Cooking with Chia For Dummies E-Book

Barrie Rogers

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 346

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Power up your day with a daily dose of chia! Omega-3 fatty acids and fiber are the superstars of cardiovascular health, and chia seeds contain them both in spades. They're also great sources of iron, calcium, magnesium, and zinc, and have been linked to better cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure levels. It's no wonder they've been a staple in Central American diets since the Aztecs, and are once again growing in popularity. Chia is truly a superfood, both nutritious and versatile. Both the seeds and sprouts are edible, but there's so much more to chia than that! Cooking With Chia For Dummies explores the benefits and many uses of the chia seed, and guides you through a multitude of ways to add chia to your diet. Featuring over 125 recipes, you'll learn how to choose among the different types of chia options, how to use and how to use it, and exactly how much you need to reap the health benefits. * Camouflage your chia or make it the star of the dish * Incorporate chia into your favorite meal * Adapt the recipes to be vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free * Discover chia recipes that even kids will eat Learn why you shouldn't harvest the sprouts from your Chia pet, and where to buy high-quality seeds to eat. Chia is already fueling endurance athletes and is beloved by dietitians. You deserve to feel great, and there's no reason your taste buds should suffer for it. Chia is a delicious addition to any meal, and there's no reason for you to miss out. Cooking With Chia For Dummies is your comprehensive guide to adding chia to your diet, and your companion on the journey to ultimate health.

Leseprobe

Cooking with Chia For Dummies®

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

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Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014930401

ISBN 978-1-118-86706-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-86707-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-86716-7 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Cooking with Chia For Dummies

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/cookingwithchia to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting Started with Chia

Chapter 1: Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia: An Introduction to the Nutrient-Dense Chia Seed

A Simple Seed Brimming with Nutrients

The Endurance Food of Ancient Cultures

Chia and the Aztecs

The disappearance of chia

Chia and the Tarahumara Indians

Chia’s resurrection

Seeds: They Aren’t Just for the Birds

Comparing common seeds

Chia: A unique seed with special properties

Chapter 2: Getting Your Nutritional Facts Right: The Tiny Seed with a Mighty Punch

The Nutritional Profile of Chia

Navigating chia food labels

Recognizing what’s not on the label

Chia and Its Fatty Acids

What omega-3 fatty acids are and where you can find them

Omega-6 and the omega-3–to–omega-6 ratio

The Fiber Boost Found in Chia

Why fiber matters

How much fiber is enough

Chia: The Power of a Complete Protein

The Antioxidants That Give Chia the Edge

Avoiding the Bad Stuff: Processed Foods and Hidden Sugar

The onslaught of processed foods

Hidden sugars: They’re everywhere

Chapter 3: Unleashing the Disease-Fighting Power of Chia

The Mind: Feeding Your Brain

Fighting Alzheimer’s disease

Combatting depression

Improving concentration

The Body: Giving Your Body the Nutrients It Craves

Keeping the heart healthy

Managing weight

Helping with digestion

Boosting energy and endurance

Fighting inflammation

Balancing blood sugar

Chapter 4: The Endless Versatility of Chia

Enhancing Nutrients with Chia

Adding chia to everyday foods

Using chia as an ingredient

Including chia in your favorite drinks

Using chia gel

Using Chia as a Substitute

Using chia instead of eggs

Using chia instead of butter

Seeing How Chia Plays Nice with All Kinds of Dietary Restrictions

Eliminating or cutting back on animal products

Gluten, gluten, gone!

Combating allergies

Chapter 5: Buying, Storing, and Using Chia

Shopping for Chia Seeds

Recognizing the Various Types of Chia

Ground or milled chia

White chia

Pre-hydrated chia

Storing Chia Seeds

Preparing Chia to Eat

Stocking Your Kitchen

Equipment

Ingredients

Part II: Starting Your Day the Right Way: Breakfasts

Chapter 6: Getting Chia into Your Breakfast Bowl

Chia and Oats: A Powerful Breakfast

Healthy Breakfast Puddings and Yogurts

Chapter 7: Taking Your Time in the Morning: Cooked Breakfasts

Eggs: Scrambled, Poached, Omelets, and More

Pancakes and Waffles

Morning Meats to Make Your Mouth Water

Chapter 8: Smoothies and Juices: Nutrition in a Glass

Chia Smoothie Basics

Juicy Juices

Part III: Appetizers, Main Courses, and Something for Everyone

Chapter 9: Let’s Get This Party Started: Before the Main Course

Appetizers

Soups

Salads

Drinks

Chapter 10: Mouthwatering Main Courses and Sides

One-Pot Wonders

Meaty Mains

Seafood Dinners

Sides and Sauces

Chapter 11: Satisfying Dietary Restrictions

Vegetarian: Leaving Out the Meat

Vegan: Avoiding All Animal Products

Saying “No, Thanks” to Gluten

Got Dairy? Nope

Chapter 12: Especially for Kids

Getting a Great Start

Learning the importance of nutrition at a young age

Getting kids involved in the kitchen

Favorite Dinners

Keeping Them Going with Snacks

Boosting Kids’ Sweet Treats with Chia

Part IV: Boosting Your Baked Goods with Chia

Chapter 13: Delicious Breads, Muffins, and Jams

Whole-Meal, Whole-Wheat, and Multi-Seed Breads

Yeast Breads

Traditional Loaves

English Muffins and Jam

Chapter 14: Chia on the Go

Energy Bars and Trail Mixes

Lunchbox Favorites

Chapter 15: Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too: Chia Desserts

Cupcake Heaven

Muffin Madness

Celebratory Cakes

More Sweets Treats

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 16: Ten Tricks for Getting Chia into Your Everyday Diet

Add It to Your Morning Cereal

Stir It into Yogurt

Sneak It into Your Sandwiches

Eat It Straight Up

Toss It Over Salads

Mix It into Your Favorite Dips

Stir It into Water or Juice

Mix It into Salad Dressing

Add It to Soups

Sprinkle It on Peanut Butter and Banana Toast

Chapter 17: Ten Ways Chia Is a Superfood

Chia Is an Excellent Plant Source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Chia Is a Complete Protein

Chia Has Both Soluble and Insoluble Fiber

Chia Is Gluten-Free

Chia Absorbs Liquids

Your Body Can Easily Absorb Chia’s Nutrients

Chia Helps Protect Your Heart

Chia Is Easy to Use

Chia Is Loaded with Antioxidants

It’s High in Magnesium, Selenium, and Zinc

Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Sneak Chia into Your Kids’ Food

Blend Chia into Smoothies

Sprinkle Chia into Cereal

Hide Chia in Pasta Sauce

Sprinkle Chia over Pizza

Mix Chia into Baby-Food Purees

Stir Chia through Scrambled Eggs

Add Them to Yummy Yogurts

Make Chia Fruit Ice Popsicles

Add Chia to Apple Crumble

Sneak Chia into Rice Krispies Treats

Appendix: Metric Conversion Guide

About the Authors

Cheat Sheet

Supplemental Images

More Dummies Products

Guide

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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Introduction

The typical modern western diet is loaded with processed foods that don’t have the nutrients we need to keep up with our fast-paced lives. Because we’re not giving our bodies what they need nutritionally, we end up lacking energy in the short term, damaging our vital organs in the long term, and generally not doing ourselves any favors. The good news is, there’s a convenient way to boost your nutritional intake and improve your health and well-being. Bring chia seeds into your life!

Chia is a hugely beneficial food that can help you feel more energetic, lose weight, protect your heart, and ease digestive disorders. It does all this with little effort and ticks all the right boxes:

100 percent naturalGluten freeSimple to useHigh in essential nutrients

We wrote this book because chia seeds have only become available as a food source in recent years, and we want to give people a comprehensive insight into this wonderful seed so that more people can enjoy its benefits. In this book, we tell you how to find good-quality seeds because not all chia is worth your investment. We also give you over 125 delicious recipes and tips to organize your kitchen that will help get you started.

About This Book

We were thrilled at the prospect of writing a book about chia! We can’t stop talking about the fantastic seed that we’ve benefited from and our families and friends have all benefited from. In this book, we tell you everything you need to know about chia, including its nutritional profile, its benefits, and why it deserves its ranking as a superfood. We provide basic how-to information for using chia and, of course, we share our delicious chia-spiked recipes for you to enjoy.

As with all For Dummies books, you don’t need to read the book from cover to cover. You can dip into the book to find the information you need. We’ve organized it so that you can easily jump around and read what interests you today.

Throughout the book, you’ll notice text marked with a Technical Stuff icon as well as text in gray boxes, known as sidebars. If this material doesn’t interest you, you can safely skip it — you won’t lose out on understanding all about chia. On the other hand, if you’re as into chia as we are, you’ll find this material fascinating and informative.

We follow a few basic conventions in the recipes that you should be aware of:

Milk is whole unless otherwise specified.Eggs are large.Pepper is freshly ground black pepper unless otherwise specified.Butter is unsalted.Flour is all-purpose unless otherwise specified.Sugar is granulated unless otherwise noted.All herbs are fresh unless dried herbs are specified.All temperatures are in Fahrenheit. (Refer to the appendix for information about converting temperatures to Celsius.)

We use the tomato icon to highlight vegetarian recipes in the Recipes in This Chapter lists, as well as in the Recipes in This Book.

Within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Foolish Assumptions

When we sat down to write this book, we made certain assumptions about you:

You’ve at least heard of chia seeds, even if they were only in your novelty potted plants.You may already use chia and know a little bit about it.You may know a great deal about chia and you’re simply looking for more ways to use it.You may be interested in healthy foods and want to know how to improve your health through nutrition.You don’t want to spend all your time in the kitchen.You want simple but delicious meals that your whole family can enjoy.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout this book, we use icons to help identify key pieces of information. Here are the different icons we use:

Tips make things easier. We’re all about making life a little easier, so if we’ve found a better way to do something, we mark it with the Tip icon.

The Remember icon give you a heads-up on something important. It may be something you need to take note of or something you need to be aware of before going any further.

Text marked with the Warning icon helps you avoid trouble.

The information next to a Technical Stuff icon can be skipped but it does provide extra information that you may find interesting.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this product comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the web. Be sure to check out the free Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/cookingwithchia for the top health benefits you can gain from using chia, why athletes use chia, and why chia deserves its reputation as a superfood.

In addition, www.dummies.com/extras/cookingwithchia also contains related articles on everything from how to make chia puddings to how to use chia for endurance.

Where to Go from Here

If you haven’t already skipped to the recipes and you want a more detailed explanation of chia, start with Part I, where we give you a good overview of chia and its many health benefits. If you’d rather dive right into the recipes, use the Recipes in This Book and the Table of Contents to find one that sounds good to you. Whether you start with your head or your stomach, you’re sure to reap the many rewards that chia has to offer!

Part I

Getting Started with Chia

For Dummies can help you get started with lots of subjects. Visit www.dummies.com to learn more and do more with For Dummies.

In this part…

Discover what chia is, who used chia in ancient times, what they used it, for and why it was so important.Compare and contrast chia against flax, its closest competitor.Uncover the nutrients contained in chia and the health benefits you gain from using chia.See how versatile chia is and the endless ways it can be used.Find out how to recognize high-quality chia and how to prepare and use it at home.

Chapter 1

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia: An Introduction to the Nutrient-Dense Chia Seed

In This Chapter

Finding out what chia is

Delving into the history of chia

Discovering why chia is the ultimate superfood

Gone are the days when chia was known only because of the Chia Pet. Few people realized the huge nutritional power of those novelty gifts until recently. Chia’s popularity has a whole different meaning now, as athletes, nutritionists, and raw food enthusiasts have encouraged its comeback. Chia is a highly nutritious food that can prolong endurance, improve heart health, and encourage good digestion, among many other health benefits that more and more people are discovering every day.

An ancient food that was used by the Aztecs, Mayans, and other cultures, chia has been used for strength, endurance, medicine, currency, and in religious ceremonies as a tribute to gods. It disappeared 500 years ago when the Spanish invaded Central America, but thanks to Dr. Wayne Coates’s research efforts, it’s back and produced commercially so that people around the world can benefit from these powerful seeds.

Chia is fast becoming the go-to ultimate superfood for athletes, busy moms, people suffering inflammation or digestion problems, and anyone who needs more energy. It packs loads of nutrients into a tiny space and is proving to be easy for all kinds of people to add to their diets and improve their health and well-being.

In this chapter, we fill you in on where chia came from, how it’s grown, and why it’s making its way to more tables across the United States and around the world. We also compare chia to other seeds. (Spoiler alert: Chia comes out ahead.)

A Simple Seed Brimming with Nutrients

Simple is a great word for chia. The seeds are tiny but powerful, and adding them to your foods is simple. Within these small, black and white seeds are great levels of omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals, and getting these valuable nutrients into your body has never been simpler. The subtle taste of chia means you can add it to anything you already enjoy and it won’t affect the flavor whatsoever. This is only one of the many reasons why chia has become so popular as a health food.

Nowadays chia is available in health food stores and supermarkets everywhere. Chia is also becoming an ingredient in more branded foodstuff worldwide. So, you may be asking, “Why this sudden surge in popularity?” Here’s why:

Chia is high in omega-3 fatty acids. Chia is among the highest plant sources of omega-3s in the world. Our bodies need omega-3s for brain function, heart health, and many other biological functions, and most people don’t get enough. Chia can help provide more of this essential nutrient.Chia is high in fiber. We need fiber in our diets to keep our digestive systems healthy. Chia provides 5 g of fiber in every 15 g serving. It goes a long way toward keeping digestion running smoothly.Chia is gluten-free. More people are being diagnosed with gluten intolerance and try to avoid it in their diets. Chia is naturally gluten-free, so it’s great for people who have problems with gluten.Chia is a complete protein. Chia has all the essential amino acids needed for growth and repair of body cells. This is unusual in a plant. Chia is a great way for vegetarians to get their complete proteins.Chia is high in vitamins and minerals. Chia provides high levels of calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, selenium, folic acid, and many other vitamins and minerals that are needed for various functions in the body.Chia is 100 percent natural. Chia provides lots of nutrients, completely naturally. Instead of popping pills, you can eat chia to get nutrition that your body needs.Chia helps to keep your heart healthy. The high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and fiber help reduce cholesterol, reduce blood pressure, and protect against cardiovascular disease.Chia helps prolong endurance. Chia has long been known for its endurance benefits. The seeds release energy slowly, helping to prolong endurance.Chia helps balance blood sugar levels. Chia’s hydrophilic (water-absorbing) properties help reduce sugar peaks and troughs, helping people to balance their blood sugar levels naturally.

These are just some of the great benefits that chia can provide, the list goes on (see Chapter 2).

A relative to the humble mint leaf

Chia seeds are harvested from a flowering plant called Salvia hispanica L. This plant is a member of the mint family, Lamiaceae. It’s an annual herb that has purple and white flowers that produce the valuable chia seeds. The plant grows to around 3 to 5 feet tall. Salvia hispanica L is native to southern Mexico and northern Guatemala, but today it’s grown in Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, and Australia. Trials are happening in a few more countries to test if chia’s specific growing conditions can be met elsewhere, so we may see more countries farming chia in the coming years.

Salvia hispanica L loves a sandy soil with good drainage and is grown best in tropical and subtropical conditions. It’s a desert plant that is not tolerant of frost. Although the plant needs wet soil to germinate, after that it does well with varying degrees of rainfall. Chia seeds absorb up to ten times their weight in water, which is ideal for a plant that grows in the desert.

The great perk of being related to mint is that insects don’t like mint, so they stay away without the use of pesticides. This is fantastic for chia because the seeds are grown in a pesticide-free environment, another bonus for health.

The Endurance Food of Ancient Cultures

Chia seeds have been around a long time. The Aztecs were known to use the seeds, and there is evidence that chia seeds were first used as a food as early as 3500 b.c. The Aztec name for chia was chian, which means “oily.” Supposedly, when it was translated from Nahuatl, the native language of the Aztecs, it was shortened to chia. In another version of the story, chia goes back to the Mayans. The Mayan word chia is said to mean “strength.” Chia may have been available to the Mayan people, but it was the Aztecs who revered its use and recorded its benefits, so the crop was of utmost importance to the Aztecs. Chia was available to the Aztecs as early as 2600 b.c. Chia went missing for over 500 years, but it’s back, and we can all benefit immensely from it.

Chia and the Aztecs

Evidence that the Aztecs used chia appears in codices written 500 years ago. Codices were documents written in Nahuatl, the native language of the Aztecs, as well as in Spanish. A lot of them described life at that time and in them, we can see evidence of why chia was used.

Chia was one of four main crops grown by the Aztec cultures. The other three were amaranth, maize (corn), and beans. These four crops served as the basis for the Aztecs’ daily diets. Chia seeds were eaten alone, mixed with other grains, ground into flour, used in drinks, and pressed for oil to be used as body and face paints.

Another use for chia was in religious ceremonies. The Aztecs thought so much of chia that they offered the seeds to their gods as worship. They were also paid as tributes to Aztec rulers from conquered nations. One codex describes how 4,410 tons of chia were paid annually to the Aztec Empire.

Chia was valued by the Aztec cultures because of the strength, stamina, and endurance that it provided to their people. A tablespoon of chia was said to sustain Aztec warriors for an entire day! The seeds were also used as medicine and prescribed for wounds, joint pain, sore throats, and sore eyes. Although the Aztecs didn’t have the scientific knowledge we do today, they knew that the seeds were highly nutritious. They valued chia as a hugely important crop that could be used for many purposes.

The disappearance of chia

You may wonder why chia disappeared at all if it was such an important part of the Aztec people’s daily lives. The answer lies in the conquest of the land by the Spanish. When the Spanish arrived in South America and came upon the Aztecs, they wanted to overtake everything and get rid of the cultures that were there.

Chia disappeared for a few reasons:

Chia seeds gave the Aztecs such strength that they thought the seeds gave them almost supernatural powers. Cortez, who led the Spanish invasion, felt that if he got rid of chia, the Aztecs wouldn’t last long without it.Because chia was used in religious ceremonies, the friars who came with the Spanish and who wanted to establish their own religions outlawed chia in an attempt to replace the Aztec religions with their own.The Spanish simply liked what they were used to, so they destroyed the chia crops and replaced them with crops that grew well in Spain. Because chia didn’t grow in Spain, they assumed it to be of no value.

These reasons together basically ensured that the chia that had been growing in abundance disappeared almost completely. Some crops survived because people fled to the mountains of Central America and continued to grow chia for use within their own communities.

Chia and the Tarahumara Indians

Although the Spanish tried their hardest to abolish chia, it did survive in small clusters thanks to small tribes bringing the seeds to the mountains of Central America after the Spanish had invaded. One of those tribes was the Tarahumara Indians of the Copper Canyon of northern Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental. The Tarahumara are a quiet, private tribe, living miles away from each other in caves or small dirt or wooden dwellings. They’re known for their long-distance endurance running through narrow footpaths through the canyons.

The Tarahumara were made famous by Christopher McDougall, who wrote about their amazing athletic achievements in his book Born to Run. McDougall spent time with some of the Tarahumara and, in his book, writes about the many secrets to their running abilities. In addition to running barefoot, the Tarahumara attribute chia seeds for why they’re the world’s greatest distance runners. They’ve always used the seeds to help power their runs, and they often bring pouches of chia with them to munch on along the way.

Chia’s resurrection

The resurrection of chia as a hugely beneficial functional food is occurring today as more people continue to discover its benefits and rely on it to provide energy, strength, and endurance again. This is thanks to Dr. Wayne Coates’s efforts in bringing the seed back to commercialization so that more people can benefit from it.

Coates led a project in the early 1990s in Argentina that had a mission of looking for alternative crops for farmers. He tested a number of different crops to see if any would have commercial value for farmers in the region. When he tested chia and learned about its great nutritional profile and health benefits, he concentrated on chia and spent years researching the seed and developing the techniques and machinery needed to grow it on a commercial scale. It’s thanks to Coates’s efforts that we can all benefit from chia today.

Coates still has the goal of bringing chia to as many people as possible at reasonable prices, and he’s dedicating his research to this goal. He has written books on chia and continues to educate farmers on how to grow the crop well and ensure that it is cleaned properly before it makes its way to market. He is hugely influential in trying to make sure that only high-quality chia makes it to people’s tables. His own brand of high-quality chia is AZChia (www.azchia.com), and he sources and approves chia seeds for our company, Chia bia (www.chiabia.com).

Seeds: They Aren’t Just for the Birds

Seeds are making a comeback as a nutrient-dense source of food for everyone, not just the birds. Seeds had a bad reputation for many years, probably because of their high fat content. Thankfully, today we’re better educated about the good fats that are essential to good health and are in abundance in many seeds. In addition to good fats, seeds provide large amounts of protein, complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Throughout history, seeds have been used as an important nutrient source by many cultures — and rightly so. They provide loads of energy and go a long way toward providing the trace minerals that are often absent in western diets. Seeds also help protect against disease because they provide the phytochemicals that help fight illness.

Not only do seeds provide vegetarians and vegans with a great source of protein, but they offer great nutrition in tiny bundles to everyone, regardless of what kind of diet you like to enjoy. The birds always knew that seeds were a good choice of food, and chia seeds are tops when it comes to the choice of seeds out there.

Comparing common seeds

Most seeds are a great nutrient-dense food, but how does chia compare nutritionally to some of the other seeds available? The most common seeds that people add to foods are sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and flaxseeds. Table 1-1 offers a comparison of these and other common seeds.

As you can see, chia is very high in omega-3 fatty acids, but where it really surpasses all other seeds is its level of antioxidants. Chia is also higher in fiber than any of the other seeds. So, when compared to other seeds, chia really is the nutritional winner. The only seed that is comparable in nutrient value is flax, but chia has other properties that flax just can’t compete with (see the nearby sidebar, “Chia versus flax: Which wins?”).

This table only measures the nutrient value of seeds. We discuss chia’s other properties in the next section.

Chia: A unique seed with special properties

No other seed has as many great properties in one tiny bundle as chia does. Here are the unique properties that set chia apart from any other seeds on the market:

Hydrophilic: Chia can absorb up to ten times its weight in water, which is a great property to have when it comes to weight loss. The water it absorbs fills your stomach and helps you feel fuller longer.Subtle taste: Because chia has little or no taste, it can be added to foods without affecting the flavor.Slow energy release: The energy that chia provides is released slowly because a physical barrier is formed to slow the conversion of carbohydrates to sugars. This is fantastic for people who want to balance blood sugar levels, such as those who have diabetes.No need to grind: Chia has a soft outer shell, so your body can break it down easily and absorb the nutrients inside. You don’t need to grind chia seeds before eating them.Long shelf life: Once harvested, chia has a shelf life of up to five years.

Chia versus flax: Which wins?

Flaxseeds are great seeds to add to your diet — they’re very high in the all-important omega-3s that we all need more of and chia is often compared to flax because it has similar amounts of omega 3 and some other nutrients. But we think chia has the edge. Here’s why:

Chia is full of antioxidants where flax has only trace levels of antioxidants (refer to Table 1-1).Chia beats flax in terms of fiber, calcium, and selenium. Flax beats chia in terms of magnesium and potassium.Chia has less fat and fewer calories than flax.Chia is hydrophilic, and flax is not.Chia is bioavailable, and flax is not. You don’t need to grind chia seeds — your body is capable of digesting its soft shell and absorbing the nutrients. Flax has a hard, indigestible shell and it needs to be ground down before you eat it in order for your body to be able to absorb the nutrients.Chia has a longer shelf life than flax. Chia’s shelf life is up to five years after it’s harvested. Flax has a shelf life of a maximum of two years after it’s harvested, but usually flax is ground to release its nutrients, and ground flaxseeds typically last around 6 to 16 weeks if stored correctly.Chia is pretty much taste-free, which means you can add it to a variety of foods and recipes to boost the nutrient profile. Flax has a distinctive taste that some people just don’t like, and because it has a taste, you can’t add it to other recipes without altering the taste.

All in all, we believe chia is the hands-down winner when it comes to packing a nutritional punch. No wonder the tiny seed is replacing flax in many people’s diets!

Chapter 2

Getting Your Nutritional Facts Right: The Tiny Seed with a Mighty Punch

In This Chapter

Identifying the nutrients contained in chia

Discovering the different fatty acids

Realizing the importance of fiber in the diet

Gaining from the power of protein and antioxidants

Avoiding modern-day nutritional pitfalls

Eating a nutrient-packed diet is the most important thing you can do for your body, and chia provides many of the nutrients you need to stay healthy. In fact, chia is so chock-full of nutrients that it may even be possible to live on chia and water alone and satisfy all your nutritional needs. Of course, you may find that diet a bit boring, and your friends may stop accepting your dinner invitations. The good news is, you don’t have to live off chia to reap the many health benefits this little seed has to offer. Instead, because chia is almost tasteless, you can add it to whatever you already enjoy eating, boosting your meal’s nutrients.

In this chapter, we tell you what to look for when reading food labels, describe the nutrients your body requires, and explain how chia can provide your body with these nutrients that are so essential for good health.

The Nutritional Profile of Chia

Good nutrition is continuing to be recognized around the world as the key to good health as more people are using different nutrients to help combat certain diseases and improve different aspects of their health and well-being. Chia is made up of important nutrients that are essential for good health.

Navigating chia food labels

To understand what nutrients are in chia and products containing chia, your first stop should be the Nutrition Facts label (shown in Figure 2-1). This label tells you everything from the suggested serving size to the ingredients to how much of the various nutrients the food contains. When you understand exactly how to read a Nutrition Facts label and what to look for, you’ll be on your way to easily tracking your daily intake.

The Nutrition Facts label lists the following:

Serving size: How much of the food you’ll typically eat in one sitting. A typical serving size of chia is 15 g, which is approximately 2 tablespoons of seeds.

We recommend that you get one serving of chia per day.

Servings per container: How many servings you get in the bag, box, carton, or container. The servings per container is handy when you’re comparing different size bags of chia seeds.Calories: The number of calories in one serving. A 15 g serving of chia seeds is approximately 69 calories. When it comes to daily caloric intake (around 2,000 calories per day), that’s not much! That means you can add one serving of chia seeds to your day without loosening your belt.Fat: Fats have gotten a bad rep, but not all fats are bad for you — in fact, you need fat in your diet. The Nutrition Facts label tells you the total amount of fat in the food, as well as the amount of saturated fat and trans fat (the bad kinds). Some labels also tell you the amount of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats (the good kinds). Chia has no trans fat and less than 0.5 g of saturated fat per serving, which is a tiny amount.

You don’t need to worry about the fats contained in chia — they’re almost entirely good fats that your body needs.

Cholesterol: High cholesterol is a risk factor for coronary heart disease, which is why people are always trying to reduce their cholesterol levels. You have nothing to worry about when it comes to chia, because it contains no cholesterol. In fact, it actually helps in the fight to reduce blood cholesterol levels!Sodium: Although your body needs sodium, the typical modern diet has far too much sodium. Consuming too much sodium can increase blood pressure and lead to heart complications, so limiting your sodium intake is a good idea. The good news is, chia has no sodium, so you can be confident you’re not adding to your sodium intake when you consume chia.Carbohydrate: Carbohydrates provide the body with energy, but not all carbohydrates are created equal. Refined carbohydrates, such as the type found in white breads, cereals, or pasta, are not the healthiest carbohydrates; they should be eaten only in small amounts. Lucky for you, chia is not a refined carbohydrate so you don’t have to worry about consuming it.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Figure 2-1: A typical Nutrition Facts label for chia seeds.

Under the amount of total carbohydrate, you’ll see the following:

Dietary fiber: Fiber is very powerful — it helps decrease the appetite and slows the conversion of carbohydrates to sugars, giving you a slow release of energy. Chia contains 5 g of fiber per serving, but what’s even better is that chia contains both soluble and insoluble fiber; the latter is needed for good digestive health. (See the later section “The Fiber Boost Found in Chia” for more on fiber.)Sugars: Added sugar is proving to be detrimental to health and is thought to be one of the leading causes of the rising rates of obesity worldwide. Chia contains no sugar, so you don’t need to worry about adding sugar to your diet with chia.

Be careful when purchasing food products containing chia. Although there are no added sugars in chia seeds alone, the products containing chia may have plenty added sugars. Read the label to know what you’re getting.

Protein: Chia contains all nine essential amino acids, making it a complete high-quality protein (see the later section “Chia: A Complete Protein,” for more on amino acids). Protein is a very important factor when assessing the nutritional profile of chia. Each serving has 3.1 g of this high-quality meat-free protein. Because of how much protein it has, chia can serve as an alternative to soy in vegetarian diets.

At the bottom of the food label, you see a list of some vitamins and minerals, and the Percent Daily Values that the food contains. So, for example, if the label lists vitamin A and says it has 10 percent, that means that one serving of the food gives you 10 percent of the vitamin A you should get every day.

Chia contains many vitamins and minerals. Here’s why vitamins and minerals are important for your health and info on some of the vitamins and minerals chia contains:

Vitamins: Vitamins are essential for normal growth and body functions. You have to ingest them (through food or supplements) because the body can’t produce enough of them on its own.