oh MEGA!

This week, I have been mostly eating oh megas!

Seriously though, I’m proper hooked on my hemp and chia.  I’ve been consuming a litre of chia milk a day and a litre of hemp milk!  I’ve also been having serious chia puddings!  I swear to goddess they are actually having a major impact on my brain capacity!  I can’t stop coming up with ideas for one.  All day long my brain is going “oh what about this?” “and this?” “WOW how good an idea is this?”  It’s seriously on over-drive!  My brain appears to be on the go constantly 🙂  How could this happen?

Chia was one of the four basic foods of Central American civilizations in pre-Columbian times.  Nowadays, this crop is being reintroduced to Western diets to improve human health because it is an important source of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, dietary fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals*.  Chia is the richest plant source of omega-3 fatty acids which improves communication between brain cells.  My brain cells are talk-talking alright!  Anyone would think they had just signed up for unlimited calls to any network!!

As for hemp, goddess, where to start!  Hemp is rich in the ESSENTIAL fatty acids omega-3 and 0mega-6.  These work together in synergy in an ideal ratio (from a nutritional viewpoint) for optimal use in the body. They help to prevent or relieve inflammation problems, arthritis, asthma, osteoporosis, cardio-vascular disease and hormonal disturbances linked to menopause.  They also play a role in preventing autoimmune diseases, obesity and cancer**.

Because ESSENTIAL fatty acids make up a large portion of the brain, hemp is especially beneficial for brain health.

So I guess that explains that.

Seriously, get some hemp or chia OR BOTH down your neck every once in a while and I promise you’ll notice a difference.  I’m not suggesting you go hardcore like me with the litres of milks (not that it would be a bad idea) but a milk here and there will do wonders!

You can get hemp seeds from most local health stores – even holland and barrett sell them (don’t rate them as a health store).  Here’s what to look out for:

These are hemp seeds without the shells on.  You can blend these in to smoothies or make a milk with water and sweetner.  Personally I prefer the milk made from shelled hemp but if you’re in a rush and forgot to soak your hemp seeds these are really handy.  Go really well with banana in a smoothie – super protein mentalness!

Shelled hemp seed contains 33% pure digestible protein and is rich in iron and vitamin E as well as omegas.

You really ought to soak your hemp seeds for a couple of hours before you blend it.  Blend with water and a sweetner of your choice and strain to make the milk.  This week I have been adding maca and coconut butter to my hemp milks 🙂

Chia is a lot tinier than hemp.  It will absorb sooooo much water.  Again soak it for about an hour or two in water and then blend as above.  ORRRR you can make a nice nut milk – I’ve been using almond milk blended with cacao and soak some chia in that without blending.  It turns in to a yummy pudding.  Just there I blended almond butter with water and lucuma and mesquite and carob and xylitol and then mixed in about 3-4 teaspoons of chia.  I left it for half an hour and it went gloopy and yummy.

 

Kate Magic did a fabby vid on milks using chia and hemp, check it out:

Righthy ho, got to get on with stuff.  Got a massive health event on tomorrow at work and I’m in charge of raw goodies woo!  Haven’t even started making stuff yet and it’s half ten.  Oops. Thank goddess for raw energy eh?

*

**