What the Flax?

I enjoyed delicious lunch today. Last night I mixed the remainder of my frozen fruit mix (it thawed by the time I ate it), plain organic yogurt, a bit of dried fruit for chew factor, Heart to Heart cereal, and a new cereal that I recently discovered, Yogi's Mountain Blueberry Flax granola crisps. I spied them in the organic section of Safeway and grabbed a bag. I really enjoy blueberry flax granola, so I figured that the crisps were a sure thing.

They did not disappoint. Sweet and extra crunchy, with a nice blueberry tang to them, this cereal made my taste buds happy. It's great to sprinkle in with other cereal for added flavor and texture, although I don't think it's a super nutritious cereal all on its own.

This afternoon I was happily crunching my way through this bowl o' goodness at my desk when I realized -- there's flax in this food!

I know, I know -- the name of the granola crisps has the word "flax" in it. It doesn't take a genius to understand that that probably indicates the presence of flax inside the bag. But still, I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt. After all, a whole flaxseed, while being super cute , isn't worth much nutritionally speaking. A whole flaxseed passes through the digestive system mostly untouched and unused. So I think I get a little credit for being surprised at the sight of unground flax swimming in my yogurt.

Don't believe me? The Mayo Clinic backs me up. Don't get me wrong -- I have nothing against whole flaxseed. But if you go through the trouble of using it, don't you want to make sure your body can get something out of it? If not, why bother? Ground flaxseed has such awesome health benefits that it seems silly not to get as much out of these little buggers as possible.

Give me flax-laced cereal any day, just make sure that my eyes can't see it so my intestines can. Or something. Plus, I don't really like shelling out extra money for useless flax. I'm just saying.

On a side note -- I just wanted to say thank you. The past few days have been relatively rotten (at least in terms of self-image, health, and body stuff), and I've been rather candid on the blog, perhaps even more so than usual. But you, my plucky bunch of readers, have been wonderful. I have received encouraging notes and comments that have truly encouraged me. Like one lovely reader shared, it's so good to know that I'm not alone in my struggles. Thank you for reading, and thank you even more for caring. I appreciate both far more than I can express. Your words have touched my heart. Thank you!