chia seeds - raw vs roasted

[louise]

Hello Diane, 

Since you have spoken often of chia seeds, when i saw some in a health store on my travels, i decided to buy a pack. Well i have used the seeds a couple of times baked on a spelt bread pizza base which i made and it worked wonderfully, i could hardly taste the seeds and my pizza was lovely (a nutty chia, spinach, mushroom and onion). Anyhow, quite impressed with the seeds, i decided to try it raw in my spelt museli this morning but then my kidneys became quite irritaed, swollen and hard within a couple of hours of having the raw seeds.. now this is totally unusual for me, i have had kidney pain after eating stuff i shouldnt like fish, but this was like a hard swelling.ouch. I am thinking that these seeds need to be roasted just like we roast nuts before eating.. do you have any experience eating raw chia seeds ? i know you have several recipies with chia, you were expeerimenting with it last time i saw you wrote about it, and im not sure it is even government approved at present due to insufficient toxicology tests. the nutiritional content is clearly incredible but after my experience today i think i am going to take it slowly with these and not eat them raw again..

best wishes

Louise

[Diane Smith]

Hello Louise,

I am not sure if chia needs a prior soaking. I mixed it with water, added lime juice and let it sit until it became gel like. If it hardened your kidneys, if this were me, I would avoid chia and stick with garbanzo beans or chickpeas for your leucine. This is the only way I have tried chia as an energy drink. I had my Dad, my brother (who races bicycles) and myself all tried it. My brother laid chia aside because he didn't like the gel like seeds getting stuck in his teeth.

Let me check a raw food site and see what they say.

~Diane

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[Diane Smith]

From http://www.rawreform.com/content/view/345/127/

What is Chia Seed? 
The little black and white seeds were once a staple of the Incan, Mayan and Aztec cultures, along with the Native Americans of the southwest. 
"Chia" is actually the Mayan word for strength. The seeds were used by these ancient cultures as mega-energy food, especially for their running messengers, who would carry a small pouch of it with them. Chia has been called 'Indian Running Food' and gives an incredibly 'sustaining' surge of energy. 

How do you use Chia? 
The most common way to eat chia is to first soak the seeds. They can very rapidly absorb a large amount of liquid - between 9-12 times their volume, in under 10 minutes.
The Basic Gel
To make a basic chia gel, simply add 1/3 cup of seeds (2oz) to 2 cups of water. Stir the mixture well, to avoid clumping, then leave it in your fridge, in a sealed jar. This will yield around 17oz of chia gel. You can begin to eat the gel almost immediately if you like. Just 10 minutes is enough time for the gel to be formed. More of the nutrients will be easily accessible after a few hours however, so many people like to make up a batch like this and leave it in the fridge. It will stay good for about three weeks. Then you can just reach into the fridge and take out some of the ready-made gel whenever you need it. You might add it to smoothies, mix it with salad dressings, puddings or granola, or simply take it by the spoonful. 
Beyond Water...
As mentioned above, chia will absorb anything - it doesn't have to soak in water. We like soaking it in things like apple juice for example. That way, the intense sweetness of the apple juice is also offset by the chia and it tastes yummy ;). We also often blend fruits - for example bananas and persimmons, then stir the chia into that mixture. Again, the longer the seeds are left to soak, the more their nutrients will bereadily available to you, yet you could easily eat a meal like this 10 minutes or less after preparing it. 

MY ANSWER 

Perhaps chia expands in the body like metamucil? or like flaxseed? It becomes gelly like and needs water before using it?

Thanks for letting me know Louise. The raw food internet also says roasting the seeds is fine, rather than soaking. I will put a warning on my recipes.

Warmly

Diane

[louise]

Diane, 

oh gosh that could well be it.. if it expands up to 12x in volume it will be soaking up all my liquids and i assume need to drink much more than usual today..unfortunatly,.my kidney still is feeling strange and hard.. it was around half cup of raw seeds possibly which i ate, and so that is quite a bit of extra liquid i need. no wonder i may be having problems if the seeds are gelling over inside me ! damn i should have read a few more instructions before tipping liberally on my museli..i also noticed my museli had very little (almond) milk today,despite using the usual amount, most likely it had also soaked up the liquid there.. i hope this is not even too dangerous.. actually i did not drink anything after the breakfast until i believe 11am and this hardening begun almost right away, 1 hour, 2 hours later after eating the raw seeds. in contrast, at the time when i ate the seeds baked in my self made pizza, it was evening and i was well hydrated, as usual in the evening drinking endless cups of redbush tea and water along with a big salad and i felt no issues at all.

Louise

[Diane]

Louise this is wonderful that you drink red bush tea in the evening. I have a cup or two of chamomile citrus tea. It is so relaxing and the chamomile helps diminish any inflammation on my kidneys.

I really enjoy a cup of tea. I will put a warning about chia. I am so glad you told me about your reaction.

Warmly,
Diane

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