Friday, August 9, 2013

Health Tips: Flaxseed

You can quickly and easily better your health by adding flaxseed to your daily diet. Flaxseed is one of the richest sources of alpha-linoleic acid, a plant-based essential omega-3 fatty acid that greatly reduces the risk of illness and disease. In addition, flaxseed contains large amounts of soluble and insoluble fiber, which further promote good health. Due to it's unique nutritional composition flaxseed has been proven beneficial in the prevention and management of a number of chronic diseases.
Although flaxseed is high in fat, it greatly promotes weight management. Consuming flaxseed helps to block the digestion and absorption of fat in your stomach and intestines favoring the elimination of unabsorbed fat in bowel movements. In addition, due to its exceptionally high concentrations of fiber and fat, flaxseed can significantly suppress your appetite, boost feelings of fullness, and reduce your total calorie intake. Collectively, these effects help to fight unhealthy weight gain and obesity.
flx
Flaxseed is an incredibly rich source of plant-based compounds called lignans. Lignans are estrogen-like chemicals (phytoestrogens) that have been shown to exert beneficial hormonal effects. Due this concentration of lignans, regular consumption of flaxseed can offer protection against breast, prostate, colon, and even skin cancer.

It is not completely understood whether or not flaxseed oil and other flaxseed-derived products offer the same health benefits as dietary flaxseed. Ground flaxseed is definitely best as it's easily digestible and great for giving foods unique flavor and texture. For good health and disease prevention, sprinkle ground flaxseed on your whole grain cereals and salads or even add it to smoothies or shakes to boost the nutritional value.
Regular consumption of flaxseed can reduce high cholesterol by altering total cholesterol and LDL ("bad") cholesterol. High cholesterol, characterized by elevated LDL cholesterol, is one of the major risk factors leading to heart disease. This is primarily because a buildup of this type of cholesterol leads to plaque formations in the arteries that cause heart attacks and strokes. The cholesterol lowering benefits of flaxseed are most pronounced if you already have high cholesterol.
Flaxseed beneficially influences insulin regulation. Insulin is the hormone responsible for lowering blood glucose (sugar). When insulin is properly regulated, the body is able to convert blood sugar to energy more efficiently. This in turn stabilizes blood sugar levels, which is essential in the prevention and management of diabetes mellitus.
Flax seed helps women’s health in a variety of ways like it helps them in conceiving a baby, promotes normal ovulation and also helps in maintaining hormonal imbalance. This advantage of controlling hormonal imbalance helps women in later life too when they undergo menopause. Menopause has symptoms such as irritability, hot flashes, mood swings and so on. Flax seeds can reduce these and help during menopause.
As mentioned earlier, flaxseed contains soluble and insoluble fibers. It promotes regular bowel movement because the fiber in it absorbs water resulting in softening of the stool. That said, it’s easier for your stool to pass through the colon.
flx1
But, because of the high content of fiber in flaxseed, you must make sure that you drink eight glasses of water each day. If you don’t take enough liquids, fiber can actually result in constipation.
Therefore, to effectively fight constipation with flaxseed, you must also engage in regular exercise, eat fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of water. You must add at least two flaxseeds to your daily regimen to have a healthy colon.
Flaxseed oil: There are two ways that using flaxseed oil can give you strong and shiny hair and both of them rely on the extremely high omega-3 alpha linolenic acid content of flax seeds.
The first and most important is getting more omega-3 fatty acids in your diet. Many people report greatly improved hair and better health in general with a daily dosage of flax oil taken in a certain way.
The second is to use flaxseed oil directly on your hair as a mask or conditioner to immediately improve it’s strength and shine.
Disclaimer
The sole purpose of these blogs is to provide information about the tradition of ayurveda. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, prevention or cure of any disease. If you have any serious, acute or chronic health concern, please consult a trained doctor/health professional who can fully assess your needs and address them effectively. If you are seeking the medical advice of a trained Ayurvedic expert, call us or e mail.

Dr Unnati Chavda














No comments:

Post a Comment