Flaxseed has been a part of a healthy human diet for much longer then you may realize. The first recorded use of flaxseed in cooking goes all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia where it has been growing for many thousand years. Back then of course it was used for food, but was also rich in folklore and had many other purported benefits. But what are some of the ways the we can enjoy flaxseed today?

Adding flax seed to your diet can be incredibly easy— cereals, yogurt and pasta, just to name a few. However, that can get old very quickly, and you may not even eat those types of food on a regular basis. If that’s the case, don’t worry. There are ways you can add flax seed and its various incarnations to any meal.

First of all, many grocery stores now carry various types of food with flaxseed already in them. Many baked goods contain milled flax seed, making it easy to incorporate these foods into your diet. You may also find it interesting to know that milled flax can be used as a fat or egg replacement in recipes, 1 tablespoon of milled flax seed and 2-3 tablespoons water replaces 1 egg and 3 tablespoons of milled flaxseed can replace 1 tablespoon of margarine, butter, or cooking oil.

The fiber in flaxseed will fill you up and keep you full longer making flaxseed a valuable addition to a weight loss (or control) diet. Try starting your day off with a smoothie, adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of milled flax.

Everyone in the family can enjoy flax, while sometimes it is hard to get children to eat healthy; it is easy to hide milled flaxseed in thicker soups, pasta sauces, burgers, meatloaf, casseroles and bread dough.