Once upon a time, in a land far far away there was a magical plant.
This plant could be used for almost anything. Food, building materials, fuel, paper, animal feed and bedding, rope, fabric, and medicine.
Oh, wait- that wasn't far far away and it wasn't once upon a time. It's here and now- and that magical plant is HEMP. Hemp has been cultivated by man for a millennia, and is able to thrive almost everywhere on the planet. Because of it's relation to marijuana (cannabis sativa/indica...) it's been given a scarlet letter and a totally undeserved terrible reputation. The medicinal properties of cannabis are far and away undersold in our modern allopathic minded society. It's an absolute shame and disgrace that the initiatives to utilize this plants healing properties are slow going or not at all. And hemp and it's psychedelic counter culture cousin are cast into the same category as heroin and cocaine. Which were all medicinal at some point in history.
But I digress; I'm going to discuss it's nutritional benefits for now.
Personally I like to put hemp seeds on and in anything I possibly can. Partially because the seeds are really crunchy and they're so nutritionally dense it'd be silly NOT to! How healthy are these seeds? Well lets just say that you get minerals like iron and calcium...a balance of omega 3-6-9, and fiber! And protein too. I think those who don't eat meat and need some great plant based protein would benefit from adding hemp seeds to oatmeal, yogurts, smoothies. Or you can just eat them. I've spilled seeds while pouring them right into my mouth like a beast. I have no shame, I'm a total eat-right-out-of-the-bag kind of girl. Whatever. Like you've never done that. My favorite use of hemp seeds are to put them in my salads and smoothies.
Oh, so those who consume hemp seeds have reported incredible benefits like lowered blood pressure, and because of those fabulous omega fatty acids all up in there- radiant glowing skin and beautiful lustrous hair. Omegas are also important for brain health so there's that also.
Not too shabby.
But wait- There's more!
Now don't quote me because it's not "FDA approved", but hemp seed have plant sterols, antioxidants and solid fiber that have been known to help you control your appetite (fiber helps you feel full longer- remember from my smoothie vs. juice entry?), which aids in weight loss.
Pretty awesome right?
You can also make (or buy) hemp milk, you can sprout hemp seeds and throw them into salads (I'm waiting for an amazon order of my raw hemp seeds to come in so I can sprout them...I'm super psyched to add these to my gargantuan salads!) or onto a sandwich, and hemp oil is great for dressings, in healing tonics and elixirs, and I've just used it in place of olive oil in some capacities.
Hemp is a very nutrient dense seed- throw it into everything and you will be happy that you did! The health benefits are solid- and contrary to what people might assume- hemp will not get you high.
But you will feel awesome.
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