The ch-ch-ch-CHIA connection...

Alright, it’s time to go into it… CHIA… my new favourite toy…many of you have been noticing that in recent weeks, this magical little seed has been popping up regularly in my daily intake… I’ve been experimenting and can say without hesitation that this is my favourite new raw FOOD of the moment…yes, for all you North American readers who are reading this and reminiscing about ‘chia pets’, apparently they are indeed the same thing…sorry ;) All those little bundles of nutrition you all could have been ingesting for years were instead being used ornamentally…tee-hee ;)
Chia is an INCREDIBLE power-house food…nutritionally ‘off-the-charts’ in so many regards – take a look at this for example:

The seeds have 2 times the protein of any other seed or grain,
5 times the calcium of milk, plus boron which is trace mineral that helps transfer calcium into your bones,
2 times the amount of potassium as bananas,
3 times the reported antioxidant strength of blueberries
3 times more iron than spinach
copious amounts of omega 3 and omega 6 which are essential fatty acids...

Chia seed was used by the Mayan and Aztec cultures as mega-energy food, especially for their running messengers…it gives an incredibly ‘sustaining’ shot of energy and I have noticed for myself that it seems to have ‘running energy’ on it as a food – I have been experimenting these last weeks and would see that if I ate chia, then went running later that day, my endurance and ability to run further was enormous…pretty impressive stuff…

on August the 5th I had:

1.5 litres water
300ml orange/grapefruit juice
1 litre green juice with greener grasses
bowl of chia and flax seeds soaked in apple juice with banana, pumpkin seeds, mushed cacao balls, maca
1 litre water
1 apple with 1 small avo and a handful of dulse
fresh figs with pieces of jack fruit
slice of watermelon
1 litre water

Besides the amazing nutritional aspect of chia, it also TASTES great, looks cute (like tiny dinosaur eggs) and is ready really quickly. You soak the seeds in water, as you would flax, before eating and they very radiply absorb a huge amount of water. They're marketed as a 'dieter's dream food', as they bulk out meals and fill you up, yet burn off very easily and steadily ;). They are said to take in up to 9 times their volume in water, in less than 10 minutes…they then work like an incredible digestive broom, sweeping through your intestinal tract, helping to dislodge and shimmy out any old lurking nonsense…
I was first introduced to chia by a lovely friend in Connecticut. She had soaked some in almond milk and made it into a kind of ‘raw rice pudding’ – she was falling in love with chia and shared it with me – it wasn’t until recently though that I got hold of a bag of it myself and really got stuck in ;) Now I’m eating it almost every other day it seems…I love it…it’s SO good just soaked in water, by itself, or I like soaking it in freshly squeezed apple juice too, then stirring in some lucuma powder and other yummies…another chia property I appreciate is that it reduces the impact of sugars on the system if eaten together – so I can combine it with super-sweet tastes like apple juice and not get super-spiked – yeeeee-HAH ;)
So, now’s your chance to move from playing with your food to eating it – you can read more about chia and order some for yourself HERE – at $8 a pound, it’s very reasonably priced and will bulk up to many times that size – great for quick, easy, yummy food for kids or quick snacks ;)

on August the 6th I had:

1.5 litres water
1 litre green juice with lemon
small piece of orange melon
big bountiful amazing greens salad – lettuce, spinach, alfalfa/broccoli/fenugreek sprouts, lamb’s lettuce, rocket (arugula), lemon juice, dulse, avocado, dulse flakes, tomatoes with home-made flax crackers
500ml water
½ a large papaya
½ box of cherries
samples of totalrawfood.com chocolate bars – yummm ;)
1 litre water

THANKS to all of you who rocked up and sent in questions for the FREE Teleconference I held last night with Chef Dan Hoyt of Quintessence in New York…if you missed the call and would love to hear the playback, it is available for FREE HERE...enjoy ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx