Technically, hemp “seeds” are really not seeds at all, they are actually a fruit. Tiny and round, sort of like itty bitty sunflower seeds, they have a pleasing, mild and slightly nutty flavor. Unlike sunflower seeds they aren’t crunchy but instead are a bit more like sesame seeds, but even softer in texture. Hemp seeds sort of taste like pine nuts, but have an even mellower, milder flavor.
In the last year or so I added hemp seeds to my “must eat” list of foods. I’ll admit, the list of healthy things I keep adding to my daily “must eat” list is getting a bit out of hand—between the vegetables, flaxseeds, raw fruit smoothies, fermented foods, etc. my stomach barely has room to fit it all in. Still, now that I know the health benefits of hemp seeds I’m finding creative ways to get my daily hemp fix too. I think of hemp seeds almost as a “superfood” because they have a tremendous nutritional profile. Here’s short and sweet version…
Eat Clean Healthy Hemp Seed Cliff Notes
1. Hemp seeds are an incredible vegan source of biologically available and easily digested protein. For those who are allergic to soy, hemp seeds are a great vegan alternative. Hemp seeds contain all 10 essential amino acids. And did you know 3 Tablespoons of Hemp Seeds = 11 grams of protein?
2. Hemp seeds contain a healthy anti-inflammatory 3:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fat. In addition, hemp seeds contain an especially beneficial type of omega-6 fat called GLA (gamma linolenic acid). GLA is a direct building block of good anti-inflammatory hormones. Unfortunately, this special omega-6 fat is not typically found in foods (in fact I think hemp seeds are the only edible food source of GLA.) While it’s true your body can convert the typical food version of unprocessed omega-6 called linoleic acid (LA) into the “useable” GLA form your body needs, the conversion process can be thwarted by many internal and external factors. For example, with the passing of birthdays, the less efficient the enzymes your body uses to convert LA into GLA become. Chronic health conditions such as diabetes, infections, and even stress can reduce your body’s ability to convert dietary LA into GLA. This is a bad deal because GLA is very important for achieving optimal health. But simply by incorporating hemp seeds into your diet on a regular basis you can be sure of getting a healthy dose of GLA. Here’s a short run down of the health benefits of GLA:
- GLA supports a healthy metabolism and facilitates fat burning (some people who struggle with weight loss despite eating a healthy diet get a weight loss boost simply by adding GLA to their diets.)
- GLA can help reduce hormone-mediated nuisance symptoms (bye-bye PMS!)
- GLA supports healthy hair, nail and skin health.
- GLA decreases the tendency of inflammation in general. This can be helpful to anyone with an inflammatory condition such as asthma, MS, fibromyalgia, arthritis, etc
- GLA helps lower bad LDL cholesterol and improve cholesterol ratio
NOTE: GLA can also be obtained from supplements such as Borage Seed Oil and Evening Primrose Oil. I prefer Evening Primrose Oil to all other GLA-rich supplement oils because Evening Primrose Oil has the most research behind it. I’ve actually been taking it for years (1,300 mg of Barlean’s Evening Primrose Oil each day).
3. Hemp seeds are rich in disease-fighting, plant-based phytonutrients and anti-aging antioxidants such as vitamin E.
4. Hemp provides a rich array of minerals including zinc, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium and iron.
How Do You Eat Hemp Seeds?
Lately I’ve been getting very creative with hemp seeds (it’s the key ingredient in my creamy Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing Recipe.) Because hemp seeds have such a mild unobtrusive flavor, they keep a low profile and can easily hide out in a wide number of dishes. Smoothies seem to be one of the easiest ways to sneak hemp into my own diet. I’ve also found I can sneak hemp seeds into vegetarian chili, oatmeal, and even pureed bean & vegetable soups. Probably the easiest way to eat them is to just sprinkle them right on top of my salad.
But, if you are as into smoothies as I am, you’ll love this quickie vegan food recipe for a hemp seed smoothie. Note: to make it a raw recipe just use raw almonds instead of the almond milk.
Hemp Can Add Creamy Richness to Vegan & Raw Eating Recipes…Especially Smoothies!
Orange-Banana Hemp Smoothie
- 1 frozen banana, chopped
- 1 whole orange, chopped
- 3 tablespoons hemp seeds (such as Organic Nutiva brand)
- 2 ice cubes
- If you want a totally raw recipe use 5 raw almonds otherwise you can use 3/4 cup almond milk
- Pinch of cinnamon
- Dash of pure almond extract
1. Place all ingredients in a high speed blender. Process until smooth and creamy. Drink at once!
Where Can You Buy Hemp Seeds?
Any well-stocked natural foods store will carry hemp seeds; you can often buy them in bulk. You can even order hemp seeds online. Nutiva sells organic shelled hemp seeds as does Vitacost.com. They are as easy to buy as they are to eat!
Click the hemp seed image link below to buy hemp seeds today !!
Hi Ivy — I have a fabulous recipe for you to try. It’s just amazing.
Cherry Chocolate Bomb Shake
Recipe by Kristen Suzanne of KristensRaw.com
Yield 3 cups
1 cup filtered water
1 frozen banana, chopped
1 cup frozen cherries
1/4 cup hemp protein powder
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
2 tablespoons raw chocolate powder
splash vanilla extract
Blend this goodness up, and enjoy it as it helps make your day one of the best days ever!
Enjoy!
YUMMY!!! thank you so much Pam! This looks to die for delish =)
Do you know if the nutrients in the hemp seed is altered by cooking?
Hi Laura,
Enzymes will be altered by cooking but as far as I’m aware the rest of the nutrients will stay in-tact. Hope this helps?
Hi Laura! You would decrease the enzyme content, but the overall nutritional profile would be the same if you heat the seeds. However, since the oil is very rich in delicate heat-unstable polyunsaturated fats I would NOT recommend cooking/ heating hemp oil. Hope this helps?
I want to start eating hemp seeds but I have been told they make you high. Is that true?
My husband has recently been diagnosed with Lung Cancer, if you have a look at the small video of Dr Leonard Coldwell on Google, he says Hemp Seeds can cure Cancer. I have started to add these to my husbands food. I also like to add them to a Fruit Yogurt, they are delicious.
I have just recentlystarted eating hemp seeds, and am amazed at the delicious unique flavor! I have Lupus, RA, and ostearthiritis, and have noticed a small reduction in my joint pain just this week and didn’t know why. I have only been eating them for about 2 1/2 weeks.All I can attribute this to are the hemp seeds, as I have done nothing differant. Had taken an Omega product, which did help, but were NOT in my budget. will continue with the hemp seeds and see if I continue to improve.
Hemp seed really is wonderful stuff. We’ve been eating it for years. We have a bunch of recipes we love to share and put them together on a website where everything is free.
Check out our recipes at http://www.thehempcookbook.com and give them a try!
Thanks
oh Wow! What a great idea for a hemp cookbook Eric! I will be sure to check it out. Thanks so much for letting us know.—ivy
I discovered hemp seeds by a company called Gerbs. They make a roasted version with sea salt. Does this reduce the nutritional value? They are so crunchy and yummy, I eat them plain. I’d hate to find out that I made a mistake by buying those instead of the raw.
Great post! We will be linking to this great content on our website.
Keep up the good writing.
i am a buddhist, i am a Vegetarian, i am a manager of a world tade company, i am dealing with hemp seed dehulling macine, i am locatedin China. Hope we can be friend and share the happyness the free mind bring us. thank you
! Gary
Today, I went to the beach front with my children.
I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her ear
and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside
and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back!
LoL I know this is totally off topic but I had to tell someone!
this is great information, and the smoothie recipe looks delicious!
Oh snap, thank you very much for posting this! It is going to be so helpful when I order Hemp Seed online! Super Magnificent!
I bought the brand of Hemp seeds (shown on this page) $3 cheaper at Target than the $9.79 price at Vitacost.
Hello,I have been talking to a friend of mine about your work with hemp oil and all of the health benefits that come with taking it. I almost have her convinced to try it but she wanted me to check and see if you have ever treated anyone that had Juvenile diabetes? Also a friend of mine here in N.B. has been taking the oil for approx 2.5 months now as a cancer treatment and he is doing great. He says that he is feeling perfect and that he can’t remember feeling this good for a long time and he has absolutely NO PAIN.
Also a 19 year old boy from the community that has cancer just started taking the oil. He had been in bed for 3 days previous to taking the oil and had not been eating much of anything and was in a lot of pain and discomfort. The remarkable thing is that approx 20 minutes after taking a dose of the oil he got out of bed and walked out to the kitchen and asked for something to eat. Also that night he slept through the entire night and did not have to get up to take his pain medication. This is truly remarkable. On behalf of these 2 people and their families I thank you. And may God bless you all for your remarkable work. you can contact the foundation with this email:rickcancercure@gmail.com
Yum! This smoothie sounds great! I’ll have to make it soon.
Thank you Kaitlyn!!
I like how you mention hemp seeds can be added to dressings. I agree it is a good source of protein. I should keep in mind how easy it is to incorporate hemp seeds into everyday recipes. Thanks for the recipes!
That is a great tip particularly to those new to the blogosphere.
Short but very accurate information… Thanks for sharing this one.
A must read article!
The excellent informative post you shared on this page with the outstanding steps to eliminate the wrinkles from the Sensitive skin of body in a seven days and increase the beauty of skin by using the hemp seed oil daily according to the period of a time after the recommendations of a doctor ,You must remember the instructions of a doctor which help you to eliminate this kind of wrinkles disease rapidly ,My suggestion is go to a doctor one time in a week for starting of proper treatment of eliminating wrinkles appeared on the Sensitive skin of body for increasing the beauty of skin in a summer season due to the effect of sun rays,keep it in your mind don’t work in the light of sun because the heat of sun with the dust particles of sun rays increase the rough dryness with wrinkles and cracks with lines on the skin due to the demaged of upper skin layers cells after the working of some time you notice the color of skin become black and cracks with lines are increased on the Sensitive skin of a body this is also a effect of skin cancer . So take care of skin and avoid to work in a light of sun . you also use a mask on the face if necessary to work in the light of sun and also use carrot in the food salad because this is effective for the removal of skin wrinkles .
Thanks.