Superfood Spotlight:Chia Seeds

Website recommendation http://thechalkboardmag.com is a wealth of info. They wrote up a article on one of my favorite Superfoods Chia Seeds. Enjoy

"Hello, my name is: chia seeds
So, tell us about yourself: You may have first encountered these tiny seeds in the 90′s as part of a novel trend in home decorating (Chia Pet, anyone?), but we assure you that chia seeds are no joke! This deceivingly small seed packs a major punch of nutrition and makes a versatile addition to both food and drinks.  Once the fuel behind the mythic athletic endurance of Aztec warriors, chia seeds have once again become a popular fuel of choice on the health scene.

What do you bring to the plate? One of chia seeds’ most unique qualities is their ability to turn into an almost solid gel form when soaked in water. Although a little foreign-looking at first, most people learn to embrace the seed’s gel-forming qualities for all of it’s health benefits! Chia gel slows the digestion of carbs – a true benefit for both diabetics and athletes looking for sustained energy. With it’s ability to slurp up this much water, chia seeds also help the body to maintain hydrated state for hours on end. As if that wasn’t enough these tiny seeds are also the highest plant source of Omega 3s, rich in calcium and an easily digested protein source!
Let’s Get Together: Now that you know just how amazing chia seeds are, your probably ready to pour them right down the gullet. But we have a few better suggestions on how to get them into your system. One, this amazing chia pudding video that provides a quick and easy to make recipe. And two, the basic recipe for chia gel that can be easily added to smoothies and baked goods!
Here’s an awesome recipe for what we’re calling Chia gel…it may not sound appetizing but those fruit juices infused with Chia seeds are flying off the shelves at markets all over the place—now you can make your own and for waaay less moolah!

Chia Gel 

Ingredients
1 to 2 Tablespoons of chia seeds
1 cup of  water (or fruit juice – experiment!)
Method
In a bowl, add seeds to liquid and whisk with fork.
Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, then whisk the gel again to make sure the seeds
don’t clump together in the bottom of your bowl.  Leave to stand for 15 minutes
as the seeds absorb the liquid.  This mixture can be refrigerated overnight or used immediately. Play with the seed to water ratio to get the consistency you prefer. "

40 Ways to use Chia Seeds

How to use chia seeds.
Wondering how to use chia seeds?  Chia seeds are very easy to incorporate into your diet. Below is a list of ways I have used them in my recipes. I would love to hear of your unique ways of using chia seeds.
1. Mix 1 dessertspoon of chia seeds with a quarter cup of water to make an egg substitute for baking cakes and cookies.
2. Add chia seeds to apple juice to make “sago”.
3. Grind seeds and add to hot milk to make a “porridge”
 4. Mix seeds through yogurt.
5. Add seeds to soup to thicken.
6. Grind seeds and mix with flour, milk and eggs to make pancakes.
7. Add seeds to salad dressings.
8. Eat Chia seeds whole and raw as a snack.
9. Add whole seeds to diluted fruit juice to make  Chia Fresca.
10. Make Chia Pudding by adding whole seeds to milk, nut milk or soy milk.
11. Blend chia seeds into smoothies.
12. Make a “lassie” by blending chia seeds, yogurt and fruit juice.
13. Add chia seeds to beaten eggs, soak for 10 minutes and make an omelette.
14. Mix with worcestershire or bbq sauce and brush over barbequed meats.
 15. Add ground chia seeds to flour when making bread.
16.  Make chia pan bread by combining chia seeds, eggs, milk, flour and baking powder. Cook in a heavy based pan with a lid on.
17. Add whole chia seeds to a cake batter to make a heavy poppy seed like cake.
18. Add seeds to stews to thicken.
19. Throw some seeds into a stir fry.
20. Make a thin batter of ground chia seeds and milk and cook in a slow oven to make crackers.
21. Sprinkle seeds over a salad.
22. Pureed fruit, chia seeds and a little fruit juice is a good topping for ice cream.
23. Stir whole seeds through cooked lentils.
24. Soak seeds in beaten eggs and use this mix to make a frittata.
25. Cook brown rice in vegetable stock and stir chia seeds through when rice is cooked.
26. Top a cheesecake with chia seeds soaked in fruit juice to make a gel toppingl.
27. Add whole or ground seeds to cookie mixes.
28. Mix ground seeds with ground beef to make meatballs.
29. Cook brown rice in apple juice, add grated apple and stir whole chia seeds through the mixture for a tasty dessert.
30. Toasted ground chia seeds mixed with honey and cinnamon makes a wonderful base for cheesecake.
31. Add whole seeds to granola.
32. Mix white chia seeds that have been soaked in milk through mashed potatoes.
33. Sprout the seeds and use in salads.
34. Mix ground seeds with butter or peanut butter for a nutritious spread.
35. Cinnamon, ground chia and butter is great on hot scones.
36. Add a desert spoon of black seeds to a green jelly mix for “frogs egg jelly”.
37. Spread a mixture of honey, cinnamon, dried fruit and ground chia on to filo or puff pastry sheets, roll up and cook in a hot oven.
 38. Mix the seeds, whole or ground through Nutella.
39. Add ground seeds soaked in an egg to bind a hamburger mix.
40. Soak chia seeds in milk and mix through hot oatmeal.

-Voni Blue

Superfoods Spotlight:Papaya

Nutrients in
Papaya
1.00 each (304.00 grams)

Nutrient%Daily Value

vitamin C313.1%

vitamin A66.5%

folate28.8%

potassium22.3%

fiber21.8%

vitamin E11.1%

vitamin K9.8%

Calories (118)6%

chart provided by whfoods

www.whfoods.com provides us with a well written article on the benefits as follows.
"

Health Benefits

Papayas offer not only the luscious taste and sunlit color of the tropics, but are rich sources of antioxidant nutrients such as carotenes, vitamin C and flavonoids; the B vitamins, folate and pantothenic acid; and the minerals, potassium and magnesium; and fiber. Together, these nutrients promote the health of the cardiovascular system and also provide protection against colon cancer. In addition, papaya contains the digestive enzyme, papain, which is used like bromelain, a similar enzyme found in pineapple, to treat sports injuries, other causes of trauma, and allergies.

Protection Against Heart Disease

Papayas may be very helpful for the prevention of atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease. Papayas are an excellent source of vitamin C as well as a good source of vitamin E and vitamin A (through their concentration of pro-vitamin A carotenoid phytonutrients), three very powerful antioxidants.
These nutrients help prevent the oxidation of cholesterol. Only when cholesterol becomes oxidized is it able to stick to and build up in blood vessel walls, forming dangerous plaques that can eventually cause heart attacks or strokes. One way in which dietary vitamin E and vitamin C may exert this effect is through their suggested association with a compound called paraoxonase, an enzyme that inhibits LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol oxidation.
Papayas are also a good source of fiber, which has been shown to lower high cholesterol levels. The folic acid found in papayas is needed for the conversion of a substance called homocysteine into benign amino acids such as cysteine or methionine. If unconverted, homocysteine can directly damage blood vessel walls and, if levels get too high, is considered a significant risk factor for a heart attack or stroke.

Promotes Digestive Health

The nutrients in papaya have also been shown to be helpful in the prevention of colon cancer. Papaya's fiber is able to bind to cancer-causing toxins in the colon and keep them away from the healthy colon cells. In addition, papaya's folate, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and vitamin E have each been associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer.
These nutrients provide synergistic protection for colon cells from free radical damage to their DNA. Increasing your intake of these nutrients by enjoying papaya is an especially good idea for individuals at risk of colon cancer.

Anti-Inflammatory Effects

Papaya contains several unique protein-digesting enzymes including papain and chymopapain. These enzymes have been shown to help lower inflammation and to improve healing from burns. In addition, the antioxidant nutrients found in papaya, including vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene, are also very good at reducing inflammation. This may explain why people with diseases that are worsened by inflammation, such as asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis, find that the severity of their condition is reduced when they get more of these nutrients.

Immune Support

Vitamin C and vitamin A, which is made in the body from the beta-carotene in papaya, are both needed for the proper function of a healthy immune system. Papaya may therefore be a healthy fruit choice for preventing such illnesses as recurrent ear infections, colds and flu.

Protection against Macular Degeneration

Your mother may have told you carrots would keep your eyes bright as a child, but as an adult, it looks like fruit is even more important for keeping your sight. Data reported in a study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology indicates that eating 3 or more servings of fruit per day may lower your risk of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), the primary cause of vision loss in older adults, by 36%, compared to persons who consume less than 1.5 servings of fruit daily. In this study, which involved over 110,000 women and men, researchers evaluated the effect of study participants' consumption of fruits; vegetables; the antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E; and carotenoids on the development of early ARMD or neovascular ARMD, a more severe form of the illness associated with vision loss. While, surprisingly, intakes of vegetables, antioxidant vitamins and carotenoids were not strongly related to incidence of either form of ARMD, fruit intake was definitely protective against the severe form of this vision-destroying disease. Three servings of fruit may sound like a lot to eat each day, but papaya can help you reach this goal. Add slices of fresh papaya to your morning cereal, lunch time yogurt or green salads. Cut a papaya in half and fill with cottage cheese, crab, shrimp or tuna salad. For an elegant meal, place slices of fresh papaya over any broiled fish.

Protection against Rheumatoid Arthritis

While one study suggests that high doses of supplemental vitamin C makes osteoarthritis, a type of degenerative arthritis that occurs with aging, worse in laboratory animals, another indicates that vitamin C-rich foods, such as papaya, provide humans with protection against inflammatory polyarthritis, a form of rheumatoid arthritis involving two or more joints.
The findings, presented in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases were drawn from a study of more than 20,000 subjects and focused on subjects who developed inflammatory polyarthritis and similar subjects who remained arthritis-free during the follow-up period. Subjects who consumed the lowest amounts of vitamin C-rich foods were more than three times more likely to develop arthritis than those who consumed the highest amounts.

Promote Lung Health

If you or someone you love is a smoker, or if you are frequently exposed to secondhand smoke, then making vitamin A-rich foods, such as papaya, part of your healthy way of eating may save your life, suggests research conducted at Kansas State University.
While studying the relationship between vitamin A, lung inflammation, and emphysema, Richard Baybutt, associate professor of nutrition at Kansas State, made a surprising discovery: a common carcinogen in cigarette smoke, benzo(a)pyrene, induces vitamin A deficiency.
Baybutt's earlier research had shown that laboratory animals fed a vitamin A-deficient diet developed emphysema. His latest animal studies indicate that not only does the benzo(a)pyrene in cigarette smoke cause vitamin A deficiency, but that a diet rich in vitamin A can help counter this effect, thus greatly reducing emphysema.
Baybutt believes vitamin A's protective effects may help explain why some smokers do not develop emphysema. "There are a lot of people who live to be 90 years old and are smokers," he said. "Why? Probably because of their diet. The implications are that those who start smoking at an early age are more likely to become vitamin A deficient and develop complications associated with cancer and emphysema. And if they have a poor diet, forget it." If you or someone you love smokes, or if your work necessitates exposure to second hand smoke, protect yourself by making sure that at least one of the World's Healthiest Foods that are rich in vitamin A, such as papaya, is a daily part of your healthy way of eating.

Papaya and Green Tea Team Up to Prevent Prostate Cancer

Choosing to regularly eat lycopene-rich fruits, such as papaya, and drink green tea may greatly reduce a man's risk of developing prostate cancer, suggests research published the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Jian L, Lee AH, et al.)
In this case-control study involving 130 prostate cancer patients and 274 hospital controls, men drinking the most green tea were found to have an 86% reduced risk of prostate cancer compared, to those drinking the least.
A similar inverse association was found between the men's consumption of lycopene-rich fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, apricots, pink grapefruit, watermelon, papaya, and guava. Men who most frequently enjoyed these foods were 82% less likely to have prostate cancer compared to those consuming the least lycopene-rich foods.
Regular consumption of both green tea and foods rich in lycopene resulted in a synergistic protective effect, stronger than the protection afforded by either, the researchers also noted.
Practical Tips: Get in the habit of drinking green tea and eating lycopene-rich foods.

• Take a quart of iced green tea to work and sip throughout the day or take it to the gym to provide prostate protection while replenishing fluids after your workout.
• Pack a ziploc bag of apricots and almonds in your briefcase or gym bag for a handy snack.
• Start your breakfast with a half grapefruit or a glass of papaya or guava juice.
• Add papaya to any smoothie or fruit salad or use as a delectable garnish for fish.
• For a delicious summer lunch, cut a papaya in half, scoop out the seeds, sprinkle with lime juice and top with cottage cheese, a fresh mint leaf, and roasted almonds.
• Begin lunch or dinner with some spicy tomato juice on the rocks with a twist of lime. Snack on tomato crostini: in the oven, toast whole wheat bread till crusty, then top with tomato sauce, herbs, a little grated cheese, and reheat until the cheese melts.
• Top whole wheat pasta with olive oil, pine nuts, feta cheese and a rich tomato sauce for lunch or dinner."

Chocolate Superfood Smoothie

Chocolate Superfood Smoothie