Chía Seeds, discover 10 benefits for your body.
Chía seeds: very healthy food. Today we introduce one of those foods with extraordinary properties:
Chía seeds
It is a product with a flavor that many people associate with walnuts, and it has a huge amount of vitamins and minerals that can help us fight those extra pounds, control the habit of snacking between meals, and in short, to feel better with our body and mind. But it doesn't end here. The benefits of eating chia seeds are many and in the following lines, you will see them compiled in these ten healthy reasons to encourage you to try this seed native to America.
It is fashionable ... and with good reason There is a real fever for chía seeds. We can say that they are very fashionable, and this fame is not entirely unjustified, although it is clear that marketing has influenced a lot. Many nutrition experts have reported on its qualities, but there is still great ignorance about what benefits this food brings us. More people have chía seeds in their pantry. What are these qualities and properties that make chía seeds such a popular food lately?
Next, we are going to explain some of its most relevant properties and we will update you on the psychological and physical benefits it can bring you. In fact, before delving into its benefits, we must clarify that it is very tasty food and that it allows great versatility in the kitchen. Many chefs use chía seeds to complement many dishes: from the most exotic to the most traditional.
The healthy properties of chía seeds This food must have something for all nutritionists to highly recommend. "Chía" is a term of Mayan origin, the meaning of which is strength. For millennia, chía has been the favorite food of the Mayan and Aztec societies, not in vain it has a multitude of vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids that facilitate our body to fight bad fats, in addition to providing us with different benefits. It is a very consumed food among athletes, but even if you do not practice much physical activity, you can benefit from its daily consumption to feel better. Further. As we have already said, it is a nutritious food and it can have its place in almost any dish you can imagine. There are people who include chía in yogurt, in soups, in breakfast cereals, in purees, in stews, in salads ... It sticks with almost anything! The most daring have even started experimenting with chía, including it in muffins or cakes. Gluten-free and with Omega 3 English nutritionist Maddie Shaw indicates that chía seeds do not contain gluten (and therefore is a suitable food for celiacs), and contain Omega 3, as well as fiber and antioxidants. Some more information about their nutritional contribution: · Provides twice as much protein as most vegetables · Contains twice as much potassium as bananas · It gives us twice as much fiber as oats · Three times as much iron as lentils · Five times more calcium intake than cow's milk · Three times more antioxidants than beans
10 health benefits that chía seeds provide us
So what are the benefits of consuming this seed? What nutritional contributions does it satisfy and how does it help improve our physical health? In the following lines, you will find a summary of the health benefits of chía seeds and the advantages of incorporating this ingredient into the regular diet.
1. They manage your desire to snack between meals Chía contains a high amount of fiber, so it is a great idea to curb our craving for snacks between meals. The seeds are easily digestible but they create a feeling of satiety that keeps us from biting and therefore makes it easier for us to control our body weight. Experts advise eating chía for breakfast to take advantage of its long-range energy injection, which will keep us active for many hours. 2. They are tasty Some people point out that they do not find taste flavor, while others indicate that it reminds them of the taste of walnuts. They are still seeds, therefore we cannot expect an explosion of flavor and freshness on our palates, but the truth is that most people love it.
3. Regulate the hydration of your body They are permeable seeds that can reach up to 10 times their weight in water. Consuming them also helps us hydrate our bodies. This is one of the keys to understanding why athletes and people who do very physical or stressful work are aiming to eat chia seeds. It is also highly recommended to ingest them before going to train at the gym or to do some running.
4. They protect you from the damaging effects of the environment Let's delve into an important point: chia improves our immune system. Therefore, it protects us when facing environmental inclemencies and diseases. It makes us more resistant to catching colds and flu, for example. However, this is an indirect effect produced by the strengthening of the immune system, which means that it does not make existing diseases disappear or the risk of suffering disappears.
5. They give you a good dose of Omega 3 Omega 3 is a fatty acid whose properties help us in various processes: it strengthens the central nervous system and cells, keeps our skin well hydrated and shiny, enhances our cognitive abilities, our immune system. Chía seeds provide us with more Omega 3s than fish such as salmon, so if you are not very fond of eating fish, it can be a very healthy alternative.
6. Energy for (almost) all-day If you feel tired for most of the day, one of the problems may be eating. Not all foods provide us with a number of sugars that provide us with energy to face the day to day. In this case, chía seeds are optimal to help us endure at work or in the gym. They contain a lot of potassium and more protein than almost any vegetable. And its sugars are slow absorption.
7. A little help to control overweight Chía is a very suitable food for those who have problems losing weight. They have a lot of fiber that will help your digestive system and regulate the feeling of hunger. It is a very satiating food, especially when taken hydrated. There are also some recipes to eat chia along with juices. A perfect combination to eat healthily and control excess weight.
8. A portion of good food for your muscles Chía seeds, as we have already mentioned, provide us with great energy, as well as fiber. But our muscles are built thanks to protein, and chia is also a food rich in it. Thus, it will help us increase muscle mass and regenerate those muscle tissues that need it. A much healthier and cheaper option than the classic protein shakes that many athletes take after training. And even if you don't practice sports, it can also help you to have a healthier organism.
9. Healthy joints Many people suffer pain in their joints. For this condition, chía seeds can be a healthy and effective solution. We have already seen the contributions in omega 3 acids from chía, but what we have not said is that it has anti-inflammatory properties. Consuming chía can significantly alleviate the pain that your joints cause you over the years, although it will not make the wear and tear of these disappear since this would require repairing these parts of the body in a more structural way.
10. Purifies your body and prevents oxidation Chía seeds make it easier for our body to eliminate excess liquids and toxins, in addition to regulating the intestinal flora and slowing down the cellular oxidation process. In short, chía is in charge of regulating many bodily processes and functions that will make us feel healthy both inside and out. Some conclusions about this food Nature provides us with various foods that really have great properties for our bodies. One of these foods is chía. It is recommended that you try them for a few days and see for yourself the beneficial effects of this seed. Obviously, it is not enough to eat only chía seeds, but our physical and psychological health is based on many variables, and we also need a much higher amount of macronutrients than this product will offer us. If we talk about eating habits, chía is a great supplement, but the basis of our health must be a balanced and varied diet, in addition to practicing physical exercise and good healthy habits (no smoking, drinking alcohol, etc.). On the other hand, it is necessary to eat foods with macronutrients that are not available in chía seeds; Being seeds, they do not contain much energy, carbohydrates or the healthy fats that we need to function well. From now on, you have another nutritious and exotic ally to improve your health.
References
· Ayerza (h), Ricardo; Wayne Coates (2009). Some quality components of four chia (Salvia hispanica L.) genotypes grown under tropical coastal desert ecosystem conditions. Asian Journal of Plant Sciences. 4 (8): 301–307.
· Cahill, Joseph P. (2003). Ethnobotany of Chia, Salvia hispanica L. (Lamiaceae). Economic Botany. 57 (4): 604–618.
· de Souza Ferreira C, et al. (2015). Effect of chia seed (Salvia hispanica L.) consumption on cardiovascular risk factors in humans: a systematic review. Nutr Hosp. 32 (5): 1909 - 1918.
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