How to eat chia?

[doggyboarding]

I am so constipated and live on movicol to keep things moving. I keep seeing people say to eat chia seeds, but how do you prepare them? I tried just adding them straight to my morning yogurt but that made me even more constipated that week. Should I be soaking them?

Chia can be really dangerous, and lead to impacted stool. If you’re going to eat them start small; a teaspoon a day. As others have said soak them and up your own water intake. For constipation you are best with non soluble fibre. soluble fibre requires excess water intake to ‘bulk’ stool not necessarily make you go. Hope you get some relief, it’s miserable.

Chia can be really dangerous, and lead to impacted stool. If you’re going to eat them start small; a teaspoon a day. As others have said soak them and up your own water intake. For constipation you are best with non soluble fibre. soluble fibre requires excess water intake to ‘bulk’ stool not necessarily make you go. Hope you get some relief, it’s miserable.

I find that even soaked chia has a very constipating effect on me. However sweet potato baked, steamed, sautéed or roasted has a very beneficial effect. I bake them six at a time so I always have one to hand to add to a meal.

I’m enjoying them soaked in coffee overnight, (even Nescafe Gold Blend is lovely) the mixed with Greek yogurt in the morning.

But even combined with 3x sennokot, it does little to get thing moving for me alas. Same with MJ also…

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Pudding (my favourite breakfast):

• 1 cup milk of your choice, 240 ml
• ¼ cup chia seeds, 40 grams
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter or almond butter (crunchy is lovely)
• 1-2 tablespoon sweetener of your choice, maple syrup, honey, agave etc.

Mix well together with a whisk and leave overnight in the fridge.

Makes two generous portions.
Calories 264, Fibre 11g, Protein 9g

I eat it with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt and a few chopped nuts on top.

I put a tablespoon in a cup and add some kefir to them and stir thoroughly. Then refrigerate overnight. I sometimes add a half teaspoon of honey.

They stick to the empty cup like concrete after so I soak in hot water

My friend soaks them overnight like oats in almond milk

400ml coconut cream 400ml boiling water 100g chia seeds = chia pudding. Wait til they’ve absorbed the liquid.

Constipation. Why not try three prunes each morning? You could chop them up and add to yoghurt or just eat them whole.

Diet rich in veg.
Kiwi in the morning (with skin on) or evening snack
dried plums
plus plenty of water

Eat loads of prunes or dried apricots that’ll soon loosen you up

How big are they please? I struggle to take big tablets/capsules like the nutrition geeks ones.

I eat 5 prunes a day which is a lot of calories but I don't think they make any difference. I'm scared to stop eating them though in case they are doing something beneficial and make things worse by stopping them!

I'm too hot to read all the posts, but the best way to get chia inside you is to use MILLED seeds. Same with milled flax seeds. No soaking, no waiting, just put a big spoonful of each on your weetabix, porridge, or in your yogurt etc. You don't even taste it.

And my god does it work in the bowel department!

I would caution though that if you haven't taken milled seeds before, start off with small amounts and build it up day by day. Your system needs to get used to all that fibre!

I’m pretty regular but I keep chia seeds in a tiny pot in my handbag so if I can’t stop for lunch I put them in a drinkable yogurt like Activia. They fill you up and are high in protein, low in calories and good for blood sugar.
DH, who suffers from constipation, puts a tip of a teaspoon of psyllium husk into porridge. Seems to do the job…

Mix with buckwheat flakes and water and make a nice porridge with them and then mix blueberries and blackberries in when cooked. Also helps with the bowels:)

Can I suggest you try more fats/oils or at least look it up to see if it might help you.

Not as big as the Nutrition Geeks ones, but if you don't want tablets, you can get it in powder form. Honestly magnesium is a real game changer!