Chia seeds - a superfood friend with benefits

I'm loving chia seeds at the moment. I'm using them in EVERYTHING. One might even say that I'm chia-tastic.

What you need to know (or maybe just want to know) about chia seeds
They are:
1.    A wholegrain
2.    Super high in the essential Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. Essential fatty acids are vital as they help the body recover after exercise and help to increase metabolism, helping with fat burning and weight loss.
3.    High in fibre, which helps to make us feel fuller for longer and keep us “regular” (lovely)
4.    Gluten free
5.    Rich in iron (3 times more than Popeye’s favourite food)
6.    A complete protein, containing 8 essential amino acids. It’s a little complicated, but many plant sources of protein are incomplete proteins that need to be combined with another protein. These little babies do it all on their own.
7.    High in other good stuff like calcium (higher in calcium than milk and more absorbable too), B vitamins, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous and zinc
8.    Rich in antioxidants to battle those nasty free radicals (I seriously imagine a little battalion of antioxidant warriors going to work on the insurgent free radicals). Antioxidants help to slow the process of aging. Sounds good to me.

Just throw them in
Salads, soups, stirfrys, smoothies. A tablespoon or so will do the trick. Yum. 

Black versus white seeds
According to The Chia Co, there is very little nutritional difference between the white and black seeds, so it really depends on the colour that your recipe or mood calls for.

Yummy chia smoothie
One the weekend I bought some chia seeds from About Life in Bondi Junction (you can get them from any health food store). The packet had a great smoothie recipe on the back, which I had for breakfast this morning and it was delish. Hopefully they don’t mind me sharing it with you!

1 cup banana and/or berries (I used ½ banana ½ strawberries)
½ cup yoghurt
½ cup milk (or your preferred milk replacement)
½ cup coconut milk
1tbs chia seeds (soak the seeds in a little water until the seeds and water form a thick gel, then add them to the smoothie)
1tbs honey (I prefer maple syrup with yoghurt as honey is antibacterial and kills all the good bacteria in yoghurt)
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp grated ginger (I left this out)

1.    Soak seeds
2.    Add all ingredients to blender
3.    Blend
4.    Drink (I can hear you saying “duh…”)

Try them out. Suffice to say that I’m a fan of these tiny little suckers.