Chia seeds health benefits don’t have to come with a high price tag. If you decide that this health food is one you would like to make part of your everyday diet, then it makes sense to buy in bulk. This way, you will always have chia seeds on hand when you need them, you don’t have to worry about running out, and you will save money in the long-run! The more you buy at one time, the more money you save.

I can recommend a special bulk package from Nuchia. Check it out and see if you think this would work for your family. What I like about this bulk chia package (apart from the great price) is that it includes chia flour as well as seeds, so you can easily incorporate chia into your baking and cooking.

The Chia Special Package Includes:

• 4  Original Chia Seed Flour Packs
• 2  100% Chia Seed Flour Packs
• 1  16oz Chia Seeds

With Free Shipping!

Why not save money by buying chia seeds in bulk?

>> Buy The Chia Special Package

Chia seeds have a very subtle flavor, so they’re perfect for adding to smoothies because the flavor is not affected. You get all the chia seeds health benefits plus the benefits of green smoothies when you mix the two together!

What is a green smoothie?

A green smoothie is your favorite smoothie with a green veggie of some kind added into the blender. I usually go for about 40% vegetable and 60% fruit or additional ingredients. This is a nice balance as far as the taste goes. Any more vegetable in your smoothie, and it tastes more like a pure vegetable juice than a mixed smoothie. But play around and see what ratio works for you.

Health benefits of green smoothies with chia

• Regular bowel movements
• Immediate boost in energy
• Blood sugar is stabilized
• Reduced cravings for processed and sugary foods
• Healthier skin, hair and nails

Mixing chia and green vegetables into your smoothies is an exceptionally healthy way to start your day. If you drink a green smoothie with chia once a day for a month, you will start to see positive changes in your overall health and feeling of well-being. If you drink one once a day for an entire year, you will feel total transformation!

Possible green vegetables to add to your green smoothies

• chard
• arugula or rocket
• kale
• spinach
• dandelion greens
• lettuce
• celery
• watercress
• turnip greens
• broccoli
• cabbage

Basic Recipe for a Green Smoothie With Chia

• Take 2-3 sweet fruits, such as pears, mangoes, bananas, apples or blueberries. Put them in your blender and mix them up.
• Add and blend 2 cups or 2 large handfuls of pre-washed organic leafy green vegetables.
• Add and blend 2 tablespoons chia seeds. These can be black chia seeds or white chia seeds, it doesn’t matter.

Here are a couple of sample recipes. Be creative and make up your own!

Pineapple Green Smoothie

• 2 apples
• 2 cups crushed pineapple
• 2 big handfuls mixed baby greens
• 1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• A squirt of lime juice

Minty Green Smoothie

• 3 ripe bananas
• 2 cups chopped spinach
• 10-12 freshly picked mint leaves
• 1 cup soy milk
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds

You may have thought about replacing eggs or oil with chia when cooking or baking. Perhaps you’ve worried that this will affect the flavor or texture of your product. Worry no longer!

A study conducted in 2010 used chia gel to replace 25%, 50%, and 75% of the oil or eggs in a cake. 75 panelists were then asked to rate the cakes. (Sounds like a study I’d like to be part of!)

The verdict?

…the 25% chia gel cakes were not significantly different from the control for color, taste, texture, and overall acceptability. The 50% oil substituted (with chia gel) cake, compared to control, had 36 fewer kilocalories and 4 g less fat per 100-g portion.

In English, that means: it’s all good. The chia rocked the panelists’ world. They couldn’t even tell the difference when the 25% substitution was used.

Personally, I think it’s a matter of taste and habits, so if you want to get to the point where you substitute more than 50%, you can gradually get there over time. But if you don’t want to miss out on your favorite flavors, just go with the 25% substitution and know that you’re getting the chia seeds health benefits too.

Did you know you can easily add chia seeds to water? Here is what you do:

Just add 1 tablespoon of chia seeds to a glass of water and mix well.

It’s as easy as that!

The chia seeds have a mild flavor so you will not notice much, you may notice the soft texture of the chia seeds as you drink. You can also add a spritz of lemon or lime.

This is a great weight loss tool if you drink the water before a meal. Read this article to find out why.

Cooking with chia seeds

Cooking with chia seeds is easier than it sounds. You do not have to reinvent the wheel or throw out everything you ever knew about cooking.

How to cook chia seeds

1. Simply add chia seeds to whatever you are cooking. A tablespoon or two is usually enough for a meal that serves four.
2. Use ready-prepared chia gel in your cooking if you want to add bulk or body to sauces, stews, soups and gravies. Just make your chia gel ahead of time, store it in the fridge, and dollop out a couple of spoons when you need it.
3. Don’t stress about exact quantities. Chia is not a miracle pill, nor does it have negative side effects. It really doesn’t matter if you consume 1 tablespoon one day and 3 tablespoons the next day. Just incorporate it into your cooking in the way that suits your cooking style and families needs. It is meant to be fun not a chore!
4. Don’t worry about using special chia recipes; just tweak your family’s favorite recipes to include chia. Easy! (But if you do want some inspiration, here are some chia recipes for you)
5. Raw chia seeds can be a great topping for a salad, casserole, or fruit salad.

Cooking chia seeds is easy and quick. I hope this helps give you some ideas of how to include chia seeds health benefits into your healthy meal plans! Any questions just contact me.

Dave sent me this question:

Once you make the chia gel do you strain it or use the seeds and all?

This is a great question. I had to laugh though because, Dave, if you had seen chia gel you would know how impossible it would be to strain it! Trying to strain chia gel would be like trying to separate the ingredients of a cake after baking it.

chia gel, 15 minutes after water is added

When you add water to chia seeds, they swell up and become soft. After about ten minutes, the mixture forms a gel and the individual chia seeds are impossible to individuate. Depending on the ratio of water to chia, the chia gel can be runny or thick.

Here is a fantastic new article I recently published all about chia gel. In this article you can see some hi-res photos I took to show you how chia gel looks as it is forming.

I hope this answers your question, Dave. If I can help further please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Ever wondered how to make chia gel or how you can use chia gel?

I get so many questions about chia gel that I decided to make some just for you and document the process so you can follow along with every step. I hope this helps!

Step One

I’ve poured 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of chia seeds into a small container. I happen to be using a plastic container with a snap-on lid; I sometimes use a glass jar. Any clean, dry container with a tightly-fitting lid will do.

Here’s a close up of the chia seeds. As you can see, I’m using a mix of white chia and black chia. (Is there any difference between white and black chia? Find out in this article.)

Step Two

Here, I’ve added 1/4 cup of water to my chia seeds. Water from the tap is fine. Shake well!

In this close up, you can see that the chia seeds are already starting to soften a bit. A minute or two after adding the water, I put the lid on and shake again.

Step Three

If you’re following along, you can now chuck your container in the fridge until you’re ready to use your chia gel, but since I want to show you what the chia gel looks like after it’s properly set, I’m waiting around with my camera for another 15 minutes.

And 15 minutes later…we have chia gel!

See how in this close-up, the chia seeds are much softer and…well, gelled. Chia is highly absorbent; these little power-packs absorb 9 times their weight in water! That’s part of why chia is a fantastic health food and weight loss tool. (For more on chia’s health benefits, check out this article and this article.)

Now that you have your chia gel, what can you do with it?

• You can use a chia egg in place of a hen’s egg in your next batch of brownies or blueberry muffins….
• You can spread chia butter on your breakfast toast to cut down on calories and add protein…
• You can mix it into a soup, stew, sauce or gravy to add body without adding calories….
• You can chuck a couple tablespoons into a smoothie or milkshake for those vital omega-3 acids…
• You can store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, saving you time and energy when you want to add chia to your baking or cooking.

I hope you enjoyed this photo essay of how to make chia gel. If you have any questions about how to prepare chia seeds gel or how to use chia gel, please contact me.

Just imagine…

• becoming healthier…
• feeling fantastic…
• having more energy and vitality…

What would you say if you could get all these health benefits—and many more—from a natural source? What if you learned this natural source is something as simple as the minute seeds of a centuries-old plant? And what would you say if these seeds were available right now?

Well, I have amazing news…these little seeds actually exist! They are sourced from an long-ignored natural Aztec crop that’s been making headlines as a modern superfood.

They are chia seeds.

I ran across these seeds by pure accident and now make sure to eat some every single day. Due to my daily diet of chia, I have experienced better health, more strength, and increased energy.

After noticing the positive effects chia was having on me, I began to research chia to understand where its unusual healing powers came from.

If this is your first visit to the blog, thank you! Go to this blog post to learn more about the amazing health benefits of chia seeds.

“Newby” asks:

I am learning alot about “chia” and “flax” seed. I would like to know if they can both be eaten or should i just stick to one. Are there any dangers to in taking both daily. Thank you for your guidance.

Both chia seeds and flax seeds have health benefits. Chia seeds health benefits are what I focus on with this site, but that doesn’t mean I don’t eat flaxseeds – I do, with gusto!

A lot of people ask, “Are chia seeds better than flax seeds” or “Will I get flax seed man boobs” but Newby’s question is a little different. If I understand correctly, you want to know if chia and flax can both be included in your daily diet.

The answer is, there is no evidence to the contrary. Both chia seed and flax seed have important nutritional benefits. They have not been shown to interact with each other in any harmful way. If you enjoy eating chia seeds and you also enjoy eating flax seeds, there is no reason to have to pick one over the other.

I hope this helps. If in the future, I hear of any studies that contradict what I’ve stated above, I will keep my readers posted. Thank you for the question!

Contact me if you have any questions about the health benefits of chia seeds or flax.

Emma emailed me a question about using chia seeds as substitute for eggs and butter. This is such a common question I want to share the answer with everyone. Emma asks:

Hello,
I was wondering how much chia gel you used when substituting it for eggs or butter?
I am loving my chia seeds.
Thank you!

Emma, use 1/4 cup of chia gel as a substitute for 1 egg. For chia butter, you use 50% butter and 50% chia gel. So there’s still butter in the chia butter, just less of it.

Here is a recipe for chia gel. This will give you the chia gel ratio and tell you a bit about the chia gel benefits. You can check out some tasty chia seed recipes here.

I hope this answers your question. Any more questions about chia seeds health benefits, how to prepare chia seeds, cooking with chia seeds or anything at all, just contact me.