Karyn’s Flax Seed & Flax Oil
A Super Healing Food
Flaxseed is an essential food that may be tiny in appearance but carries one of the biggest nutrient payloads on the planet. This probably is the reason why the Latin name for flaxseed is linum usitassimum, which means: “most useful”. Flaxseed provides one of the highest dietary fiber contents found in a whole-grain ingredient. Flax is a reasonably priced food that is an affordable addition to any daily menu that can be essential to creating a well-balanced, healthy diet. All will benefit from adding flax seeds to their diets, especially those suffering from high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, intestinal and digestive problems, constipation, cardiovascular problems and degenerative diseases. Flax seed is great for weight loss and maintenance, and many dieters have found that flax seed has been key to help keeping them feel satisfied. Also, flax seed is very low in carbohydrates, making it ideal for people who limit their intake of starches and sugars.
Nutritional powerhouse
Flaxseed is an outstanding whole food that is an excellent source of fiber and protein and contains vitamins A, B1, B2, C, D, and E; a full array of minerals and trace minerals, carotene, lecithin, and phospholipids. The powerful flaxseed promotes alkalinity, normalizes blood fats and lowers cholesterol, helps support stronger cardiovascular system, provides clear thinking, dramatically reduces many menopausal symptoms, and supports liver in fat metabolism.
Flaxseed is known for its benefits in the digestive system as it promotes proper functioning of the digestive tract to avoid gas, constipation and other disorders leading to diverticulitis and Crown’s disease. The balance of soluble and insoluble fiber help clean out the digestive system and can balance your metabolism. It also normalizes the body’s fatty acids, which results in smoother skin, shiny hair, and soft hands. Studies have shown that a regular diet of flaxseed increases stamina, vitality and agility, and reduces appetite provocation.
Studies on flax seed have shown that it is very beneficial for prevention of diabetes as it stabilizes insulin and blood sugar levels. It does this by lowering the glycemic index of foods and slows down glucose absorption; which eliminates binging or addictive need for carbohydrate-rich foods. Additionally, those with blood pressure concerns should include it daily as flax seed counteracts high blood pressure by preventing the blood platelets from becoming sticky and forming blood clots.
High Source of Lignan
One of the exceptional health benefits of flax seeds is that they are the richest source of lignans that are vital to health. Flax seeds contain from 75 to 800 times more lignan than oats, rye, wheat bran, millet, legumes, soybeans and 66 other plant foods tested. Basically lignans are phytoestrogens known as plant estrogens that play a key role in maintaining healthy, strong bones, prevent the formation of gallstones by binding with bile acids, and play an active role in fighting cancer. Plant estrogens play a key role in our bodies in the prevention of breast, prostate, uterus and colon cancers. These friendly plant hormones help regulate and balance our system in an easy to digest and assimilate way. Lignans protect the body from estrogen-driven cancers by expelling excess estrogen from the body and by interfering with tumor cell growth. Furthermore, lignans attach themselves to estrogen receptor sites and take the place of estradiol and estrone, which are implicated in breast cancer. They also inhibit estrogen production from fatty tissue. Many studies have proven those people who consume high amounts of flax with lignans are able to better balance hormone levels in their body.
Karyn’s Flax Seed
Karyn’s Cold Milled Organic Omega 3 Supplement Flax Meal is an excellent fiber and protein source rich in Omega 3 fatty acids and essential amino acids. Eating flax seeds raw will provide you with their total food value including the protein, essential fats and the lignans, but our bodies can only digest flax seeds and benefit from their many nutritional qualities if the shell is broken.
The flax meal is a nutritional superfood that can be consumed in a variety of ways. You can add flax seed to your cereal, your juice or smoothies, it can be used as a topping on salads, granola, and added as a thickener. Its easy to get creative, you can create an instant breakfast cereal by taking two tablespoons of Karyn’s Flax Meal, a fresh banana and almond milk and mix it together to have an instant healthy sweet treat.
Flax Seed “Mucilage”
Flax seed mucilage is the thick gooey substance that is produced by most plants to aid in water storage and seed germination, and to act as a membrane thickener and food reserve. As soon as the shell comes in contact with moisture it absorbs it quickly and expands into a glutinous liquid known as mucilage. To use flax as a laxative, take two tablespoons of flax meal and stir it into hot water and it will quickly thicken up and have a pudding like consistency. Drink the mix before it thickens up so the thickening will happen in your stomach. If constipation persists, drink a glass of water with two tablespoons of whole flax seed and flax meal twice daily before meals. You can reserve the mucilage and use it as a vegan egg substitute in certain baking dishes that call for eggs.
The most important health benefit that mucilage has for us is that mucilage repairs the damage caused by taking massive doses of antibiotics. The friendly bacteria protecting your digestive tract are destroyed in large quantities when antibiotics, birth control pills or other drugs such as those used in chemotherapy, particularly over a long period of time, and chronic constipation (common in hospital patients) may develop. Flax mucilage helps the intestinal flora to re-establish itself. The mucilage in flax helps repair any damage to the internal lining, which is the coating of mucus that lines the entire digestive tract. Those suffering from stomach ulcers will have the opportunity to heal better and faster by eating flax because mucilage covers the inflamed area and protects them from stomach acid.
Karyn’s Highest Lignan Flax oil
Flax oil is in a class of it’s own, simply because it is the only oil that is made up almost entirely of very good poly-unsaturated essential fatty acids. Since flax oil is poly-unsaturated, with the main component being omega-3, it spoils quickly when heated or exposed to oxygen and light. You want to use it for cold dishes, in salad dressings, in your green meal shake, and whatever other creative substitutes you come up with in cold dishes. Be sure to refrigerate the flax oil and try to consume the bottle within a few weeks after opening. The oil content of the seed is thirty-five to forty-five percent and is packed with fiber and protein. Flax is an oil-bearing seed that contains the highest percentage of both “essential fats”- which are linolenic acid (omega-3 fatty acid) and linoleic acid (omega 6 fatty acid) of any oil-bearing seed. These essential fats are necessary for the proper function of many organs; however, they are not produced by the body and must be supplied by the diet. The essential fats are the healing fats that are good for your body, they wont cause you to become fat but instead ensure proper function of the nervous system, brain, sexual organs and skin.
Flax has been researched and studied for centuries for it’s health benefits and healing properties. Currently, it is being studied as a “nutraceutical”- a food with many nutrients and pharmaceutical properties. The empirical evidence supporting flax as a healing food collecting throughout history is now confirmed through the many clinical studies at universities and hospitals around the world. Today, even the American Food and Drug Agency endorses flax seed as a food for disease prevention. In the end, it is important to incorporate flax seed into a daily diet in order to support health and holistic well-being.
Karyn’s Kare is a line of all-natural products created by Karyn Calabrese, a raw foodist and holistic health educator based out of Chicago, IL. Karyn is the owner of Karyn’s Fresh Corner- the longest standing raw foods restaurant in the country, Karyn’s Inner Beauty Center- a holistic day spa, Karyn’s Cooked- a gourmet vegan restaurant, and Karyn’s on Green- an upscale vegan restaurant and bar. She has coached thousands of people to better health and is known for her youthfulness, energy and vitality as well as her signature line, “If you don’t take care of your body, the most magnificent machine you’ll ever be given, where will you live?
The following was taken from “Fantastic Flax: a powerful defense against cancer, heart disease and digestive disorders” written by flax seed expert Siegfried Gursche.
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