10 Uses for Flax Oil

Flax are tiny but powerful little seeds for your body. Would you believe that in ancient Egypt, flax seeds and flax plant were used to make fishnets and clothing?

The flax plant is very slim and tall with beautiful light blue blossoms and capsules that resemble whole nutmeg pods.
You may notice that there are two different colored flax seeds: golden and brown. The difference between them is that in 1990, the only flax seed that existed was brown in color. A university in North Dakota created the golden flax seed to contain high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids and fiber. Cosmetically, golden flax seeds can be used unnoticeably in baking and cooking. They also are extracted for the additional fiber in industrial production. Besides the minor difference in fat content and color, these two seeds are very similar.

Today, we recognize flax most often by the seeds of the plant or by flax seed oil, which has dozens of health benefits and is extremely nutrient-dense.

Flax oil is extracted from flax seeds by crushing them until the natural oils are released. After some filtration, the pure flax oil is ready to be used. When an oil is cold-pressed, it simply means that the item being extracted for oil has not reached a particular temperature during extraction. The health benefits of cold-pressed oil are few, yet many people prefer the flavor or quality of a cold-pressed oil. Progressive Labs makes a cold-pressed and organic flax seed oil with a light-resistanct package.

Did you know flax seed oil is the single source of omega-3 fatty acids for vegans? The organic composition of flax oil causes a chain reaction in the body to produce the same healthy benefits that fish oil does!

Integrate flax oil into your healthy lifestyle with ten innovative and surprising uses:

1. Cuts, bruises, and wounds 
By adding a fingertip's worth of flax oil onto your next papercut or nasty bruise, the omega-3 fatty acids in the oils will heal the skin cells and speed up the healing process.


2. Wrinkles, be gone! 
Additionally, when supplementing your skin with rich omega-3s, the capacity for your skin to stay resilient to environmental toxins and stress grows larger. Dab flax oil around your eye creases, smile lines, and lips to prevent troublesome lines of aging.


3. Salad dressing 
Create a tasty dressing from scratch that's low in sugar and high in heart-healthy fats:

1/4 cup Barlean's Highest Lignan Flax Oil
1/4 cup Balsalmic vinegar
1-2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (or rice wine vinegar, or even red wine vinegar)
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Whisk ingredients together and pour into a jar. Keep your dressing in the refridgerator for up to 2 weeks.

4. Transform a fresh smoothie or shake 
Flax oil cannot be heated or used to cook because it will destroy any nutritional benefits from the oil. Bastyr Center has a great base recipe for a fruit smoothie containing flax oil; just add additional fruits you have in your kitchen or freezer. You can also use it in your protein shakes!
Combine all ingredients into a blender:


1/2 banana
2 ice cubes
1 cup juice (like pineapple or apple)
1-2 tablespoons yogurt
1 tablespoon Barlean's Omega Swirl Strawberry-Banana flax oil (Or Blackberry Swirl)

             

5. Cardiovascular disease prevention 
Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to reduce inflammation and cholesterol in the body for decades. Take a flax oil softgel with your morning breakfast to boost the body's immune system and promote heart health.

6. Skin rash and eczema treatment 
Similar to tea tree oil, flax seed oil is a less drying skin treatment for irritation. Dry, patchy skin like eczema benefits greatly from the use of flax seed oil because the oil works to repair skin under the surface and absorbs easily without preservatives or additives. This is a pure dose of healing power for your skin!


7. Mental disorders and brain support 
Scientific studies are recognizing the numerous benefits of a proper omega-3 to omega-6 ratio in the human body. The prevalence of neurological disease we experience today could be a result of not enough omega-3 fatty acids:
Depression is caused by low omega-3 fatty acids.
ADHD symptoms improve with flax oil consumption.
Even delaying the onset of dementia may be possible with high-dose flax oil supplements like NOW's 1000mg softgels.

8. Sunburn? Not for long! 
In the heat of the summer, the sun's vitamin D often causes some painful after effects, like a sunburn. Change up your routine, ditch the processed aloe vera gel, and make your own soothing and cooling sunburn mask:


1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1 bag chamomile tea
3-4 drops flaxseed oil


Steep and cool the chamomile tea bag, and add the contents to the greek yogurt. Apply one layer where the sunburn is and let it sit for 15 minutes. Apply an additional layer and repeat 3 times until you have used up your yogurt mixture.
Rinse all of the yogurt off with cool water, pat dry, and rub in the drops of flax seed oil for repair on your skin.


9. Give your hair the ultimate shine treatment
Flaxseed oil has unique compounds that condition strands of hair. It forms a layer of protection throughout the day and strengthens your hair. It's a whole hair product in one little seed, minus the extra chemicals in conventional hair oils. Simply string drops of Nature's Way flax oil from your finger tips through your hair before or after drying it!

10. Regularity and digestive health 
Flax oil contains an extremely high amount of fiber. Supplementing with flax seed oil benefits gut health and stimulates the colon to generate a more consistent bowel schedule. In addition, consuming additional fiber can "sweep up" any debris in your intestines and colon to prevent degenerative digestive disease.