Chia Seeds - All The Hype?

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Kamila33
Kamila33 Posts: 4
in Food and Nutrition
Hi All!

This is my first time posting on the community message boards, so HELLO WORLD! I am on a low fat, plant based diet and was looking up "Chia Seed Pudding" recipes for a twist on my regular, smoothie breakfast. However, I am a little resistant to getting chia seeds because i'm not sure if they're really what they're made out to be. May someone please tell me the health benefits or your own personal experience with them? Thank you all and keep up the great work!

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  • amblight
    amblight Posts: 350 Member
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    I like them for the texture they can give to things. I made some snack balls with them, combining spices and herbs, spinach and mushroom, and some chia, scooping them out with an icecream scoop, and baking them slightly.

    Especially for vegetarian meals they are excellent. They can replace the functionn of eggs in a lot of things, such as vegetarian meat-loafs and veg-"meat"balls.

    It's also good if you want a chocolate-desert - I like to make 'deserts' from greek yoghurt or skyr (which is like greek youghurt, but leaner and more protein), but due to the sour-ness of them, I don't think they go well with chocolate. Well, chia-pudding does! :D So you get much of the same texture, but without the sourness.

    They are good for calcium, protein, and fiber. Which is good enough for me. Apparently they are also good for essentiel fatty acids, but I think I get enough of those as is, so I've not really payed attention to that.
  • mank32
    mank32 Posts: 1,323 Member
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    :creeps:
  • h9dlb
    h9dlb Posts: 243 Member
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    They are evil if you're allergic to them !
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    My bag of chia seeds says there is 6g of fiber, 3g of protein, and 4.5g of fat in 2 tbsps. Also says they are "an excellent vegetarian source of omega fatty acids". I put them in my smoothies and sprinkle them over my yogurt for the fiber. I haven't developed any super powers from them :wink: but they do a nice job of thickening my smoothies and packing a lot of fiber in a little package.
  • 20Grit
    20Grit Posts: 752 Member
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    Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia....





    sorry, couldn't resist. :bigsmile:
  • glennstoudt
    glennstoudt Posts: 403 Member
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    A teaspoon on my yogurt and fruit breakfast daily. Fiber, Omega 3 and satiation qualities. About 2 years or so now. Works for me. Will probably work for you too. Give them a try. You have white and black and many are grown organically and locally.
  • gallogly1
    gallogly1 Posts: 6 Member
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    I've read that they help keep you full longer. i put them in my breakfast shakes.
  • squishycatmew
    squishycatmew Posts: 151 Member
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    They're just food. If they meet your nutritional needs and you like them, eat them.
  • True_Blue82
    True_Blue82 Posts: 17 Member
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    I love chia pudding for a quick breakfast to go. I have a bunch of 2 cup glad ware containers and I add 3 T chia seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, sometimes a little vanilla extract, 2 packets of stevia, and 1 cup of unsweetened plain almond milk. I find the almond milk works better than cow's milk or soy. Then I shake the whole thing, and let it sit for a few minutes. Shake, sit, until the seeds start to gel. Then I toss them in the fridge at night and add berries or other fruit in the morning. It gives me the energy and staying power of oatmeal with the perk of a grab & go.

    For what it's worth, I essentially make the same concoction (without the chia seeds) using 1 c. plain greek nonfat yogurt but I mix in the berries or fruit at night. Then in the morning, I sprinkle 2T of flax seeds on top of the yogurt and go. If I do them Sunday night, I have breakfast for my commute. I just add a piece of whole wheat toast and almond butter and a banana.

    I fell in love with chia seeds in my kombucha, and then heard about chia pudding from a clerk at Whole Foods. When I don't have time for breakfast, it's a great choice.
  • rejectuf
    rejectuf Posts: 487 Member
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    Their macros are pretty good, good source of omega-3, fiber, and they have a neat texture when exposed to liquid. Since they've become a fad they're a little pricey.
  • Shilo_Smith
    Shilo_Smith Posts: 11 Member
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    The seeds are pricey.I mainly use them for the chia pudding.I take a green powder (garden of life Raw) which has chia and so many other things to offer for the price of only 1 bag of chia seeds.
  • Soggynode
    Soggynode Posts: 1,179 Member
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    I use them in a lot of my gluten-free recipes to thicken things up or hold things together. We put them smoothies, salads and other things but I mainly use them for cooking. A little goes a long way so be careful, a tablespoon can turn a glass of cranberry juice into jello in a pretty short period of time.
  • leftinthekitchen
    leftinthekitchen Posts: 98
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    I just made a chocolate chia pudding for the first time earlier this week and it was awesome. It tasted like a dark chocolate version of a snak-pak (those refrigerated puddings). As for their health properties, I can't say but they do work well as an egg substitute. I agree, though that they can be quite expensive, I bought mine on whim because they were on sale.

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