Last week at work, a colleague of mine, a friend...

A friendly colleague, SUPERVISOR infact!

He came past me and some of the other boys, to see how we were doing. The usual pleasantries and tidbits of news were exchanged.

Then my supervisor took a drink from his water bottle. A transparent water bottle that WITHIN THE LIQUID CONTAINED- Hundreds of small seedlike particles.

I enquired as to what these were, and he proceeded to jest! Trying to fool me into thinking they were tadpoles.

But I cannot be so easily deceived, and after some twenty sounds of his insisting that they were tadpoles, I finally had expended the last of my patience.

I cried out! "ALI I KNOWS WHAT TADPOLES IS THEYS NOT FUCKIN TADPOLES WHAT ARE THEMS IN YE WATY!"

He then looked at me craftily and revealed the true identity of the particulates... They were chia seeds.

He proceed to inform me that they were a good source of fibre and high in potassium.

I found the concept intriguing, I then looked up chia seeds on the google and also learned that they can be used to produce a gelatin- Vegan friendly gelatin, one that no doubt could be used to make vegan aspics and terrines.

What a fantastic concept.

Commence discussion on the topic!

they make grass too

YES!

I saw these Chia pet things.

I have something a little bit similar at home.

Chia seeds and such helped me a lot.

My body has malabsorption when it comes animal fats and protein. I tried everything from bile supplements to eating just meat. As you can imagine meat in intestines zapping gut energy + not getting energy in gut due to malabsorption is a vicious circle of unwellness I have mosaicism so basically some of my chromosomes are more XX and others more XY and stuff like that and it causes no end of intolerances for me.

I've been predominantly vegan for the last 2 years, before I was pesco-vegetarian for 10 years. I'm certainly a lot better than I was, 52-60kg variable instead of 40-46kg which is a good weight for someone with malabsorption.

I found that my health shot up a lot when having mostly seeds and algae like chlorella. Algaes like chlorella is where primates naturally get their B12 as it fortifies the water, but humans consume RO water. My B12 blood levels are far above the average meat consumer yet many think vegans can't get it lol. Also despite what some say, soy doesn't make you less masculine, my adrenal T level went up not down. As a trans-intersex female this kind of saddens me but turns out the only thing other thing to human/animal estrogen that fits into an estrogen receptor is metalloestrogens like aluminum, not phytoestrogens, in fact you get more bio-compatible estrogen from eating a female animal. It takes much larger amounts of estrogen over long periods of time for it to feminise the body.

After a while I thought it makes sense leaves, seeds and nuts would make you strong because humans descended from primates who ate stuff like that. Fortunately for me, chia however gives lean strength rather than just weight mass while shoots and nuts just give you buff mass.

I'd recommend flax as well though as it has the best kind of Omega 3, 6 and 9. It can be formed as an egg or gelatinous alternative if you're into that. The main benefit chia seeds did for me was actually assist in protein absorption by balancing my metabolism. If your metabolism is very low or high, chia is pretty beneficial thus. Jelly chia sounds like a good way to get chia seeds down if you don't like them outright. Honestly boiling them in a sauce pan you wouldn't notice they're there though, they're virtually tasteless like sesame lol.

Potassium is lacking in most people. The only real way to get the right Potassium I found was through having a daily regimen like this: 2x a day 1/2 of canned butter beans (aka lima beans). 2x a day banana 2x a day of a tablespoon of chia or flaxseed 1x a day cup of baby crumble or mashed potato 1x a day 5g chlorella powder or 1 litre natural/fortified water daily This comes to 2900mg potassium while the minimum RDI is 2500mg potassium daily. And if you don't feel like eating such things everyday, you can always vary it up with alternatives, and anything more is better, right? You can also "compress" banana and butter beans into smoothies if you're not a big eater lol.

If I remember chia itself is hypoallergenic but a very small minority can be mildly allergic to chia that isn't cured/milled properly, boiling is an option. Hence it's also endorsed as a good alternative to those who can't eat nuts.

Outstanding!

I don't like bananas, so in regards to potassium I usually went the pomegranate and peas route.

So tell me about flax as a food product.

I know flax is used to make fabric, string and rope... Did not know it could be used as a nutrient as well.

Yeah flaxseed has dynamic active omega fatty oils in it, which is a staple for those who don't like to eat fish or seaweed everyday. The RDI for omega 3 is 1,100-1,600mg. Chia has it too but you're more likely to benefit minerally from mixing both. It helps lower cholesterol, helps protect cells from cancers / heart disease and assists the glucose levels. It's not hard or noticeable to give yourself a handful of them a day though I recommend boiling them to make them more gel-like, they're more absorbable that way. It's not necessary per se though, can also cook them into breads or with other foods in the oven.

A lot of foods are used in manufacturing of non-foods, Bamboo being probably one of the most widely used raw building constructions in young civilisations. Tree latexes like asafoetida are very beneficial to health and are used for non-food purposes often. Just like how animal skins and guts used to be used as carpets/clothes and even musical instruments in the past. Some printing inks were made from edible plant oils. You might be surprised to know that cotton is in a lot of foods in the form of cellulose from cotton fibres or cottonseed oil.

I'm gonna check out flax seeds too then.

They're really good for digestion, some people take them as a laxative! They're also known as linseeds, and they're also used for weight loss too. Back when I was reaching adulthood, I put a small spoon of them in my porridge every morning, they're so good for you. Definitely get them if you can!

EDIT: I meant to reply to the flaxseed comment...oops.

Linseed yeh?

Fukyeh, I'll have a look.

Awesome stuff! Go for it!