When I first tried chia seeds (in the form of chia pudding), I wasn’t a fan. I wanted to like them: they’re so good for you. But eating something just because it’s good for you?
Ridiculous!
You don’t have to suffer for health.
If you aren’t big on a certain food, there are plenty of ways to get all your nutrients somewhere else. For example, my sister hates bananas. So she gets her potassium from foods she does like, such as yams, spinach, and broccoli. No big deal. Remember that mental health is an important component to overall health, too. If you’re choking down foods you detest, your mental health will suffer.
Going back to the chia… Although I didn’t like the pudding, I was willing to give the seeds a second chance. Perhaps I’d enjoy them in a different form. After all, everyone in the blogworld seems to adore them. So when the Health Warrior Company offered me some samples, I accepted.
And I discovered that I do like chia seeds. They are awesome in oatmeal!
Never-Ending Oatmeal Bowl
(serves 1)
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 1/2 cups milk of choice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup more milk of choice
- sweetener and add-ins of choice
Either cook oats, milk, and salt on the stovetop, or place your oats and salt in a large, microwaveable dish (I use a pyrex 4-cup measurer) with the milk of choice. Microwave 1 and 1/2 minutes, then add your chia and 1/2 cup more liquid. Microwave 2 more minutes. Don’t open the microwave door yet. Instead, leave your mixture for five minutes. Then stir and put in the fridge—uncovered—overnight. Next day, it will magically be thick and ready for your favorite add-ins!
For sweetener, try using The Melted Banana Trick.
Also, I really like to put the cooked oatmeal in my Magic Bullet and blend just a little. This “blended grains” trick really helps all the flavors to meld together.
Do you ever eat foods you don’t really like, just because they’re good for you?
Or do you ever feel pressured to eat a certain food because other bloggers like it? We are all different and our bodies crave different things (and amounts). We should NOT base our food choices on what anyone else is eating. It’d be really weird (not to mention boring) if we were all exactly the same.
This is one of the main reasons I’m not planning on doing another “day in the life” post even though a lot of readers have asked. I don’t feel comfortable knowing others will compare their eating habits to mine or try to mimic what I eat. The way I eat is only perfect for me. You need to listen to your own body, not to what anyone around you is doing.
Awesome post! I agree that you shouldn’t eat foods you don’t enjoy just because they are healthy. Easy for me to say though because I like pretty much everything 🙂 They are so many foods out there that you should certainly eat the ones you enjoy. The “right” food choices for one individual may be completely different from another. I use other bloggers diets only as ideas for myself. I may try eating a certain food for breakfast and then decide I’m not enjoying it or it’s not keeping me full long enough and try eating something else. I love all of the recipe ideas on all of the blogs because they help add so much variation to my diet. Regarding chia seeds- I love them. I use them mostly in overnight oats or chia pudding but I’ve also added them to baked goods, pancakes, granola bars etc for a little extra nutritional boost.
I want to experiment with them in baked goods… I know you can even use them to replace eggs in recipes, but I’ve never actually tried it! 😕
Thanks for this great post! I have always hated dairy milk. I didn’t like the look, taste, or smell of it. However, when I was a kid, my mother insisted upon buying it and insisted that at least occasionally I drink it or put some in my cereal (which I ultimately stopped eating entirely) because she claimed that I “needed calcium.” One day, she was complaining to a doctor that I did not ever drink milk. He looked at her and said, “Ma’am, your daughter is not a baby cow. Milk is for baby cows not humans. If she doesn’t want to drink it don’t make her.” 🙂
Recently, I discovered almond milk and coconut milk, which taste much better and are fortified with more calcium anyway.
LOL Oh I wish your doctor had been mine! I was the same way. My mom had to put chocolate in my milk in order for me to drink it. I would NOT drink plain milk, and she was so afraid I wouldn’t get enough calcium.
I lurrve chia seeds and have been making your oats with them for a while then waking up to amazing overnight oats in the morning! I think your totally right, if you love things like broccoli then thats great but whats the point in eating (or doing) something you don’t love, even for the sake of health? I think good food should nourish your soul as well as your body, something that can certainly be said for your amazing recipes!
I second Leslie’s very first words: Awesome [awesome awesome awesome] post! I’m jumping on what I’m sure will be a huge bandwagon of people agreeing that YES, you’re absolutely right – in my opinion – about not forcing ourselves to choke down foods that we don’t like, merely because they’re touted as healthy or superfoods. I never eat foods that I hate just because they’re healthy, and similarly I most certainly don’t fight allergies in order to eat some of the healthiest foods in the world (coconut oil or butter, eggs…).
I used to feel pressured to eat like bloggers, until I noticed that a common theme amongst the blogs was that the bloggers’ opinions seemed to all say one thing: “To each their own”. And it’s not like all the food bloggers eat alike, anyway! So I spent less/no time copying bloggers and more time finding what works specifically for me… and it’s done wonders. 🙂
Thank you thank you thank you for bringing this topic up! It’s great to be reminded that we shouldn’t ignore our preferences and enjoyment of life, and that there are numerous ways to get nutrients from other foods. As for chia seeds… I love ’em! It’s fun to take advantage of their ability to expand, of course, but I have to admit that I also love sprinkling them on stuff. Makes food look so pretty!
Have a great Thursday~!
Aw, I’m so glad you liked the post! I just feel like there is a reason a person doesn’t like a particular food. Ya know? Like, maybe their dislike is their body’s way of saying, “This isn’t good for me, personally.” I always think it is so funny how we can be so different. For example, you could not make my grandpa’s food spicy enough… yet my mom (his daughter) hates ALL spicy food!
“life is too short to eat food you don’t absolutely love”
Keep in mind this is a really privileged stance. Not everyone can afford the cost in time or in money to eat only foods they love.
Yeah, I guess that’s true. Thanks for bringing this up. You’re right that food is nourishment first and foremost for many people in the world, and they don’t have the luxury of choosing what they want to eat. I didn’t mean for my post to sound elitist :(.
But if you ARE lucky enough to have a choice, don’t waste it!
THANK YOU, for saying that we are all different and that our bodies requires different amounts of food. When I first entered the blogging world I would compare myself for just about every food/health blogger out there. Then I realized that my body may need more/less food depending on the day, or my cravings or how tall I am etc. Being healthy is a state of mind and feeling good about yourself, not how much you eat compared to someone else=)
So true! I always marvel at how little my sister eats (probably half of what I eat)… and yet she is perfectly healthy too!
What kind/brand of chia seeds did you use and where did you buy them? I used them once. I forget what kind I bought. But I could never get good results from them.
As I wrote in the post, I received them from a company called Health Warrior. But I think you can buy them in the bulk section of most health-food stores.
I love chia seeds in overnight oats–glad you gave them another try! I haven’t used them in hot oatmeal yet, but I’m just not a hot-oatmeal-in-summer sort of person. And I dislike smoothies. Don’t care how much the health world loves smoothies/shakes and how often recipes appear all over the place, I just want to EAT my food, and will not go for the health benefits of green smoothies/etc because I know I won’t be satisfied. That said, I like giving health food a go, because you never know what you might find and like.
I just dislike hot oatmeal ALL the time! Even in the winter, I eat my oatmeal cold :).
I just bought some chia seeds and then had no idea what to do with them. Perfect! 😀
Oh my gosh, I hate avocados too! Like, literally, I HATE them! My parents buy them all the time and I tried one and spit it out. I told my mom it tasted like a vegetable trying to be a meat. Haha I have no idea where that statement came from but its how I felt :p
Hehe glad I’m not the only one!