HealthiFood: HealthiFood Cooking Tip: Flax Seed

Monday, April 4, 2011

HealthiFood Cooking Tip: Flax Seed

Flax seeds are a great source of omega-3 fatty acid, fiber, and protein. For my recipes, you will want to by ground flax seed meal, which looks like a golden, grainy, moist flour. If you're interested, the body can't digest whole flax seeds, and some studies say that it helps reduce cholesterol in women.

Why do I use ground flax seed meal so much? It is an awesome substitute for oil, butter, shortening, etc. Flax seed contains some fat, but replacing other fats with it reduces the overall fat content while adding a lot of fiber and protein. Your flax seed meal package my try to tell you a different ratio, but I have found that a 1:1 substitution of flax seed meal for other fats generally works pretty well. The measurements in my recipes are ones that I actually use and that my family actually eats!

I know purchasing a new ingredient makes me a little skeptical, but once I started using ground flax seed meal I have never gone back! I buy at 3 lb bag at Costco that lasts me about six months while the shelf life is over 18 months.

Does it change the taste of your food? Uncooked flax seed has kind of a funny taste that you'll notice in your doughs and batters a little, but it blends in pretty well when cooks and adds a mild, nutty taste and a slightly sticky texture.

I hope this answers your questions about flax seed meal and encourages you to give it a try so you can participate in the fat-reducing and fiber-adding benefits of my heathified recipes!

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The HealthiFood Program: One to Four

1. Lower Fat
Most recipes can be adapted to cut the fat in half through substitution (of things like ground flax seed meal, applesauce, etc.) or elimination. Another easy way to lower fat is to cook with lower fat options, like low or nonfat milk products. Usually you can't tell the difference when it's cooked in, and you can save A LOT of calories and fat grams.

2. Better Fat Choices
We all know that nonfat isn't usually that good. Instead of eliminating all the fat and richness from recipes, the HealthiFood Program aims to replaces bad fats with better fats. HealthiFood uses olive oil, canola oil, ground flax seed meal, and naturally-occurring fats as much as possible to reduce hydrogenated and saturated fat content as much as possible.

3. High Fiber and Protein
Fiber is essential to good health, especially in the long run. The HealthiFood Program increases whole grains and fiber content by using whole wheat flour, oat flour, yellow corn meal, and ground flax seed meal. These substitutions also add protein.

4. More Vegetables
Using vegetable puree addition techniques of the Sneaky Chef and Jessica Seinfeld, the HealthiFood Program enriches recipes with vitamins and more fiber while lowering the calorie content per serving.

No Gimmicks

Sometimes the Nutrition Facts I provide may surprise you. This is because I usually post how much of a dish I actually eat. If you wanted tone-downed, unrealistic serving sizes to make all recipes look diet, this isn't the place. However, usually the serving size given will be for your whole meal, such as 1/9th of a 9x9 lasagna or 1/4th of a round of Rosemary bread. If you aren't in a habit of understanding serving sizes, start here and now, and definitely apply it to the packaged foods you eat.