Cha Cha with Chia

Chia seeds. It seems people fall into one of these 3 categories when it comes to chia seeds:

1) What the heck is a chia seed?

2) I’ve seen those, but what do you do with them?

3) I am a devotee, chia seed disciple forever more

I fall into the 3rd category & I’m taking you with me. Why?

• Chia Seeds are a superfood. Super nutrient dense.
• Chia seeds are extremely rich in Omega 3 and have a perfect balance of 3:2 Omega 3: Omega 6 ratio. In short, they help keep inflammation at bay.
• Chia seeds are about 1/4 protein – a whole protein that the body finds really easy to make use of (remember: the easier our body finds things to digest, the stronger we are at fighting off lurgies!)
• Essential fatty acids: Awesome for keeping our metabolism in check &  therefore fab for fat burning: Helloooo?

By this point you may need to duck out to the shops and grab a packet 

• The Calcium in chia seeds is 6 x that of milk. by weight AND easier for our bodies to assimilate when it comes to commercial pasteurised milk.
• The Iron content would have made popeye’s muscles even stronger.
• The Magnesium is over 10 x broccoli and fabulous for our tired achy modern joints and muscles.
• When put into water, Chia seeds absorb a lot, meaning they release their energy slowly & are fabulous for the colon
• Finally before I move to the how to: They are packed with anti oxidants.

So here are some easy tips for incorporating them into ours and our kids diet to boost the nutrient density of our meals and snacks and help our never ending quest to obtain and maintain a gorgeous silhouette.

1. Shake shake shake: Put a teaspoon into your shakes & smoothies for added fibre, protein and all of the above.

2. Put a table spoon into your pasta sauce, especially vegetarian ones, to soup up the protein & iron factors of your meal.

3. Put a couple of tablespoons into your brown rice just before it’s cooked to enhance the nutrient density of your meal.

4. Put a tablespoon or two into a casserole or curry that’s too liquidy – it will soak up the excess liquid leaving you with a luscious thick sauce & provide nutritional wonders.

5. Sprinkle through salads for texture and ‘bits’. I always feel like salads are more filling with ‘bits’ so i sprinkle a good tablespoon of chia & walnuts into my salads if that’s all that’s for lunch.

6. Mix a teaspoon per avocado into your guacamole along with chopped parsley, celtic sea salt and a squeeze of lemon

7. A teaspoon per serve into a soup = thick luscious texture + nutrient boost.

8. Make a delicious pudding with them, by stirring in 4 tablespoons of chia seeds to 1 & 3/4 cups of your favourite milk (I do half coconut milk / half almond milk), 2 tablespoons of maple or rice syrup and 1/4 each of vanilla bean powder and ground cinnamon. Do before bed, and pop in the fridge, enjoying this in the morning with a few blueberries. Yummy!

9. Put them in your no bake chocolate fudge. Click here for the easy peasy recipe.

How easy is all of that!?

Enjoy incorporating Chia into your daily meals and snacks. It’s the kind of thing that once in the cupboard, you end up using it all the time! Look forward to hearing if anyone has done interesting things with them at home too!

Real food. Strong bodies.