diet is very unlikely to be deficient.
Everybody should strive to balance their intake of omega-6 fats to omega-3 fats; most people (including vegetarians and vegans) eat too many omega-6s that are found in nuts, seeds and grains. It is important to balance these with sources of concentrated omega-3.
This sounds like good advice to me, but vegetarians, vegans, and omnivore’s alike need to focus on the words ”balanced diet” and “eat too many omega-6s.” We all need to follow that advice if we want to get our omega-6 to omega-3 ratio down in the 4:1 range.
If you want to learn more on the Symptoms of Omega-3 deficiency, check out thisEzine article.
We’ve talked about how flax can be used as a substitute for eggs in baking. Now Food for Thought offers the following tips for substituting flax for shortenings such as butter and margerine:
When substituting flax seed meal for traditional shortenings, you’ll need to triple the amount of flax seed meal used. For example, if a recipe calls for 1/3 cup of shortening, use 1 cup of flax seed meal in its place. This will also require some alterations to the wet ingredients in the recipe, so that the wet-dry ratio is correct.
Next, flax will often make baked goods brown quickly. Thus, when cooking with flax, remember that the color of baked goods is not necessarily a good indication of when they are done baking.
Finally, even though I use flax in most of my recipes, I’ll often use some oil as a shortening as well. I like a moist, chewy texture for most of my baked goods. Flax often makes muffins, cookies, etc. a bit dry. Substituting flax for half of the shortening (tripled, of course), and an oil such as olive, canola or walnut oil for the other half maintains the moist texture while adding a health benefit.
I really appreciate these tips, but I must admit to scratching my head to the author’s comment that “it’s important to buy flax seed meal, rather than whole flax seeds.” Her rationale is that its an inconvenience to grind your own.
Personally, I prefer to grind them myself because then I can see and know what I’m getting. And why pay someone to mass produce a food products I can make myself? But I am very pleased that she is increasing her omega-3 fatty acids though buying the ground stuff — and I really appreciate her sharing her cooking skills!
I’m not positive if there’s any medical reason for dogs and other naturally carnivorous pets to eat foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, but it is becoming a fad. The basic idea is that adding flax to a dog’s diet will help reduce joint inflammation and heart problems. While definitely true for omnivore’s like humans, I’m just not sure how it affects dogs?
Pet owners who want to try, however, should check out the recipe for doggy biscuits found at Two Dog Blog. Just add a little ground flax, bake, and make Fido happy.
We started the conversation about the high costs of drugs a few days ago. Here’s a YouTube video expose on why drugs cost so much, how and why drug companies advertise their drugs, and why Americans fall into the trap of thinking they need drugs. This is actually the 2nd in a series of YouTube videos on the subject.
In my last post, I tried to raise the possibility of changing the physical design of our communities so that people are more likely eat healthier. After all, Mark Fenton has shown us that communities can be designed to make walking more common; so maybe we can do the same with foods.
In the comment section of this post, John Wunder raised the point that we are going to see a lot more fuel efficient cars with $4 a gallon gas; similarly people should replace expensive drugs that treat ailments like high cholesterol with less expensive, healthy foods like flax. Great advice.
This raised a couple thoughts:
First, the best advice Americans could follow is to eat healthy foods BEFORE you have health problems like high cholesterol. Prevention is much more cost effective in the long run.
Second, go to a doctor when confronted with health ailments because you really do need professional consultation on health matters. But when talking to your doctor insist that he/she help you incorporate healthy nutrition as a part of your treatment plan. Drugs alone do not have to be the answer.
Doctors, like the rest of us, have to overcome the constant bombardment of advertising from drug companies. And you can be a part of the solution to this problem by educating yourself. Go to the Internet and do a little research. Together, you should be able to reached a balanced decision about your treatment options.
And remember, not only will eating healthy foods make you healthier; you are also probably saving money as well. And with rising gas prices you can use every extra dollar.
I’ve been distracted this last week by my attendance at the Green by Design Conference in Minneapolis, sponsored by Minnesota Green Communities. One of the keynote speakers, Mark Fenton, reminded me of the connection between green living, walking, and healthy eating.
Mark is a nationally renown walking enthusiast who believes America’s hope for a healthier future rests with its ability to motivate people to walk more. To that end, he promotes the design and redesign of communities in ways to encourage walking.
Mark is also a former Olympic race-walker, and he still looks fit enough to compete in those 31-mile races. While poking a little fun at people with high cholesterol during his presentation, however, Mark admitted to having high cholesterol himself. This surprised me because he looks so fit.
When I was younger, I use to think that excercise and physical activity would cure all my bad eating habits. Obviously, Mark’s passion for walking disproves this myth.
While I don’t want to imply Mark has bad eating habits, his message did cause me to question if he was getting enough omega-3 fatty acids in his diet. Having the right ratio of omega-6 to omega-3’s in one’s diet, after all, is important to lower cholesterol and better health.
So, where is this all going? There’s no doubt that if we designed our communities to make walking easier, our society will become healthier. But I don’t think that’s enough. Health issues like high cholesterol will still exist.
In addition, we need people to eat healthier — especially by increasing their omega-3 consumption with foods such as flax.
And if we can design a community so that people are more likely to walk, my guess is that we can design a community so that people are more likely to eat healthier. Maybe, that should be a topic for next year’s conference.
Recently while reading another blogger’s comments about flax, I realized that my passion for flax seeds has blinded me to the idea using flax seed oil in my diet. 
