Friday 5 November 2010

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Flax Seeds/Hørfrø/亚麻籽[yà má zǐ]


For babies from 8 months, but I introduced it to J around 9.5 months (recommended by Karen Lim)

Directions:
1. Grind with a mini-blender and use the breakfast meal to get them into baby's and family's diet.
(Offer baby no more than 1 tablespoon of Flax per day. Note that 3 teaspoons are equivalent to 1 tablespoon; you may add up to 3 teaspoons of flax seeds, spread throughout several "meals" during a day.)

Serving Ideas:
1. To pump up the nutritional volume of your breakfast shake, sprinkle 1 teaspoon ground flaxseeds onto your hot or cold cereal, oatmeal, omelettes, pancakes, waffles or yogurt for the baby (and family).

2. Add flax seeds to your homemade muffin, cookie or bread recipe.

3. To give cooked vegetables a nuttier flavor, sprinkle some ground flax seeds on top of them.

4. Add a tablespoon of ground flax seeds to smoothies.

Nutritional Value:
Flax seeds is a rich non-fish source of omega-3.

IMPORTANT notes:
1. Flax seed oil should never be used for frying, as the high temperature destroys the beneficial EFAs and may create TFAs.

2. Omega-3 in flax seed greatly increases the effectiveness of B vitamins. If you eat flax seeds regularly, do not take mega doses of B vitamins.

Additional Information:
Seeds are loaded with nutrients. If a seed is placed in the ground, it grows. If a seed is placed in water, it sprouts. God in His wisdom must have made nature to put a concentrated store of nutrients in the seed, which can grow into a new plant with no soil and nothing more than plain water. The seed is the nucleus of a plant, the part that is most important to nature. If there is a variation and lack of nutrients in the soil, the other plant parts suffer at the expense of the seed. In infertile soil, the roots forage for every trace nutrient it can find in order to first form the seed. The seed is life itself.

Seeds, especially small seeds like flax seeds, must be chewed very, very well in order for the digestive system to absorb the nutrients. Otherwise, they will pass right through the body.

One should preferably eat flax seeds well-grounded to get maximum nutrients and immediately after they have been ground to prevent rancidity. It can be a real inconvenience to have to eat them immediately after grinding. However, I found that ground flax seeds can remain fresh in a sealed container in the fridge for 2-3 days.

If possible, eat flax seed rather than flax seed oil, because it is a whole food and contains the fiber, whereas the oil is processed and does not contain fiber.

References:
Super Baby Food (Second Edition) by Ruth Yaron

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