Tag: Omega-3s

Homemade Granola

The house smells wonderful this morning as I’ve made a batch of homemade granola. It’s delicious and also good to know all the ingredients are whole foods from sources I’ve scrutinized myself.

Including the chia and flax seeds is a way to add Omega-3s into my diet. Using coconut oil helps reduce my Omega-6 load because even organic granola includes seed oils.

Im using a recipe titled “Maple and Chia Seed Granola” by Maria Provenzano, changed a bit based on what we had in the cupboard:

  • 4 cups old fashioned oats
  • ½ cup slivered almonds
  • ¾ cup pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tablespoons chia seeds
  • 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ cup coconut oil, measured then melted
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/2 cup dried berries and/or raisins
  • 1/4 cup dried apricots, diced into small chunks

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.


In a large bowl, combine the oats, slivered almonds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, cinnamon, and salt until well mixed.


Melt the coconut oil in a small pan over low/medium heat until melted. Combine the coconut oil and maple syrup together, and mix in the vanilla.


Pour the oil/syrup mixture over the oat mixture, and use a spatula to mix it together so that everything is evenly coated.


Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (not wax paper, not aluminum foil), and evenly distribute the granola between the two sheets.


Keep the granola somewhat compact, because that prevents it from getting too crunchy; it allows the center to stay chewy, and the outside pieces to get a bit more crunchy.


Bake at 325 degrees for 12-14 minutes, or until starting to become slightly golden around the edges. Don’t bake longer than 14 minutes.


Allow the granola to cool for at least 10-15 minutes after baking. If you skip this step, then the granola won’t come together.


After it has cooled, add in all the extras like coconut flakes and dried fruit.


Put it in a good jar with a tight-fitting lid.

Here’s the original recipe: https://www.fromscratchwithmaria.com/maple-chia-seed-granola/

Yum! It’s half gone already.

Budwig

Came across this recipe, which promises cancer-fighting properties. It was developed by Johanna Budwig, a German biochemist and pharmacist who developed a lacto-vegetarian cancer prevention diet in the 1950s.

Not gonna lie, flaxseed oil tastes pretty yucky. It literally tastes like you are eating oil paint. BUT it contains a lot of omega 3 fatty acids, which most of us are not getting enough of.

Mixing with cottage cheese somehow helps aid in the digestion of the flaxseed oil. It has a symbiotic effect.

She passed away in 2003, a few years before the discovery of resolvins and protectins:

Only recently has it been established that inflammation resolution is an active process with a distinct set of chemical mediators. Several clinical and epidemiological studies have identified beneficial effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) for a variety of inflammatory diseases, yet without mechanistic explanations for these beneficial effects. Resolvins and protectins are recently identified molecules that are generated from Omega-3 PUFA precursors and can orchestrate the timely resolution of inflammation in model systems.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2785519/

I do see this in relation to the seed oil info I posted earlier today. If modern man is living in an omega 3/ omega 6 imbalance, and we don’t know about it or understand the damage it is doing to us…. well, that’s a bad thing.

It’s interesting that Dr. Budwig’s daily regimen begins with sauerkraut juice…  the kombucha of 1800s Germany.

Then she blends together flax seed oil (very high in omega 3s) with a dairy product to help it be absorbed easily.

I think the science will catch up to her and what she was able to do… reportedly nurse cancer patients back to health with nutritional strategies.

The Dangers of Seed Oils

I have wanted to write about this for a while but I’m a bit out of my depth, and so I’ve put it off… but it is critically important and the little that I know has really changed my eating habits.

I recently came across this Instagram post by Dr. Mark Hyman, which sums it up nicely.