Delicious Ways to Use Chia Seeds for Weight Loss

What are chia seeds?
Can chia seeds help with weight loss?
Chia seeds health benefits
How to use chia seeds for weight loss
Ways to add chia seeds to your diet
Conclusion

Chia seeds are a fantastic food that more and more people are becoming aware of. These delicious, nutty seeds are jam-packed with nutrients and can be included in all sorts of different meals, smoothies, and snacks.

Many people have become aware of the health benefits of chia seeds and would like to learn more about them. One of the most common things people are doing is attempting to use chia seeds for weight loss.

In this article, we’re going to talk about the potential of using chia seeds for weight loss and help you find out how to eat chia seeds for weight loss.

What are chia seeds?

While many of us were first introduced to chia seeds in the form of the take-home, easy-grow ‘Chia Pets,’ nowadays we’re catching on to the fact that these seeds are actually jam-packed full of health benefits. Some even refer to them as a superfood!

Chia seeds are very small, oily seeds that are generally eaten in a similar manner to grains. They are related to the mint plant and they grow naturally in Mexico. When a chia seed is placed in water, it expands and becomes more gelatinous.

Can chia seeds help with weight loss?

There is a lot of speculation regarding the use of chia seeds for weight loss. Research on this specific topic is still relatively new, but there are some things about the chia seed that could make it a great contributor to weight loss.

One such reason is that chia seeds are very high in fiber, with two tablespoons providing nearly 10 grams of fiber. This is almost half of the recommended daily amount of fiber, and fiber is a nutrient that many people are lacking. There is also some evidence that increasing fiber intake can help to reduce weight.

The catch here is that chia seeds are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, which are high in calories and, yes, fat. If you’re following a low-calorie or low-fat diet, then consuming enough chia seeds solely to supplement your diet with fiber could send you over your limits.

Fortunately, chia seeds are a good additive to food. They enlarge when they come into contact with liquid, and they’re full of fiber – two things that can help you feel full after a meal. Feeling full faster means that you’re less likely to overeat and this can contribute to a reduction in weight.

Chia seeds health benefits

There are a number of things that chia seeds can do for your health in addition to helping you lose weight. These benefits can be experienced by including a moderate amount of these healthy seeds in your diet 2-4 times a week.

Here are some of the most prominent benefits of the chia seed.

• Improving heart health. As mentioned above, chia seeds are a rich source of fatty acids. Fatty acids are great for a number of things, and one of the things that they’re best at is maintaining and improving the health of your heart. One such fatty acid found in the chia seed is alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA. This nutrient has been proven to be essential for heart health, so people who are lacking in it can experience improvement by eating chia seeds.
• Fights oxidation. Chia seeds are loaded with antioxidants, and as more studies are done, more and more antioxidants are discovered. Antioxidants are very important and help to reduce damage to your cells and prevent diseases caused by oxidation.
• Provides high-quality protein. Chia seeds have a great balance of essential amino acids that are necessary for the body to make proteins. This makes them a great food additive for people who are working out or for vegans and vegetarians who want to ensure that they get enough protein.
• Improves bone health. Chia seeds are rich in many nutrients that are important for the health of your bones, including calcium, phosphorous, and magnesium. They are particularly high in calcium, providing almost 20% of your daily need per ounce. This is more than you’ll find in many dairy products!
• Fights inflammation. Another thing that chia seeds can be useful for is helping to fight off chronic inflammation. Inflammation is a normal immune response, but it should only occur when there is some sort of pathogen, like a virus or bacteria, that the immune system needs to attack. In people with chronic inflammation, diseases may actually emerge as a result of the immune system attacking tissues and organs that aren’t in danger. One study has revealed that people who eat chia seeds on a daily basis have lower markers for inflammation.

How to eat chia seeds for weight loss

Now that you know why chia seeds can be so important for your health, you’re probably wondering how you can eat them for weight loss. There are a few things to keep in mind.

• Don’t eat too many! Remember, chia seeds are quite high in fat and calories. If you were to exclusively eat chia seeds, chances are you’d actually increase your calorie and fat intake. For this reason, they should be taken once or twice a day and included in various foods and drinks that you make.
• Eat them with other high-fiber foods. One of the main reasons that chia seeds are great for helping to lose weight is because they’re full of fiber, but eating enough chia seeds to meet your recommended fiber intake would involve eating a lot of chia seeds. Try mixing them with fruits and vegetables in smoothies.
• Observe your whole diet. Chia seeds on their own can contribute to weight loss, but the important message behind this is that chia seeds contain nutrients and fiber that are important for maintaining diet and health. You can get many of these nutrients from other foods like fruits, vegetables, and legumes, so be sure to include these in your diet.

Making use of these techniques will help to ensure that you have an effective, holistic method for losing weight and that chia seeds can be an important part of that. Remember, though, the most effective and reliable way to lose weight is to increase exercise and reduce calories.

Ways to add chia seeds to your diet

There are lots of different chia seeds recipes for weight loss. Here are some of the easiest and most delicious recipes that you can make with chia seeds.

Chia seed smoothie for weight loss

There are a ton of different smoothies that you can add chia seeds to. They taste great in pretty much any smoothie as a way of adding flavor, but they’re particularly delicious in fruit smoothies. Here’s one of my favorite chia seed smoothies for weight loss:

You’ll need:

• 1 banana
• 1/2 pineapple
• 1/2 papaya
• 1/8 cup of water or almond milk
• 2-3 tbsp of chia seeds

The process:

This recipe is simple but delicious. Simply mix the ingredients together in a blender and drink them down to get a powerful hit of nutrients from the fruit and chia seeds.

Chia seed oatmeal for weight loss

Oatmeal is a great food for weight loss. It’s rich in fiber and other nutrients, it keeps you full, and it provides sustainable energy for a long time. Here’s a simple recipe for a chia seed oatmeal for weight loss.

You’ll need:

• 1 cup of oatmeal
• 2 tbsp of peanut butter
• 2 tbsp of chia seeds
• 1/4 cup of almond or soy milk (optional)
• Sweetener (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

The process:

Cook the oatmeal as you normally would on the stove, adding a little bit of extra water so that the chia seeds can absorb some moisture. Add the peanut butter, cinnamon, and almond milk towards the end of the cooking process.

Conclusion

Chia seeds are a great superfood that can be included in a wide variety of different foods. In this article, we’ve outlined some of the most impressive health benefits of these little seeds and explained how they can be useful for helping people manage their weight.

Hopefully, this information and the recipes that we’ve provided are enough for you to get started on the path towards using chia seeds to achieve your optimal weight!