Flaxseed has gotten itself the reputation of being a superfood. As a coffee lover, one can’t help but ask the question. Can I add flax seed to my coffee? Is that okay? Or does it do more harm than good? In this post, we answer all these questions and more.
Adding flaxseed to coffee is a great way to get the benefits of flaxseeds through your favorite coffee. Good coffee and grounds flaxseed will blend well together with the right tools. You can enrich the beverage (and its taste) by adding more ingredients to the mix. Some may not like the taste of the combo, but the benefits you get are very real.
Can You Put Flaxseed In Coffee?
Yes, you can add flaxseed to coffee. First, you need to grind the flaxseed nicely and then mix it with water to make a thick paste. Only there are no lumps, you can add them to coffee. The best way to combine these two is by making a smoothie.
We have discussed a couple of handy recipes that also give an explosion (the good kind) to your mouth.
A word of caution. Grinding the flax seed, they will go down and settle at the bottom of your cup.
Make sure to mix it well with coffee to make the drink a good one. You can also add extra ingredients like banana to make the drink richer in terms of calories and nutrients.
If you’re conscious about calorie input, then you might not want to waste your time mixing flaxseeds with coffee. With these two combines, you will have to make use of milk (dairy or non-dairy) which is not a great choice for people trying to cut calories.
Benefits Of Flaxseed In Coffee?
Flax seed is rich in nutrients. Here’s what a tablespoon of ground flaxseeds comes with (according to Nutrition Data).
- Calories – 37.4 (2% of DV)
- Carbohydrates – 2.0 g (1% of DV)
- Dietary fiber – 1.9 g (8% of DV)
- Saturated fat – 0.3 g (1% of DV)
- Monounsaturated fat – 0.5 g
- Polyunsaturated fat – 2 g
- Omega-3 fatty acids – 1597 mg
- Omega-6 fatty acids – 414 mg
- Cholesterol – 0 g
- Protein – 1.3 g (3% of DV)
- Calcium – 17.9 mg (2% of DV)
- Iron – 0.4 mg (2% of DV)
- Magnesium – 27.4 mg (7% of DV)
- Phosphorus – 44.9 mg (4% of DV)
- Mangenese – 0.2 mg (9% of DV)
and more.
DV – Daily Value. This is the value for adults and children who are 4 and above, and based on a 2000 calories reference diet.
The main hero of this list is the Omega 3 fatty acid. One can go on to say that flaxseeds got superfood status because of these fatty acids.
Let’s take a look at some of the health benefits you get when mixing flaxseed and coffee.
Good For Your Heart
Flaxseeds can prevent plaque formation in the arteries. Plaque formation in your armpit arteries is one of the main reasons for heart diseases and strokes.
The Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) present in flaxseed is the main reason for cholesterol not forming on arteries. There are several studies like this that have also associated ALA with the decrease in the risk of stroke.
Adding flaxseed to your coffee and making this new combination a regular habit can prevent the formation of plaque in your arteries.
Fights Cancer
Flaxseeds come with an abundance of lignans that have antioxidant and estrogen properties.
Studies show that women who consume flaxseeds regularly will have a lower risk of breast cancer. The fact that flaxseeds come with 800 times more lignan when compared to other plant-based food definitely helps.
Flaxseeds can also help in preventing colon cancer and skin cancer. This has been figured out in animals but not something we can say for humankind.
Rich In Dietary Fiber
A tablespoon of ground flaxseed powder comes with 8% of your daily dietary fiber intake. It comes with 20 to 40% soluble fiber and 60 to 80% insoluble fiber.
When you consume food that is rich in dietary fiber, your digestion rate slows down. This is handy when it comes to regulating your blood sugar and cholesterol.
Dietary fiber also helps in making your bowel movements regular. If you had problems with bowel movement, flaxseeds can set them straight. Stools will also bulk up and be softer over time. Constipation can also be avoided.
Flaxseeds are also helpful in
- Aiding weight loss
- Controlling blood sugar
- Loading the body with proteins
- Lowering blood pressure
and more.
These are just a few of the benefits you can get from flaxseeds. As this is not a dedicated post for the benefits of flaxseeds, we’ll try to cover them in a separate post.
How To Add Flaxseed To Coffee? – 2 Delicious Recipes
The most important thing to remember is that you can’t add flaxseed to your coffee in its original form.
You can use a cheap coffee grinder under $50 or a spice grinder to grind the flaxseeds to a fine grind, and then incorporate ground flaxseed into your coffee drink of choice.
Here are a couple of recipes you can try and experiment with to suit your needs.
Flaxseed Cinnamon Coffee
Ingredients Required:
- 3/4 Cold Coffee
- 1/4 Milk (dairy or non-dairy, your choice)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 ripe banana
All you have to do is to add all these ingredients into your blender and blend them till you get a smooth consistency. Best served cold.
Flaxseed Honey Banana Coffee
Ingredients required:
- 1 cup cold coffee
- 1 1/2 ripe bananas
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 6 ice cubes
You can also add milk (dairy or plant-based like almond milk) to make it richer.
Make sure you have a blender that can handle ice cubes. If you do, then blend all these ingredients until you get a nice, smooth drink that can be served cold.
You can also try variations of these two recipes by throwing in a mix of coconut oil, cocoa powder, sugar, and other stuff. You can also blend some flax in your Bulletproof coffee if that’s your thing.
Flaxseed In Coffee – Wrap Up
Adding flaxseed to coffee can be done without making it look like a punishment.
A lot of people would not prefer this union as they might not like the look of brown lumps in their coffee. But if you follow the recipes we’ve given, there won’t be any lumps in your coffee.
The health benefits flaxseeds bring to the table should be enough to give it a shot. So do try it out and let us know how you liked (or didn’t like) the flaxseed coffee drinks.
