How to Lose Weight With Flax Seeds

Flax is an annual plant about 4 feet in height and harvested for its seeds, which have numerous health benefits and are used in recipes or as supplements. Not only do flax seeds contain fiber and omega-3 essential fatty acids, but they help diminish food cravings, making them a good tool for losing weight. Consuming flax seed products is not enough to make you lose weight, but you can combine them with other methods for some potentially dramatic results.

Things You'll Need

• Coffee grinder

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Instructions

• 1

  Buy organic, brown or golden flax seeds in whole form at a health food store, as they keep for a year and are fairly inexpensive. Don't buy flax powder; the oil content begins to oxidize as soon as you open the bottle, and it will quickly turn rancid. Use a coffee grinder to grind the seeds as you can't digest them whole. Eat them within 15 minutes of grinding.

• 2

  Add flax seeds or flaxseed oil to healthy recipes, as the seeds should be considered a supplement and not a replacement for healthy eating. Sprinkle them on salads or cooked vegetables to give the foods an added health benefit, or mix them into a marinade for baked fish. Consume two tbsp. of flax seeds per 100 pounds of body weight per day. Reduce your consumption of bad fats -- trans fats in foods like french fries and saturated fats like those found in dairy and meats -- and replace them in your diet with the good monounsaturated fats found in flax seeds. The seeds contain plenty of omega-3 fatty acids, which help to lower overall cholesterol.

• 3

  Spread your calories into four to six meals per day to keep up your metabolism. Try mixing ground flax seeds into a low-carb powdered sports drink as one or two of your meals, which you can consume immediately after a workout, for example.

• 4

  Drink eight glasses of water per day. Consuming a lot of flax seeds will cause you to become constipated if you don't drink enough water. Water also helps you digest your food and helps calm hunger pangs.