Chia or Flax?

This past weekend I was at the Cape with my family and I brought my new favorite addition to my oatmeal: chia seeds. My mom is always one to be up on nutrition trends and she wanted to try them. Then, she asked me what the difference between chia seeds and flax seeds (another seed I introduced her to a few years ago). I had absolutely no idea what the difference was, so I did some research. I though the results were interesting so hopefully you will too!

First off, chia and flax seeds have some similarities. The most obvious is that they are both filled with nutrients! Specifically, both chia and flax seeds are concentrated sources of the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolentic acid (ALA). In fact, one ounce of flax seeds and one ounce of chia seeds contain almost the same amount of ALA, 4.7 grams in flax and 5.0 grams in chia.

However, when looking at the dietary fiber in one ounce of chia vs. flax seeds, chia actually has 10.7 grams, where as flax seed contains 5.6 grams (still a great source of fiber!). This chia cheat sheet has an impressive resume for the chia seed:

-2 times the protein of any other seed or grain
-5 times the calcium of milk (plus boron which helps calcium transfer into our bones)
-2 times the potassium in bananas
-3 times the reported antioxidant strength of blueberries
-3 times more iron than spinach
omega 3 and omega 6 essential fatty acids

One major perk of chia seeds over flax seeds for ME is that chia seeds do not need to be ground to be easily digested. I am not a big fan of grinding my own seeds, and if you buy them ground they can go bad fairly quickly.

However, truthfully there really are limited studies on the overall effects of chia on our heath (Gina taught me this). There have been more studies on flax, but most of these studies have not been able to prove the impact that flax seeds have in cancer prevention or heart disease.

Overall, both chia and flax seeds have great nutritional profiles, which likely means they provide health benefits. However, you don't need to incorporate them into every meal. I have been enjoying a 1/2 a teaspoon of chia seeds in my oatmeal each morning :)

Do you like chia or flax seeds? What is your favorite thing to add them to?

Also I won't leave you hanging about yoga this morning. The class itself was awesome, my favorite teacher and such a good way to start the day. The showers were full when I got out of class so I had to come home (so much for packing all my stuff) but I still got to work at a reasonable time (just with soaking wet hair!) I thought my day was going to be zen after starting so well, but of course I haven't quite mastered carrying the yoga zen into my day and I was already annoyed by 10 am, but gotta start somewhere right?

Oh and just because I have to mention the weather, I think it was like 90 degrees today. I love warmth.

Hope everyone is having a good Wednesday!