Aug 09, 2024

Lose Weight with Flax

When you think of fat, you probably don’t associate it with weight loss. However, healthy, essential fatty acids can actually improve your health and help you shed excess weight. A great example of these healthy fats can be found in flaxseed oil.

In this blog, we’ll explore how the healthy fats in flax oil can assist in your weight loss journey.

Fatty Flax

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you already know that flax is the highest plant source of omega-3 fatty acids.

Flaxseed oil is rich in omega-3s, specifically alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a type of polyunsaturated essential fatty acid. Since our bodies can't produce ALA naturally, we must obtain it from our diet.

While it might seem counterintuitive, avoiding all fats when trying to lose weight isn't advisable. The key is to consume healthy fats and avoid harmful ones like hydrogenated oils, processed fats, and artificial trans-fats found in margarine and processed meats. Always check labels to avoid these.

Flax for Weight Loss

You might be wondering how the fats in flaxseed oil can aid in weight loss. The high amount of ALA in flaxseed oil helps improve the metabolism of fats, assisting your digestive system in breaking down and using fats instead of storing them.

Unfortunately, many people don’t get enough ALA in their diets. A study reported by Science Daily highlights the harmful effects of the typical "Western" diet, noting the imbalance between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, which can contribute to obesity and other health issues like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance, often associated with excess body weight, can lead to diabetes by impairing the body's ability to control blood sugar levels.

Omega-3s also have an anti-inflammatory effect, making flax oil an excellent addition to your diet if you're aiming to lose weight. According to a study published in the Journal of Food Science and Technology, plant materials like flax have been used traditionally to treat obesity-related conditions.

Omega–3s & –6s

Ideally, everyone should consume a healthy ratio of omega-6s to 3s that is between 1:1 and 4:1.

Unfortunately, for most of us, it’s closer to 16:1. According to HealthyFlax.com, the reason for this is the large quantities of processed foods in most modern diets.

Many people over-consume omega-6s, which mainly come from grain-fed, as opposed to grass-fed meats and as mentioned, processed foods. We also tend to get them from unhealthy sources more often than healthy ones (there are healthy omega–6s but they aren't found in a Big Mac).

Jessica Bruso at livestrong.com also points out that: “If you're trying to lose weight, it may be best to limit your omega-6 consumption, which can cause you to retain water.”

By adding flax oil into your diet, you will increase your omega-3 intake. But ideally, you should also make note of your omega-6 intake, in order to maintain that healthy omega balance. Try to reduce your omega–6s overall and make sure that the ones you do eat are coming from healthy sources.

This can be done by doing a little research and paying attention to what’s in the food you’re eating.

Fat-Burning Flax

Revyourbody.com explains that: “The consumption of flaxseed oil slows the digestive process, creating a “full” feeling and decreasing food cravings. This slower process helps balance the levels of insulin and blood sugar. When blood sugar spikes too fast, insulin is produced and leads to fat storage. The healthy fats contained in this oil offset this process. It also speeds up metabolism to burn more fat cells.”

With flax making you feel full longer, you are less likely to overeat. This helps to ensure that you maintain a healthy, well-balanced diet — which is essential for weight loss.

Also, ALA plays a major part in the metabolic cycle when it comes to metabolising fats in the body. Nicole from simplysupplements.net goes into more detail: “ALA improves the conversion of carbs to energy, which means that fewer carbs are stored as fat cells. Several large-scale trials have shown that ALA supplements have the potential to boost weight loss efforts when taken in combination with a calorie controlled diet.”

This process, particularly the metabolism of fats, is helpful when it comes to athletics, especially for endurance sports like running.

HealthyFlax.org explains that, “when a runner "hits the wall" and their glycogen stores are used up, the body begins burning fats. In this case, efficient burning of fats makes a difference in performance. ALA also improves response time. Electrical impulses move from the brain to muscles across cell membranes, which are rich in ALA when consumed in the diet. Omega-3 fatty acids, such as ALA, are the most efficient fatty acids in allowing these electrical impulses to move from cell to cell. Thus, response time is improved. ALA also aids in muscle repair at the cellular level.”

Of course, improving your exercise regime will help you reach your weight loss goals, too!

What About Flaxseeds?

In addition to flax oil, there are also whole flaxseeds. One of the additional benefits of eating flaxseeds is that they have a high fibre content, which you can’t get from the oil.

Sylvie Tremblay from livestrong.com notes that: “Adding fibre to your diet promotes weight loss. In fact, making that one simple change of increasing your fibre intake is enough to help you lose weight, reports a study from the February 2015 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Ground flaxseed is also lower in calories than flaxseed oil... That means that ground flaxseed takes up less "space" in your calorie-controlled diet, which may make it easier to cut the calories you need to lose weight.”

It’s important to remember though, that you don’t get the same concentration of omega–3s when you eat the seeds.

So depending on what the rest of your diet is like, both flax oil and ground flaxseeds have benefits. For example, if you have a high-calorie diet and struggle with reigning that in, ground flaxseeds might be a better option. But, if you’re trying to up your omega–3s, flaxseed oil is your best bet.

A Healthy Balance

Relying on oil for weight loss alone is not realistic. It is important to remember to maintain a healthy diet that contains a balance of omega–3s, –6s and –9s.

Healthyflax.org explains that “flaxseed may actually help promote weight management. Consumption of nutrient-rich, high fibre foods such as flaxseed contribute to satiety and may help with weight loss or, possibly more importantly, preventing weight gain. Flaxseed also can help improve your health while you are losing weight by decreasing blood cholesterol levels and inflammation.”

Of course, everybody is different, and what works for one, may not work for another. But overall, adding flax into your diet will be beneficial.

In addition to a healthy, well-balanced diet, you should ensure you are also staying active, and getting some sort of physical activity daily. Even a walk will benefit you.

Perfect Press® Flax Oil

If you’re looking for flaxseed oil that is pressed from organic and non-GMO seeds, you’ve got to try Perfect Press® Flax Oil.

This oil is pressed in such a way that ensures absolutely zero damage to the delicate nutritional components. We exclusively bottle our oil in Miron glass bottles to preserve its freshness and guarantee its potency.

Don't wait another day to start reaching for your weight loss goals — discover more now!

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Lose Weight with Flax

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