Perhaps you love Flaxseeds for their strong mucilaginous fibre content.  Its this type of fibre which helps to delay gastric emptying, increasing elimination of cholesterol- whilst improving intestinal absorption of nutrients.

Maybe it’s the antioxidant and cardiovascular protective factors of flaxseed that encourage you to keep eating it.  Then again, some life loving people include flaxseed into their regular diet for its cancer protective Lignans.  Flaxseeds have more Lignans than any other food on the planet- and it’s those Lignans, which aid  in the management of peri-menopausal and post-menopausal symptoms.

Depending on where you look, you may get some jaded opinions, so let’s just cut straight through the abysmal marketing mine-field to the Nutritional content of flaxseed.

Both Brown and Gold have identical fibre and protein content and are high in most of the B vitamins, magnesium and manganese.  The slight variable- ever so slight variable, is its fat content.

Golden Flaxseeds and Brown flaxseeds are very closely matched in oil content, however Golden seed contains 43 per cent dry moisture oil.   This compared with the 44 per cent oil of Brown flax seed- a mere 1% difference!

Brown seed surpasses the Gold seed in the omega-3 fatty acid, alpha-linolenic oil component.

Brown flax seed contains almost 59 per cent omega-3 fatty acid compared to about 51 per cent in the Golden.

Based purely on these very similar oil profiles, brown would appear the superior variety- but those differences are exceptionally marginal and should not sway your choice of purchase.  As in every aspect of life- variety is the spice, so alternating your different flavonoids (flaxseeds) is the way to go!

Oh- and the inspiration for this info was the recipe i made- YUMO!  See Below.

Garlic Parmesan and Flaxseed Crackers

Ingredients

• 1 cup flax seed meal
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water

Method

• Heat oven to 400 F.
• Mix all ingredients together
• Spoon onto sheet pan which is covered with greased parchment / baking paper.
• Cover the mixture with a piece of parchment or waxed paper. Even out the mixture to about 1/8 inch. I find a straight edge, like a ruler, works well, though you can use a rolling pin or wine bottle too. The important thing is not to let it be too thin around the edges or that part will overcook before the centre firms up. So after you spread it out, remove the paper and go around the edges with your finger and push the thin part inwards to even it up.
• Bake until the centre is no longer soft, about 15-18 minutes. If it starts to get more than a little brown around the edges, remove from oven. Let cool completely – it will continue to crisp up.
• Break into pieces.

Kylie McCarthy -Nutritionist
For appointments with Kylie please phone 02 4655 4666 or email kyliem@cabothealth.com.au

www.naturallyenergized.com.au