Hi I am Dr Chan, today I am going to talk about
‘3 Things that Chia Seeds are NOT' that everyone should know’ Hi guys, welcome back to my channel, If you are
new here, I am Dr Chan, I am a medical doctor from Singapore. Many people call me The Habits Doctor
because of my passion and work in activating and helping people unlock the power of lifestyle and
eating habits for health. In my medical practice where I do a lot of work in teaching and coaching
people to make the necessary lifestyle habits changes to better control and combat lifestyle and
diet-related chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and cardiovascular
disease, I see many of my patients taking chia seeds regularly. And when I ask them why, they
would tell me that they were taking chia seeds to help improve the control of their medical
conditions or for better health in general
but what struck me the most about these patients
was that it seemed taking chia seeds was the only thing that they do consistently, and that they are
more conscientious about taking chia seeds than they are about making the changes to their dietary
habits that they do know are necessary to better control and combat their diabetes, high blood pressure or
whatever other medical conditions they may have. It was almost as if taking chia seeds had given
them misplaced confidence or had become an excuse for them for not tackling the aspects of their
diets that needed changing or improving. This is what inspired me to make this video. So let’s dive
straight into the topic of this video ‘3 Things that Chia Seeds are NOT that everyone should
know’ But before that, let’s do something. Let's add chia seeds into these foods in front of me. This is Char Kway Teow or fried noodles. Let’s put some chia seeds into it. What happens to this Char
Kway Teow when we put chia seeds into it, what would this Char Kway Teow become. This is a bowl of instant noodles,
ordinary instant noodles, Let’s put some chia seeds into it, let’s put some chia seeds
into it, what do you think would happen? This is a bowl of sugar-laden cereals, the
typical breakfast cereals but full of sugar, but let’s just put some chia seeds into it,
put more, let’s put lots and lots of chia seeds into it, what do you think will happen?
Do you know the amount of sugar in most sugar sweetened beverages? Even the ‘Healthier
Choice’ lower sugar sweetened beverages have two teaspoons of sugar, two to three
teaspoons of sugar in them. And many sweetened beverages have up to eight teaspoons
of sugar in them, about 30-40 grams of sugar. So if this is the typical high sugar sweetened
beverage, what do you think will happen when we put chia seeds into it, lots of chia seeds, two
teaspoons or more of chia seeds into it. What do you think will happen to this high sugar
beverage when we put chia seeds into it?
What just happened? What do you think?
What happened when I added chia seeds into all these foods in front of me? My answer? Absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing happened. This bowl of nutrient poor instant noodles
is still a bowl of nutrient-poor instant noodles after adding chia seeds into it because Chia
Seeds are not some kind of Magic Dusts that one can sprinkle onto nutrient poor foods and
magically turn them into nutritious superstars because Chia Seeds are not Magic Dusts. Secondly, Chia Seeds are not Magic Erasers. We cannot expect to be able to
transform obviously unhealthy foods into healthier choices just by adding chia seeds into them. Take this Char Kway Teow for example,
For those of you watching who do not know what Char Kway Teow (or Chao Guo Tiao) is. it is a Fried
Flat Rice Noodles dish popular and very well loved in Singapore and many parts of Asia but it is
also generally widely recognised as being quite unhealthy. Sprinkling chia seeds into it would not
magically erase away the many unhealthy components of this dish. Or this high sugar sweetened drink, or
this sugar laden cereal, adding chia seeds into them would not make the sugar disappear because
Chia Seeds are not some kind of Magic Erasers.
As the interest in and the popularity of chia
seeds grow, we are beginning to see chia seeds added to more and more food products. When
we go to the supermarkets, we can now find chia seeds added to not just health foods but
increasingly we are also seeing chia seeds
added to all kinds of food products, including
sugar-laden, unhealthy or highly processed food products. So when you are buying stuff
from the supermarkets, don’t be ‘impressed’ or ‘distracted’ by the halo of ‘Chia Seeds’ inside
labels. Before you buy anything, look at the whole ingredients listings because Chia Seeds
are not some kind of Magic dusts, adding chia seeds will not magically transform nutrient-poor
food products into nutritious superstars. And Chia Seeds are also not Magic Erasers, adding chia
seeds will not magically erase away the sugar or any other unhealthy ingredients in any food products.
But don’t get me wrong, I am not against taking chia seeds. I take them myself, I always have a
bottle of chia seeds in my pantry and I do use chia seeds in my cooking and my beverages. But as
much as there are many health benefits to taking chia seeds, it does not in any way take away the
need to learn and practise eating habits that are critical in preventing, controlling and combating
diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease because the 3rd thing that
Chia Seeds are NOT that I would want to highlight is that even with all the various potential
health benefits of taking chia seeds regularly, Chia Seeds are not some kind of Magic Pills.
People with chronic lifestyle and diet-related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, high
cholesterol, cardiovascular disease cannot expect to take away the need to make the critical changes
and improvement to their eating habits necessary to better control and combat their conditions just
by adding chia seeds into their diet or buying food products with chia seeds inside. Chia Seeds
are not Magic Pills. So these are the 3 things about Chia Seeds that I want everyone to know. As
I said earlier, I am not saying that there are no health benefits to taking chia seeds. I do enjoy
adding chia seeds in to my food, into my drinks, I just want to highlight whilst chia seeds may
be nutrient dense and can be a useful healthy addition to our food and beverages as part
of a healthy eating habit, taking Chia Seeds should not become a license to continue to eat
badly. Chia Seeds are not some kind of Magic Dust, they do not make nutrient poor foods nutritious,
Chia Seeds are not some kind of Magic Erasers, they would not make the unhealthy components of
foods disappear. Lastly, Chia Seeds are not some kind of Magic Pills, They do not replace or reduce
the need to make the changes and improvements to our eating habits necessary to prevent,
control and combat such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease
and other common lifestyle & eating habits related chronic conditions.
I hope you have found this video useful. I am Dr Chan and thank you for watching.
Let’s unlock the power of habits One Video, One Habit, One Dose at a time.
Take care and have a blessed day.
