How To Prepare Chia Seeds And Their 7 Proven Health Benefits

If you have been wondering why in countries like Australia, America and the European countries chia seeds have exploded in popularity, let me fill you in.

Chia seeds are among the healthiest foods on the planet. They are loaded with nutrients that can have important benefits for your body and brain. 

And what's more, Chia seeds are incredibly easy to incorporate into your diet.
The seeds themselves do not have any readily sensable taste, so you can add them to pretty much anything.

They also don’t need to be ground, which makes them much easier to prepare. They can be eaten raw, soaked in juice, added to porridge and pudding, or added to baked goods. You can also sprinkle them on top of cereal, yogurt, vegetables or rice dishes.

Because of their ability to absorb both water and fat, they can be used to thicken sauces and even used as egg substitutes in recipes. They can also be mixed with water and turned into a gel. Adding chia seeds to recipes will dramatically boost the nutritional value.

Here are 11 health benefits of chia seeds that are supported by human studies:

1. Chia Seeds Deliver a Massive Amount of Nutrients With Very Few Calories

Despite their ancient history as a dietary staple, only recently did chia seeds become recognized as a modern day superfood.

A 1 ounce (28 grams) serving of chia seeds contains:

• ·        Fiber: 11 grams.
• ·        Protein: 4 grams.
• ·        Fat: 9 grams (5 of which are Omega-3s).
• ·        Calcium: 18% of the RDA.
• ·        Manganese: 30% of the RDA.
• ·        Magnesium: 30% of the RDA.
• ·        Phosphorus: 27% of the RDA.

They also contain a decent amount of Zinc, Vitamin B3 (Niacin), Potassium, Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) and Vitamin B2.

This is particularly impressive when you consider that this is just a single ounce, which supplies only 137 calories and one gram of digestible carbohydrate!

Just so that we’re all on the same page, 1 ounce equals 28 grams, or about 2 tablespoons. Interestingly… if you subtract the fiber, which may not end up as usable calories for the body, chia seeds only contain 101 calories per ounce.

To top things off, chia seeds are a “whole grain” food, are usually grown organically, are non-GMO and naturally free of gluten.

2. Chia Seeds Are Loaded With Antioxidants

Antioxidants fight the production of free radicals in our bodies, which can damage molecules in cells and contribute to ageing and diseases like cancer. 

Chia seeds have antioxidants that protect the sensitive fats in the seeds from going rancid. When we eat the seeds, we ingest these antioxidants delivering immense health benefits to our bodies. There are some claims online about chia seeds having more antioxidants than blueberries, but I was unable find a study to verify this claim.

3. Almost All The Carbohydrates in Them Are Fibre

Looking at the nutrition profile of chia seeds, you see that an ounce has 12 grams of “carbohydrate.” However, 11 of those grams are fibber, which isn’t digested by the body.

Fibre doesn’t raise blood sugar, doesn’t require insulin to be disposed of and therefore shouldn’t count as a carb. The true carb content is only 1 gram per ounce, which is very low. This makes chia a low-carb friendly food.

Because of all the fiber, chia seeds can absorb up to 10-12 times their weight in water, becoming gel-like and expanding in your stomach. Theoretically, this should increase fullness, slow absorption of your food and help you automatically eat fewer calories.

What this means is that if you are struggling with diabetes or you want to lose weight, then chia seeds should definitely make part of your diets.

4. Chia Seeds Are High in Quality Protein

Chia seeds contain a decent amount of protein. By weight, they are about 14% protein, which is very high compared to most plants.

They also contain a good balance of essential amino acids, so our bodies should be able to make use of the protein in them. Protein has all sorts of benefits for health. It is also the most weight loss friendly nutrient in the diet, by far.

A high protein intake reduces appetite and has been shown to reduce obsessive thoughts about food by 60% and the desire for night time snacking by 50%.

Chia seeds really are an excellent protein source, especially for people who eat little or no animal products.

5. Chia Seeds Are High in Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Like flax seeds, chia seeds are very high in Omega-3 fatty acids. In fact, chia seeds contain more Omega-3s than salmon, the fish.

Currently, chia seeds are the richest know plant source of omega-3 fatty acids.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that the Omega-3s in them are mostly ALA (Alpha Linolenic Acid), which makes them a little inferior to animal Omega-3s.

6. Chia Seeds May Improve Certain Blood Markers, Which Should Lower The Risk of Heart Disease and Type 2 Diabetes

Given that chia seeds are high in fibre, protein and Omega-3s, they should be able to improve metabolic health. This has been tested in several studies, but the results have been inconclusive.

In two studies, a diet with chia seeds, soy protein, oats and nopal, has been shown to lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, increase HDL cholesterol and reduce inflammation.

The most successful application of chia seeds to date was in a study on type 2 diabetic patients. In this study, 20 diabetic patients received either 37 grams of chia seeds, or 37 grams of wheat bran, for 12 weeks.

When they got the chia seeds, they saw improvements in several important health markers. Blood pressure went down by 3-6 mm/Hg and an inflammatory marker called hs-CRP went down by 40%. A risk factor called vWF also decreased by 21%. There was also a small drop in blood sugar, but it wasn’t statistically significant.

7. They Are High in Many Important Bone Nutrients

Chia seeds are high in several nutrients that are important for bone health. This includes calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and protein. The calcium content is particularly impressive… 18% of the RDA in a single ounce.

Gram for gram, this is higher than most dairy products. Chia seeds may therefore be considered an excellent source of calcium for people who don’t eat dairy.

Read also:
- Chia Seeds Farming in Kenya: How Profitable Is It, Complete Guide on Growing It

- Just 3 Months From Planting The Tiny Chia Seeds Have Brought Us Giant Cheer

- Chia Seeds Farming in Kenya: New HerbRich In Oil Has Great Income Potential

As chia seeds become popular in Kenya, its cultivation becomes lucrative. This presents a great business opportunity. You can take advantage of this opportunity now while the demand is high. 

We have have compiled this comprehensive chia seeds farming guide for Kenya with step by step information from planting through to harvesting and marketing. 

It also contains budget estimates to help you in proper planning. It is now available on PDF so you can even read it from your phone while at the farm. You can request for your copy through our Resources Page. 

Habiba Beats Dry Weather In Wajir To Earn Fortunes From Lemon Farming

In a vast, dry region where water is scarce and drought is the norm, 35-year-old Habiba Mohammed and a mother of 7 has adopted lemon farming under irrigation, totally transforming her life.

Now she not only supplies fresh fruits to Wajir town and its environs, she is also an employer and a model farmer in the village of Bangal.

Her farm is used as a case study in bid to encourage area residents to diversify since Wajir is one of the regions in Kenya that has been badly affected by extreme weather.

While many pastoralists have lost their livestock to drought over the years, Habiba is not regretting the decision she made eight years ago.

Habiba’s passion for farming started at a young age. “Farming is my passion, and I got it from my father. When I came here, there were no farms,” she says.

Habiba: Successful farmer in Wajir

Now she is reaping big ever since her ‘discovery’ that irrigation agriculture is the way to go in the region.

She has dedicated two and half acres of her 20-acre farm to crop husbandry and from the figures, it is clear she is on to something special.

In addition to her lemon trees, Habiba currently has 300 pawpaw trees (occupying about a ¼ acre) and watermelons. After every three months, she is assured of at least Sh300,000 from sale of lemons alone, and Sh400,000 from pawpaws every year.

She has also set up a green house where she plants tomatoes and other perishables for local consumption and time after time plants watermelons.

“I supply the pawpaw lemons and it is not enough, I cannot satisfy the local market,” she says.

The huge profits did not start coming until she improved her farming methods. Through the assistance of a non-governmental organisation, Mercy Corps, which saw her hard work and enthusiasm in farming, she was given a solar powered pump which she uses to pump water from one of her three wells.

TACKLING POVERTY AND FOOD INSECURITY

To conserve water, she uses drip irrigation on some sections of her farm, despite the associated cost. She has five overhead tanks which distribute water.

“The solar pump has increased my yields. Before I could get between Sh20,000 and Sh50,000 per harvest,” she says.
She has subdivided her land to optimally utilise it and because it is expansive she leaves some of the sections fallow.

In addition, Ms Mohammed uses mulch and compost manure with the aim of not only conserving water, but also to maintain soil fertility.

But undertaking is not without challenges, “Because of the salinity of the water, the drips and pipes have to be changed regularly. This is in addition to the fact that water levels sometimes go down because of drought,” she says.

A pipe long enough to supply water in the whole farm costs Sh15,000 while a drip kit for a three-quarter farm is Sh34,000.

Habiba used Sh60,000 to sink each well. She still uses diesel to pumps in two wells but hopes to install other solar pumps.

Previously, pastoralists would graze livestock in her farm and would destroy her crops since land in that region is communal and was not fenced, despite having bought it at Sh1 million in 2012.

This is because she also cultivates fodder for her eight cattle and four Toggenburg goats which provide milk for her and her family. The conflict was, however, solved amicably five years ago after elders intervened.

The entrepreneur has four farmhands of whom one is on a permanent basis.

And with the need to monitor weather and market, Ms Mohammed uses mobile phone applications to know commodity prices, market forces as well as get weather updates.

“Irrigation-farming is a sure bet to tackling poverty and lack of food,” she says.

To become a successful farmer like Habiba, information is the most important asset. If you need more information on different agribusiness projects that you can undertake in Kenya, our Resources Page displays several farming guides that you can request for in form of pdf. 

Pawpaws Make You Money While Asking For Very Little Input From You

The more I travel and visit farms in different parts of our beautiful country, the more I fall in love with pawpaw farming in Kenya. I specifically love the small red-flesh Solo Sunrise variety growing in the hot areas of ukambani and parts of Embu and Meru. I recently tasted some fruits from Vihiga in Western Kenya and I was thrilled! The climate and soils there are also perfect for a pawpaw farming business and the locals are taking up the opportunity.

Now talking about a business of growing pawpaw makes the deal even sweeter. Despite all the health benefits and the sweetness that these fruits offer, they are some of the easiest crops to cultivate commercially.

Mountain pawpaw farming in Kenya

In February this year (2018), I visited a pawpaw farm in Marigat, Baringo County. Yes, that’s right; Baringo County. This place is one of the most hostile parts of Kenya in terms of climate. It was my first time to experience real heat waves with temperatures rising to about 40°C.

You would expect nothing meaningful to come from such a place. I was surprised to find a thriving pawpaw plantation right at the heart of this place. The 2-acre Solo Sunrise pawpaw farm had all the trees still fruiting.

“Production has really gone down since we last had rains in October last year. We are currently getting just about 250kg from each acre in a week.” Said Robert. I later learned that he was selling a kg of the fruits at Ksh.80 due to the low supply.

I noted that the trees are not irrigated, and they had not been weeded for the longest time save for the slashing of the grasses. I wondered how they survived the dry spell and still produced that much.

Later in March, we were called to Matuu to supply seedlings. It is here that I found another pawpaw farm right at the middle of an arid area but still producing well.

Philip, the manager of the farm told us that they were not tending to the pawpaw trees at all since they were old and the owner of the farm was planning develop a 2-acre commercial farm.

“So you are not harvesting any fruits from these old trees?” I asked Philip.

“We are harvesting. Every tree gives us about 2 fruits every two weeks. We supply a small market comprised of friends of my boss.” He told me.

Since then I have visited several other successful pawpaw farms in Kenya especially in Meru and Baringo. A few farmers have the crop at a commercial scale but the much they do is to weed twice a year and water about once a week. Those who do this can tell you that an acre of solo sunrise pawpaw can yield up to 40 tons in a year.

An acre of solo sunrise pawpaw can produce 40 tons per year

Pawpaw farming is best done in places with warm or hot climate. In such places, farmers who have access to irrigation water make a kill since the price of pawpaw in Kenya is never less than Ksh.30 per kg.

Pawpaws grow very fast and in the hot areas, you get your first fruits in 6 months from planting the seed. This is the case I found in Marigat, Baringo County and Matiliku in Makueni County.

In these dry places, the pawpaws are also not frequently attacked by pests and diseases. In fact, several of the farmer I visited were growing pawpaws purely organically, even using animal manure as the only fertiliser.

The maintenance cost of a pawpaw orchard can be as low as Ksh.10,000 for an acre in a year since only labour during weeding and application of the manure is needed. This one acre then produces about 20 tons of fruits in a year – that is without irrigation. Check out the current market price of a kg of pawpaw in your local supermarkets or open air market and just find out how much you are able to make from one acre of pawpaw with this minimum input.

Pawpaw farming guide for kenya
(PDF)

Now you know what you can do to invest that extra cash you have. Also ensure that you get this papaya farming guide that will guide you right from planting of the seeds through the growth period to harvesting and marketing. 

Request for your copy through the Farmer's Resources Page.