Hey everyone, in this episode, I want to talk about how you can drink chia seeds rather than eat them as an easy way to get a quick health boost and some more nutrition in your diet or as an easy way to get more chia seeds into your daily routine, so let’s jump into that.
So, commonly, most people eat chia seeds, and that’s what we always did for years and what we still do. But I didn’t realize until recently that you can also drink chia seeds as an optional way to get them into your diet daily, and this can be an easy way if you’re someone who’s also on the go to get your chia seeds on the go. This is also a great option for weight loss because you’ll be getting the fiber of the chia seeds throughout the day, which will help you feel more satiated and less hungry.
And if you didn’t know, chia seeds are just these little, tiny, black and white seeds that come from the Salvia hispanica plant, and they are high in antioxidants and fiber, and they also have plant-based protein and Omega-3s as well as some other good minerals, so they are a superfood and something that is just great to have in your diet.
I’ll leave a link in the description where you can get some at a low cost, and they’re also very cheap, so it’s a great way to just really boost up your nutrition with some plant-based foods.
Normally, when you eat chia seeds, you will want to either soak them or grind them, and this is because this helps to basically break down the hard outer shell. And there are some studies that have found that soaking chia seeds will actually increase the ALAs (that’s the Omega-3s) available in the chia seeds, and they found that grinding chia seeds will increase that uptake even more.
So that’s why we actually started grinding them, but still, soaking them is a great option. And, you know, usually, you will soak the chia seeds or grind them and then put them on, for example, your morning breakfast oatmeal, and it’s really, really easy to drink chia seeds.
One of the benefits is you’re going to get the effect of soaking them because they’re going to be in a liquid or water of some sort. So that’s going to naturally soak them. Essentially, the longer you let it sit, the better.
Perhaps if you want to prepare your drinks overnight, that would probably be the best as far as absorbing them the most. However, you know life happens, and if you are strapped for time, you can just let them sit for, you know, 15 minutes or just as long as you can before you drink your chia seed water or drink, and it’s really, really easy to make.
All you do is, for every cup of liquid that you have, and this can just be, we’ll use water as an example, you just add one teaspoon of the raw chia seeds, stir it, let it sit, and you’ll be good to go. Now, you don’t want to use more than a teaspoon. It’s not the same as soaking chia seeds.
When you soak Chia seeds, you use a lot higher ratio of chia seeds to water, and that creates a really thick gel. And if you use that amount, you’re not going to be able to drink it. So you’re going to have less chia seeds per cup of water when you make chia water, for example. But it will make it where it’s a lot thinner and easier to actually drink as a drink.
And I’ll leave recipes in the description as well, where you can look up some of these recipes and, for reference, things. And by the way, you can also add lemon or any other flavorings to your water.
The good thing about chia seeds is they have a neutral flavor, so they don’t really change the flavor of whatever you add them to. And it doesn’t have to just be water that you add them to. You can also make chia seed tea, where you add the chia seeds into black or green tea. That’s a convenient way to get your chia seeds as well.
Especially for weight loss, green tea also has weight loss benefits to that as well. And by the way, when you put the chia seeds in water, it’s usually called chia seed water or just Chia water.
Here’s a really cool hack I want to share with you. You can also put chia seeds into fruit juices, and this is a really good way to make your fruit juices healthier. The reason for that is, that fruit juices, have benefits because you’re getting the antioxidants from the fruits. But the downside to them is that they remove all the fiber. So you’re getting basically, you’re eating the fruit but without the fiber.
So you’re getting a lot of sugar without the fiber to basically counteract the effects of your blood sugar being spiked. The interesting thing though is, if you add chia seeds into fruit juice, you’re basically adding fiber back in. So now you’ve got the fruit juice with the antioxidants, plus you’re getting the fiber from the chia seeds, which was taken out. And so it’s just a great way to make your fruit juice much more healthy for you.
And as I said before, this can be a great little way to help you with weight loss, because you can drink your chia seed water or whatever drink throughout the day. Of course, if you do use juice, just be aware that you’re going to be adding extra calories from the juice. And you know, the chia seeds will add some extra calories into your water as well.
So, you know, just be aware of that and don’t go too crazy with it. But you want to use it as just a way to get some extra fiber into your diet, because fiber has been shown to have really good benefits for weight loss. And it’s really effective for weight loss. So, you know, treat it as a way to get some fiber into your diet throughout the day and also to help you feel more full between meals and to snack less.
All right everyone, so hopefully, this was useful. Do you drink chia seed water, or are you going to start drinking your chia seeds?
Lance has been passionate about the plant-based diet and we have been following a whole food plant-based diet for over 5 years. We focus on health, natural healing, weight management, animal rights, and the health of the planet and environment by focusing on whole plant-based foods and sustainable practices.
Learn more at the About Me page and follow on social media at the links below.
