10 reasons to eat Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are likely to help balance blood sugar, improve heart health, reduce inflammation, aid weight loss and improve digestive function. All fantastic reasons to include them in your diet!

I am a little bit obsessed with chia seeds at the moment. I add them to my oat bran of a morning, make puddings, put them in my banana muffins, choc mint brain power bites, smoothies, yoghurt, salads and pretty much anything else I can think of!

Here are 10 reasons why you should add
some chia seeds to your diet:

1. They are high in fibre which improves digestive function and bulks up the stool to make bowels more regular
2. Chia seeds contain all 8 of the essential amino acids making them a complete protein. Protein helps with muscle repair, blood sugar balancing and appetite regulation.
3. They are high in antioxidants so they help to destroy disease causing free radicals.
4. Chia contains good amounts of lots of essential nutrients including calcium, iron, vitamin c and potassium.
5. They are mucilaginous which means they secrete a gel like substance that is nice and soothing and healing to the gut – put some chia seeds in a small amount of water and watch it turn to jelly. Now imagine this in your digestive system. So good!!
6. Can be used to substitute egg. Yep! If you’re allergic to egg you can mix chia seeds with water so it goes all jelly-ish and use that in place of egg in your recipes! To make Chia gel mix 1 part Chia seed with 10 parts water, stir, then let it sit for around 10 minutes
7. Chia is full of omega 3 ALA fatty acids which are anti-inflammatory and good for cardiovascular health as well as arthritis sufferers. If you’re a vegetarian you can use chia seeds as one of your non-meat or fish sources of omega 3.
8. Chia slows the digestion of carbohydrates to glucose which provides a slow release of energy to keep you going and going and going.
9. Chia seeds have been shown to increase HDL cholesterol and lower Triglycerides as well as lower blood pressure all good news for heart health.
10. Chia seeds are gluten free so can be enjoyed by coeliacs and those with gluten sensitivities.

If you are a naughty person who doesn't drink water, you will need to start if you are going to include chia seeds in your diet. A lack of water may result in constipation due to the high fibre content.

While chia seeds are an amazing superfood to include in your diet to boost overall health and nutrition, if you do have any medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease, you still need to seek professional medical advice for your condition.

Giveaway - Closed, sorry!

The lovely people at The Chia Cohave given me one prize pack to give away to a lucky Burton Health friend :)

The pack includes:

• 1 x 150g black Chia
• 1 x 150g white Chia
• Sunscreen
• Jute bag with recipe card

Just head over to the Burton Health Naturopathy Facebook page to enter. You will need to 'Like' our page and comment on the competition picture to tell us how you will use your chia seeds if you win. Winner will be drawn on Monday 26th August. Good Luck xx

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ANZAC Cookies - Healthy ones of course!

ANZAC day is coming up fast so its time to start thinking about getting your ingredients together for your ANZAC cookies.

These cookies are a hit in my house, really easy to make and totally delicious!

You will need:

• 1 cup almond meal
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• ½ cup coconut sugar
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons raw honey
• ½ teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1 tablespoon water

Method:

1. Combine almond meal, coconut, sugar and oats in a bowl.
2. In a small saucepan slowly heat and stir the oil and honey until melted.
3. Mix the bicarb soda and water in a small bowl, remove saucepan from heat and add the bicarb mixture to the saucepan. The mix will froth.
4. Pour the liquid into the bowl of dry ingredients and combine well.
5. I rolled mine into 20 cookies but could’ve made 2-3 more if my partner hadn’t been hovering around eating the raw mix!
6. Place on a cookie tray or baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake on 150 degrees C for 13-15 minutes or until golden.
7. Allow to cool

About the ingredients:

I've used Almond meal instead of flour to make these cookies a great wheat free option (please note they are not gluten-free due to the oats). It also makes them a fairly good protein snack - Yay!

Coconut oil is used instead of butter as it is high in medium chain fatty acids and will not raise blood cholesterol. In fact, it is good for heart health.

Coconut sugar has twice the iron, four times the magnesium and over ten times the zinc of brown sugar. It’s a great low GI alternative to cane sugar.

Honey is used instead of golden syrup. Golden syrup is made in the process of refining sugar cane juice into sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid. Honey is made by bees so is naturally a better choice and is full of antioxidants. I've used raw honey as its even more antibacterial and healthful!

These cookies are such a great Low GI, healthy oil, protein-full snack and they are very difficult to stop eating! Enjoy them on ANZAC day or any time of year!

Choc-Mint Brain Power Bites

These balls are a really great way to take fish oil. Especially for kids. You can get a full therapeutic dose of fish oil in one ball for children and two balls for adults which definitely beats swallowing six capsules!

In my clinic, I use a high potency fish oil for children with ADD, ADHD, ASD and learning difficulties. The oil I use has quite a strong peppermint flavour and some children are happy to take it straight off the spoon while others won’t touch it! So, these choc-mint balls are the perfect disguise and they are now one of my favourite treats to eat!

I also have an adult version of the mint flavoured fish oil, which is used to prevent age related cognitive decline and is great for boosting brain power!

And of course they work well with orange flavoured fish oil for an anti-inflammatory and anti-ageing Jaffa Bite.

Ingredients (Organic)

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil

• 3 tablespoons raw honey

• 3 tablespoons raw cacao

• 1.5 cup rolled oats

• 30ml mint flavoured fish oil

• Desiccated coconut (no added sugar)

Method

1. In a food processor or stick mixer, blend the oats to make a fine powder

2. Add the cacao, coconut oil and honey and blend to combine

3. Mix in fish oil near the end – don’t blend too hard.

4. Roll into 12 balls and roll each ball in desiccated coconut.

5. Refrigerate to set. Store in fridge

*Each Brain Power Bite will provide approx. 2.5ml fish oil

If you don’t want to use fish oil in this recipe, just add more coconut oil or honey and some peppermint essence to get the right consistence and taste.

A note on fish oils

I use particular practitioner only oils as they are of a very high quality and are tested for heavy metals as well as rancidity. It is important when buying fish oils, to go for quality. Cheap fish oils often cause reflux or fishy burps – this is because the oil is rancid. Rancid fish oil is very bad for your health. When it comes to fish oil, avoid the bargain bulk tubs that seem too good to be true as they are likely rancid, high in heavy metals and from fish caught by unethical and unsustainable practices.