Flaxseed might just be the most underrated and underused superfood out there.
In case you don’t know how incredible flaxseedis yet – let this article be your wakeup call. Flaxseed has everything.
The nutritional composition is off the chart. You get so many vital minerals, vitamins, and nutrients that your body needs from such a small amount of flax seeds that it’s mindblowing.
But don’t take my word for it. If you’re not interested in lowering your cholesterol, or balancing your hormones, or helping yourself lose weight, or clearing up your skin, or fighting cancer, or reducing sugar cravings… then stay away from flaxseed. Because it does all of that – and more.
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I’m not going to lie – I’m excited to tell you about how incredible flaxseed is. Let’s get right into it.
The Biggest Benefits Of Flax Seeds In Your Diet
1. Flaxseed Has Incredible Nutritional Content
I touched on this in the introduction, but I wanted to put it first just to make it clear – flaxseed is a truly astounding source of nutrients your body needs.
Let’s go down the list. Want to know how much nutrition is in just one ounce of flaxseed?
You get 6 grams of protein. 8 grams of fiber. 30% of the magnesium you need in a day. 35% of the manganese. 31% of the vitamin B1. 19% of the phosphorous. 10% of the selenium. More than 6,000mg of omega-3 fatty acids.
You want more? You got more.
Flaxseed also gives you zinc. It gives you copper, It gives you iron, potassium, and vitamin B6.
It gives you nearly everything.
If you’re considering adding flaxseed to your diet as a nutritional powerhouse – do it. It’s got almost everything your body needs, and it has it all in spades.
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2. Flaxseed Can Help You Lose Weight
There have been many studies and research projects done on the benefits of flaxseed and its ability to help people live more healthy lives.
There have been studies that support the idea that flaxseed can help cut out obesity and help people lose weight. (1)
Flaxseed does that through its unique makeup. It’s full of fiber, water, and healthy fats – which help you feel more satiated after eating it and avoid hunger cravings for longer.
Try adding flaxseed to salads or smoothies as part of a weight loss plan and watch as the pounds melt right off.
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3. Flaxseed Contains Tons Of Antioxidants
Did you know that flaxseed contains the highest amount of lignans (which are antioxidants) of any food in the human diet?
It’s true! They’re literally jam packed with antioxidants that will help you fight aging, cancer, cell decay, and keep your hormones in balance. (2)
The lignans in flaxseed also can help fight off illness and disease – another massive benefit.
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4. Flaxseed Is Super High In Fiber
Fiber is, proverbially speaking, what keeps your digestive system moving along and working well. When your digestion gets stopped up (due to lack of fiber and other factors), you experience uncomfortable symptoms like constipation, indigestion, and other things you don’t want to deal with.
That’s why flaxseed is such a great food for your digestion – it has tons of something called mucilage gum, which is a type of fiber that does wonders to “keep things moving” in your digestive tract.
So if you want to keep your stomach and your digestion healthy – don’t skip out on flaxseed!
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5. Flaxseed Has A Huge Amount Of Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are super popular right now – for a good reason. That’s because they serve tons of different functions in your body and help keep you healthy.
It’s really important to balance the “good” omega-3 fatty acids with the omega-6 fatty acids in your diet. That’s where flaxseed comes in.
Flaxseed has tons of ala – which is a type of omega-3 fatty acids – that keeps your body working right. Add it to your diet and watch the wonders it can work on your health.
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6. Flaxseed Can Help Prevent Cardiovascular Disease
Remember how we just talked about those omega-3 fatty acids? They help your body in tons of ways – including promoting cardiovascular health.
There are many studies that suggest that omega-3 fatty acids can help stop your arteries from hardening and picking up plaque. They also can help treat arrhythmia and lower your blood pressure naturally. (3)
So if you’re looking for heart health, look no further than flaxseed!
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7. Flaxseed Can Cut Down On Inflammation
Flaxseed contains ala (which is an omega-3 fatty acid), and lignans (which we talked about before and is an antioxidant).
Both of those compounds can help cut down on inflammation in your body – including inflammation caused by conditions like asthma.
That’s really good! When inflammation is out of control in your body due to a medical condition, it can really mess you up and cause all kinds of problems. Reduce your inflammation by adding more flaxseed to your diet. (4)
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8. Flaxseed Helps To Keep Your Hair And Skin Healthy
Flaxseed is high in things that do wonders for your skin health and the health of your hair. It’s got ala fats and b-vitamins – which will cut down on dry and flaky skin.
In addition, if you suffer from conditions like eczema or acne, the nutrients and compounds in flaxseed can help mitigate and reduce the intensity of those symptoms.
If you’re serious about growing really healthy hair and skin, try taking about a tablespoon of flaxseed oil – it will go straight towards hydrating and beautifying your skin and your hair. (5)
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9. Flaxseed Helps Your Brain Work Better
The ala fats in flaxseed have been strongly linked to brain function and keeping your brain working properly.
Those who are deficient in that type of omega-3 fatty acid are more at risk for brain “deformations” and other harmful brain conditions. (6)
So if you want your brain to function at peak capacity, add some flaxseed to your diet!
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10. Flaxseed Can Help Fight Against Diabetes
If you want to avoid diabetes, trying to keep your blood sugar down is one of the best things you can do. That’s because sustained, chronic high levels of blood sugar can lead to developing diabetes.
Flaxseed is excellent for controlling your blood sugar because of the lignans and fatty acids that it’s so chock full of. (7)
Those lignans and fatty acids affect the way your liver processes the nutrients in your body – and inhibits it from making so much glucose.
What does that mean? It means lower levels of blood sugar – and lower risk of diabetes.
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11. Flaxseed Can Help Women Deal With Menopause
If you’re going through menopause, flaxseed can actually help. The lignans in flaxseed have been shown to be strongly linked to estrogens – and can help balance your hormones and prevent some of the worst of menopausal symptoms. (8)
One study found that flaxseed reduces the incidence of hot flashes by 50% – after just one week of taking flaxseed.
12. Flaxseed Can Lower Your Cholesterol Levels
There has been a lot of research centered around flaxseed and cholesterol. Researchers have found that it can help to lower your cholesterol levels naturally.
The mechanism is believed to be all of the soluble fiber that’s in flaxseed. That fiber “traps” cholesterol in your digestive system and makes it so that your body can’t absorb it.
Plus, it also soaks up the bile in your digestive system. Your gallbladder is responsible for making more bile – which it makes from cholesterol – which means you’ll have naturally lower levels of cholesterol. (9)
13. Flax Seeds Can Help Fight Against Cancer
There have been tons of studies and research on the link between flaxseed and fighting cancer – and the results are very promising.
The lignans found in flaxseed get processed in your digestive system, and are turned into compounds that help to regulate your hormone balance.
That means they’re great at keeping your hormone balance ideal and reducing the risk of breast cancer. They’ve also been found by research to reduce the risks of prostate, colon, ovarian, and endometrial cancer as well.
14. Flaxseed Keeps Your Digestive System Going Strong
Flaxseed doesn’t just keep your digestive system healthy by moving things along.
In fact, it does a ton more than that for your digestive system. The ala in flaxseed helps keep your intestines healthy and protects the lining of your digestive tract. (10)
It also helps cut down on inflammation in your stomach and keeps indigestion to a minimum.
Finally, it’s got tons of fiber and magnesium in it – which helps to promote your intestinal health.
What’s The Best Way To Add Flaxseed To Your Diet?
There are tons of great ways to add flaxseed into your diet in order to reap all the nutritional and health benefits.
Personally, I’d advocate for adding flaxseed to your diet rather than supplementing with flax oil. Flax oil only contains part of the seed – flaxseed gives you the whole package.
The suggested dose of flaxseed is currently 1 to 2 ground tablespoons per day. Make sure to store your ground flaxseed in the freezer.
You can add flaxseed to granola, bake it into tasty treats like cookies or bread, you can eat it mixed with yummy foods like yogurt or honey – the possibilities are endless.
One of the most popular ways to get your flaxseed is to add it to a smoothie. Just add 1 or 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed to your favorite smoothie and you’re good to go!
In summary…
The Best Health Benefits Of Flaxseed
- Flaxseed has incredible nutritional content
- Flaxseed can help you lose weight
- Flaxseed contains tons of antioxidants
- Flaxseed is super high in fiber
- Flaxseed has a huge amount of omega-3 fatty acids
- Flaxseed can help prevent cardiovascular disease
- Flaxseed can cut down on inflammation
- Flaxseed helps to keep your hair and skin healthy
- Flaxseed helps your brain work better
- Flaxseed can help fight against diabetes
- Flaxseed can help women deal with menopause
- Flaxseed can lower your cholesterol levels
- Flax seeds can help fight against cancer
- Flaxseed keeps your digestive system going strong
i love baking bread so i will try adding flax seeds into it. i am sure my family will love it! thanks for giving us helpful ideas
i love that flax seeds can also take care of skin and health. another must try for me, i love DIYs and will try making one of this soon.
wow! these are really wonderful benefits of flax seeds. i wonder if there are also side effects if you eat them regularly.
i know flax seed is said to help lose weight. i didn’t know it has a lot more in store for better health. i will try adding this to my diet.
i have a friend who is experiencing menopause and she told me about how flax seed helps her deal with her situation. i admit i am super impressed with its amazing health benefits!
i love flax seeds and i’m just thrilled to know all these benefits they actually have. i wasn’t aware of this at all but happy to know! (=
flax seeds provides loads of fiber which can help us feel full. as a result, you will loose extra pounds. flax seeds are really good for our body.
flax seeds are really good for weight loss. i’ve tried them before and i’ve seen a lot of improvement together with other superfoods. now, i love how my body is and will continue trying to live healthier.
flax seeds have many useful benefits but for me, the most extraordinary is how it helps me lose weight and maintain the glow of my skin. i just could not live without flax seeds! i love them!
i’ve been looking for ways on how i could lose some pounds safely and i am glad i discovered how flax seeds could help. gotta try them now.
i was thinking of buying flax oil to add to my diet. good thing i came across this post and learned that it is best to opt for flaxseed because it will give me the whole package.
can it really help me balance my hormones? I am very much interested with this seed!
now i have plenty of reasons why i should try flax seeds. i still can’t believe it is one of the much-talked-about superfoods!
can it really help me lose some weight? i read 1 tbsp of flax seeds contains about 55 calories. i am just curious.
it is really best to add flax seeds in your diet. look at its many health benefits! who would not want them!
tried mixing it with honey and yogurt and it was really good! i will look for other yummy recipes where i can add flax seed and enjoy its wonderful health benefits.
i learned a lot about the many health benefits of flax seeds by reading this article! you never fail to amaze us with the amazing and helpful articles you are posting. keep rocking!
i love flax seeds! i sprinkle them over my dry cereal and salad. i also add them to healthful muffins and bread i bake for my kids.
flax seed is good for the hair. i am a diehard fan of this seed. it makes my hair shinier, stronger and more resistant to damage.
hmmm, let me bake a bread and add some flax seeds. Hope my kids will love it!
this is actually one of the much-talked-about super foods and i completely understand why.i will make sure to have flax seeds in my pantry moving forward.
i was told that flaxseeds have been useful when it comes to solving a number of health problems since the beginning of the civilization and this article made me realize why. it is definitely a super food!
my friend told me that flax seed is good for weight loss. after reading this article, i regret not believing her. there are actually more reasons to never neglect flax seeds!
i always find flax seeds in some foods today like in oatmeal and frozen waffles. i also read one article stating that flax seeds are also in demand for agricultural use. no wonder why…
wow! i better include these powerful seeds in my diet! excellent benefits that i want badly to have!
i am truly amazed by the interesting benefits of flax seeds. from fighting many ailments to maintaining healthy eyes, skin and hair, this superfood have got everything covered!
these are the exact reasons why i love eating flax seeds! i am truly fascinated by this food!
i love how it plays a role in burning body fats. i know flax seed oil but not all of its wonderful benefits. now i am fully aware of what it specifically does.
i cannot believe flax seeds can do all these things to our body. these are more than enough reasons to work flaxseed into my regular diet.
there is no doubt that this seed is a good source of many nutrients. i am a vegetarian and hates eating fish. flaxseed is my good source of omega-3 fats.