How to Use Flaxseed Oil for Weight Loss

Both flaxseed oil and ground flax can help with weight loss in ways that most people wouldn’t expect and it has nothing to do with dieting.

Ahead is a look at how taking flaxseeds can help suppress appetite, improve metabolism, enhance digestion and increase thermogenic fat burning.

Extreme Diets Don’t Work

The most important thing to remember when you want to lose weight is do not fall for fad diets that go to extremes. They simply do not work.

In fact, it’s more problematic than that. When you significantly reduce the amount of food you eat on a diet you are telling your body there will be a period of restriction and training it to conserve energy and store fat.

It gets worse. Even after you come out of a diet, you’ve taught your body to become more efficient at storing fat.

Very few people actually lose much real body fat on a diet that starves them. Instead, any weight lost is primarily water loss and some muscle wastage.

Invariably they end up putting it back on and weighing even more several months later. There is a much better way to go about reaching your ideal weight.

Simply getting a higher level of nutrition in your meals, by eating foods that are rich in important nutrients like superfoods, or taking a concentrated source like Organifi Green Juice, often results in effortless weight loss.

How Omega-3’s Help You Lose Weight

Any fat reduction program will benefit from keep in mind the importance of the omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio in your diet.

Flaxseed oil is over 50% omega-3 alpha linolenic acid. That’s a fat, but in contrast to the misinformation most of us have been fed about weight loss, healthy fats like omega-3s help us lose weight, not gain it.

In fact, it would actually be far more difficult to lose weight without a good intake of omega-3 fatty acids in your diet.

The alpha linolenic acid found in flax oil is an essential fatty acid (EFA). Your body needs it to function correctly but cannot make it itself. You have to get it from your diet and most experts think we are not getting nearly enough of it.

Omega-6 Vs Omega-3

Omega-6 fats like linoleic acid are also considered essential, but modern Western diets are generally very high in omega-6. In fact, it’s quite likely we are getting far too much of them.

The ideal ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 is cited as at least 1 to 5, preferably even 1 to 2. The average American is estimated to be consuming a ratio of around 1 to 20 in favor of omega-6 fats.

This dramatic imbalance in our intake of the essential fatty acids, that are involved in so many vital processes at a cellular level within our body, is theorized to be a major factor in a variety of health issues.

Inflammation conditions such as arthritis, asthma and skin disorders are commonly discussed, but many experts now also believe they play a central role in the current epidemic of obesity.

Essential Fatty Acids and Fat Storage

The fatty acids in flax meal and flaxseed oil are considered essential because your body needs them and will stimulate more hunger when it doesn’t have enough of them.

Unfortunately, most of us are not very good at recognizing hunger after we have already eaten as a request by the body for nutrients, rather than more empty carbohydrates.

Having healthy ground flaxseeds in a meal, or taking flax oil when you eat also increases satiety — that feeling of satisfied fullness after eating. Its benefits for weight loss don’t stop there though.

Flax Oil, Metabolism and Fat Burning

Taking flaxseed oil regularly is believed to improve metabolism and increase thermogenesis (fat-burning). Thermogenesis is a very beneficial process for weight loss wherein specialized brown fat cells increase their fat-burning capabilities.

Ironically, one of the best ways to stimulate thermogenesis is by eating more essential fats, like those found in flaxseeds.

Given this, it would be beneficial to take the oil or the ground seeds with each main meal of the day if you are trying to lose weight.

Which One is Better for Weight Loss?

Flaxseed oil is very beneficial for losing weight for all of the reasons detailed above.

Ground flaxseeds though have the added benefit of being a great source of dietary fiber. This helps improve digestion and slows down sugar spikes.

While they wouldn’t provide as much essential omega-3 fatty acids, cold milled flax seeds are also an exceptional source of anti-estrogenic lignans. These nutrients are extra important for women as they can reduce the risk of common imbalances.

A good compromise would be a high lignan flax oil. It has added flaxseed particles and is still very rich in omega-3 alpha linolenic acid.

Ideally though, if you’re serious about weight loss, you could take both flax oil and freshly ground flaxseeds daily and get the best of both worlds.