Flaxseed

This seed is one of the richest vegetable sources in omega-3, helps to prevent numerous diseases, improves PMS symptoms, and is incredible in recipes. For so many amazing reasons, I prepared this guide to help you better!

Maybe you've already eaten flaxseed at some point, or already consume it every day and don't really know why, besides being healthy. This seed holds so many benefits for our body that it is almost impossible to believe that we have it available.

The incredible power of lignans

Lignans are phytoestrogens that manage to moderate the effect of estrogen in our bodies. They are found throughout the plant kingdom, but in flaxseed, they have a concentration around 100 times greater.

Precisely because of the effect it generates on estrogen, one of the benefits in the female body is to alleviate chest pain due to the menstrual cycle. And that's not the only positive point: when we decrease our exposure to estrogen, we also decrease the risk of breast cancer.

But it's not just for women that flaxseed has benefits. Numerous scientific studies have been conducted on men with prostate cancer. Flaxseed has not only protective effects, but also effects of reducing the proliferation of cancer cells and, at the same time, eliminating them.

Flaxseed and Hypertension

High blood pressure is no longer a condition of people over 65 years old. We already see young people accepting the idea of ​​sustaining life with a drug that controls blood pressure as if this were something normal.

I don't want to sound offensive, but here I want you to understand that it's more of a lifestyle choice than a real-life imposition. We have here on the site a sequence of posts about hypertension.

Let's get back to flaxseed: In a 6-month study, participants who consumed flaxseeds every day had a drop from 158/82 to 143/75, representing a seven-point drop in diastolic pressure (pressure in the arteries while the heart rests between the beats). This decrease can result in 46% fewer strokes and 26% less heart disease over time.¹

How to buy flaxseed

I hope so many incredible powers have convinced you to consume more of this seed. So let's understand here how best to consume it.

We can buy flaxseeds in supermarkets and in bulk stores. The most common way we find flaxseed is in its whole form, with a beautiful hard shell. We also have the form of flaxseed flour, which is nothing more than crushed flaxseed. Brown or gold linseed both have pretty much the same properties.

Buying already in flour format has a good side and a not-so-good side: it can be more practical, but when we buy the seed in the whole format, we guarantee that it lasts longer in our kitchen and allows us to buy a larger quantity. When we crush the seed at home, we are also sure that the flour will be pure. The not-so-good thing about buying already flour is the fact that it has a shorter shelf life. It's your choice.

How to consume flaxseed

If you've heard that consuming whole flaxseed can pierce the gut, I want to say it's a myth. The most important reason for crushing flaxseed is to ensure full absorption of nutrients by our body.

Nature has played an amazing role in giving such a tough shell, making all the nutrients well protected internally. When we grind, we just break this membrane and arrive at the gold that awaits us.

But what about our teeth? They definitely also play an incredible role in breaking the husk, but we don't always have a complete chew to the point of crushing the seed well.

So we can let the blender do that role for us!

Flaxseed flour can be added to our oatmeal, used as an egg substitute in recipes, it can be added to beans, sauces, salads, along with chopped fruit, smoothies, bread mixes, and wherever your creativity allows.

Consuming a tablespoon of flaxseed flour a day is the ideal amount to have all the protection and all the magic that this incredible seed has in our body.

Important note

Flaxseed does not contain lignans, only lignan precursors, which need to be activated. And this activation is made by the beneficial bacteria that inhabit our intestines - a very important reason for us to feed our good bacteria in the best way: with diversity in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.

Flaxseed is, of course, a superfood. But as mentioned above, it only has real effects on our body when combined with healthy eating!

References:

1. RODRIGUEZ-LEYVA, D.; WEIGHELL, W.; EDEL, A.L. et al. “Potent Antihypertensive action of Dietary Flaxseed in Hypertensive Patients.” Hypertension. [S.l.]: 2013; 62(6): p. 1.081-9.