Filed under: Health, Healthy Eating, Eat This
One of the great things about superfoods is the fact it’s relatively easy to add them to your existing diet to boost the nutrient density of your meals: toss a few goji berries onto that salad to up the vitamin C value; add chlorella or spirulina to your morning smoothie for magnesium; sprinkle some bee pollen on that bowl of oatmeal to turn it into a nutrient-dense, super breakfast. This is one of the reasons the superfood chia seeds have quickly become one of my favourite superfoods to add to daily regimen – they’re so easy to incorporate.
Chia seeds? Yes, they are indeed the very same things we smeared on the outside of a clay sheep to watch it grow green and fuzzy. But the use of chia seeds as a novelty toy is actually only a minor blip in the rich history of this superfood.
For centuries chia seeds have been used as a staple food by the Native Americans of the south western U.S. and Mexico. These tiny seeds were once so highly prized by the Aztecs that they were used as a form of currency and offered as a tribute to the rulers.
Historically, chia seeds were used as a high energy food. It is said that Aztecs on long journeys would subsist on nothing but small amounts of the seeds, and yet their energy levels never waned. Modern health-minded distance runners have found similar effects and value the seeds for their stamina-inducing qualities. This is hardly surprising given the sheer nutrient density of these little seeds.
Continue reading Chia Seeds Superfood Not Just For Novelty “Pets”