So one of the pieces of holistic health advice out there is that flax seed lowers cholesterol. The Mayo Clinic says the studies are inconclusive, but I thought I’d at least give it a try.
I went to my local treehugger grocery store and found a bag of ground-up flax seeds. The recommended daily amount is two tablespoons. The literature suggests sprinkling it on your oatmeal, but I can’t see eating oatmeal every day. I love my Carnation Instant Breakfast too much. So I’ve decided just to eat the flaxseed meal straight. I scoop out a big spoonful, start chomping on it, and drink something real quick. The flavor is actually not too bad. It’s kind of nutty. But a whole tablespoon in your mouth at one time is a little much. It’s like sawdust. Oily sawdust. As it turns out, flax seeds are where linseed oil comes from. I always thought of linseed oil as something you rub on your wood furniture, not something you eat.
On the plus side, two tablespoons of fiber and oil are quite filling. I am not as tempted to snack before lunch anymore. So here’s mud sawdust in your eye!
Just don’t go the way of the treehuggers…Brent would disown you, and you’re already on shaky ground with Mom and Dad, being a Liberterian and all…
Lower cholesterol simply isn’t worth it.
Oh, and I forgot to ask…
Aren’t you worried about what this level of fiber might do to your bowels?
Haha! The Mayo Clinic does say that flax seeds work as a laxative. All that fiber and oil? I haven’t had any problems so far…
That is HILARIOUS!!! The other day Lloyd wanted to eat cookies for dinner and I told him he should just shovel sugar and flour straight into his mouth. Then I told him I’d give him a dollar if he really ate a spoonful of flour. You’re actually doing it!
So, does Brad get a dollar?
It’s in the ukulele!
I wonder if you could freeze your flaxseed in a liquid of your choice in ice cube trays, adding a nice crunch to your otherwise disgusting health food ???
And that huge heaping tablespoon is just to show us, right? That’s not how much you take as one tablespoon, right?
That’s about the size of my spoonfuls. Table top silverware is always a little on the small side, isn’t it? I thought in order to get a proper tablespoon’s worth of stuff, you had to heap it.
No, it should be pretty much the same. Test your regular tablespoon with a measuring one (do you have one?) And if it is off, it wouldn’t be THAT much. You are overdosing! I wonder what weird side effects this will cause.
(If you have any extra, bring me in a teeny tiny taste, being a 2 pill medicator, I’d like to try it, but 1st I need to know if I can stomach it.)
Forget the stuff on the spoon. I like your jewelry.
Why, thank you. It’s one of the silver rings from my collection.
Ok now…the 3 oz. of pistachios each day I’ve been cracking and downing for months now seem a MUCH more palatable way to lower the LDL than what I’m lookin’ at here. (My mother’s mother used to live with us when I was a young doe and made me eat spoonfuls of the whole flaxseed whenever I was sick to my stomach, I think…or was that what the chamomille tea was for? I have jumbled herbal curememories now…oh, rats!)
And incidentally, putting flaxseed on your oatmeal? Even if you DID eat oatmeal every day, you’d likely not need the flaxseed then, woodja’?