[Closed] Talk to me about chia seeds

I take them with my morning snake oil, liberally doused with wahwah berries.

I mix them with disappointment and walnuts to make a spirit-crushing porridge.

they don't contain gluten

Teaspoon in my breakfast smoothie/nutriblast every day. Not noticed any obvious benefits to be honest!

You EAT them?

[meat] Seeds? Are you a squirrel? M(eat)TFU

[img] [/img]

Teaspoon in my breakfast smoothie/nutriblast every day.

'Nutriblast?' Do you actually say 'I'm going to have my nutriblast'? If so then respect, really. Takes guts to fly in the face of food when hungry

Not noticed any obvious benefits to be honest!

What did you expect? A man-bun in three days? [/meat]

I have an enriching smoothie every morning - it enriches the health gurus who persuade my wife to buy this stuff, our cupboards and fridge are full of "superfoods" such that there is no room for my bowl of beef dripping.

I think with these things any perceived benefit is going to massively subjective, lots of confirmation bias etc.
I'm generally sceptical of reductionist claims about 'superfoods' along the lines of "food X is good for Y".
MrsSalmon is a big fan and I can't say I've noticed that she's suddenly massively healthier than me!

That said, I'm sure if you think it's good for you then that's a benefit in itself.

BigDummy - Member

I mix them with disappointment and walnuts to make a spirit-crushing porridge.

Bravo, sir!

there is no room for my bowl of beef dripping.

Sprinkled on my black pudding.

Speak to the Top Gear crew. They used one for the 'star in a reasonably priced car' 🙂

Ah, so the consensus of the hive is they'll do me good sprinkled over the top of my porridge and bacon sandwich. Cool 😉

My wife has them everyday in her breakfast smoothie and she hasn't keeled over yet.

My sister sent me a message about chia seeds earlier..

She suffers with ulcerative colitis and they are one of the few seeds/cereals that she can use with the absolute certainty that it won't irritate her condition..

When we were out in NZ last year, we stayed with a cancer survivor who had done extensive research to incorporate nutrition into his recovery and he also recommended chia seeds daily in yer muesli or whatever..

bleedin eyewateringly expensive though aren't they?

Ah, so the consensus of the hive is they'll do me good sprinkled over the top of my porridge and bacon sandwich. Cool

Did you expect anything less? (-:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_hispanica

A 100-gram serving of chia seeds is a rich source of the B vitamins thiamine and niacin (54% and 59%, respectively of the daily value (DV), and a good source of the B vitamins riboflavin and folate (14% and 12%, respectively). The same amount of chia seeds is also a rich source of the dietary minerals calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and zinc (>20% DV).
...
Although preliminary research indicates potential health benefits from consuming chia seeds, this work remains sparse and inconclusive.

So, full of vitamins and minerals and marrowbone jelly, but probably not likely to have you running a two hour marathon, arm-wrestling a grizzly bear or making the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs any time soon. Which is pretty much the same with all these superfoods du jour, they're good for you but they're not magic beans.

Not expecting the miracle of miracles, just wondered on whether they're worth splashing out on,see they're in Lidl's this week.

IIRC, they're one of the seeds with all 8 amino acids. If you're veggie/vegan and using beans as a source of protein, you might be deficient in one amino acid, so chia seeds (plus sesame seeds and quinoa?) are one way to get that elusive eighth amino acid.

It is a good source of omega-3 fats. Though flax seed would be a lot cheaper.

Miketually - I'm pretty sure quinoa is the only grain to contain all eight amino acids. As you mention though, great for veggies - anyone else may as well just eat eggs.

Vegetarians can eat eggs too (assuming they choose to). That's vegans you're thinking of.

Soya is also a complete protein.
You don't have to get all of the amino acids from the same food, or in the same meal anyway. eg rice and lentils together would be a complete protein.
There's not really any need to worry about complete proteins. So long as you eat a varied diet, with different sorts of protein sources.

Chia seeds would be a rather inefficient and expensive source of protein.

In 30 years of no meat and not enough dairy to be remotely significant I've never really stopped to worry about protein. I think the only real protein problem you might run into on some diets is getting too much. As for chia seeds it's hard to see how they won't just go straight through you, especially if you have a diet like mine 🙂

Chia seeds do seem to be rather Emperors new clothes...

I'm new to veggie food, but I'm just a reduced-meat-arian. Had some really lovely food in the last couple of weeks though, from Anna Jones' new book.