Magical chia seeds

If you've been looking to gain some superpowers (as I'm sure you are - who isn't?!), I have the scoop.  Are you familiar with chia seeds?  If you have walked into a health food store in the last year, you probably had a hard time avoiding them.  What's the deal with these teeny things?  

Let's start out with the freakish facts, shall we?  

Just one ounce of chia seeds contains 4915 mg of omega-3's and 1620 mg of omega-6's.  As a comparison, 3 ounces of cooked wild caught king salmon has 1500 mg of omega-3's.  Why do you care about omega-3's and 6's?  (Well, maybe you don't...shall I rephrase that?  Why should you care about these omegas?)  Heart health, for one thing.  Brain health for another.  They fight inflammation in your body, too.  (Good things those aren't important or anything.)  They also work on cancer, inflammatory bowel, and autoimmune diseases!  

Check it out - the Harvard school of public health has info for you.  

An ounce of chia seeds has 11 grams of fiber.  That is a crazy amount.  It's 42% of your daily value.  And you know what fiber means, don't you?  It means happy guts.  If your guts aren't happy, I can tell you, you're not going to be very happy.  Maybe you've heard people say that your health begins in the gut, and how your immune system is linked to it.  Because your intestinal walls are thin little ditties, you can pass a lot of crap (er, junk?  bacteria?  No. Pun. Intended.) through that wall, and I am pretty sure that is not going to promote great health if your stuff is sitting there too long.  Get out your specially made pom poms and cheer for the fiber.  

Do you need a boost of manganese?  It's got 30% of your daily value in an ounce.    It has an amino acid score of 115 (scores above 100 mean it is a complete protein).  They have more antioxidants than blueberries and they are grain and gluten free.  It's pretty much a boss all the way around. 

How are you going to use these little babies?  

Personally, I put them in my kombucha (I guess you could put them in water kefir, too, why not?) and my smoothies.  They act crazysauce when you put them in liquid.  They get this fantastic gooey bubble around them.  I can't explain it, except to tell you it is cool.  They come in different colors (black or white).  

Another favorite way I get my daily dose of chia is in coconut chia bars (Health Warrior makes some).  I hide them the way most people hide really good chocolate.  If my offspring find them, they think they have won the lottery.  

They are great energy bars - totally recommended for running (before a run scarf some down for a boost; after a run, rehydrate and replenish your electrolytes with coconut water). In fact, Wellness Mama even makes an energy gel with them - she uses a cup of coconut water and a few tablespoons of chia seeds.  Better than GMO artificially colored and flavored nonsense, I think.  

And duh, you can make a homemade Chia Pet.  You can just make a terra cotta head of your favorite Duck Dynasty character and grow them a beard.  Seriously, I could have just posted this and that would be enough information for some of us to have a long, productive relationship with some chia seeds. Did my Mom get Uncle Si for Christmas?  You just ask her.  

In the meantime, go get yerself some delicious ch-ch-ch-chia seeds!  

Peace, love, and superpowers, 

Ms. Daisy