Chia Seeds - 奇异籽

Recently I get to know a new "superfood" ingredient from one of my friend, Alice (she is someone who always shared information on amazing healthy food products with me whenever she tried) as well as some read up from food magazines. For this post, I am sharing my new love which is known as "Chia Seeds (奇异籽)" which offers amazing wholefood nutritional benefits.

Chia seeds are small round ivory to charcoal coloured seeds that form a gel when mixed together with liquid. They are two type of chia seeds available in the supermarkets or some organic shops (Supernature) which are either Black (shown above) or White Chia Seeds (available in150g/500g pouch. I bought mine from The Chia Co (S$15.00 / 150g pouch, orange colour packing) from NTUC Fairprice under the organic products section.

[Benefits] Chia is a wholegrain that tastes great and easy to include in our daily diet to improve our health. Beside with it loaded with essential fatty acids, Chia seeds help to improve skin from inside out which also makes it a complete beauty food that benefits hair and nails too. Furthermore Chia is the richest combined plant source of:-

~ Omega 3 and Omega 6 Fatty Acid;
~ Dietary Fibre;
~ Protein;
~ Antioxidants;
~ Essential Vitamins and Minerals

Between these super seeds can help to lose weight because they reduce food cravings by preventing excess food from being absorbed into your digestive system. With the seeds absorb 10 times their weight in water, forming a bulky gels it actually keeps our body hydrated. Whereas the omega-3 fatty acids contained in chia seeds are vital fats that helps to protect against inflammatory conditions such as arthritis and heart disease too. Beside all goodness mentioned, it also reduces the rate at which our body converts carbohydrates into simple sugars, controlling blood sugar which is a great benefit for diabetic patient

[How To Use Chia Seeds] Chia has a delicious light nutty flavour which can be use to sprinkle on salad; add to soup; blended into smoothies; baked into breads, cakes, cookies or even added to cereal or oats porridge. Below some some of the recipes which I have included Chia Seeds in it.

Apple, Oat And Walnut Crumble	Pumpkin Granola Bar	Longan And Cranberry Yogurt Cake
Orange Chiffon Cake	Lemon Butter Cake	Pumpkin Chia Seeds Chiffon Cake
Beries Overnight Oats	Mango Overnight Oats