Food Trend Thursday: Hemp Seeds

Image from here

To be honest, I’m really thankful that hemp necklaces are NOT coming back into fashions. Oh man, remember those? I will pass on the hemp necklaces but will definitely be taking on the hemp seeds. I recently got back from Austin, Texas for a spa weekend to celebrate my mom’s 60^th. Each morning there was quite the breakfast spread including yogurt, fresh berries, flax seed, chia seeds, and hemp seeds. I already buy chia and flax seeds to yogurt, smoothies, and baking but had yet to try hemp seeds and you guys, I’m obsessed. They are crunchier and added the perfect texture to my parfait. So here’s the deal on hemp.

                So hemp seeds are the edible portion of the hemp plant – they are related too but do not carry any of the side effects of the other parts of the plant. Interesting fact is that it actually is still illegal to grow hemp plants so many of the seeds that are sold in the USA come from Canada!

                I am sometimes wary that foods such as, hemp seeds, are all for sure but really carry no nutritional value to consumers. Thankfully that is not the case here! Hemp seeds per 2 tablespoons have 90 calories and 6 grams of healthy fats including omega 3 and 6 fatty acids! Those 2 tbsp also have 5 grams of protein making it a great protein packed addition to smoothies, yogurt, or even oatmeal.

                To be honest, my favorite aspect of the hemp seeds was definitely the addition of texture and nutrition to my yogurt. Granola is packed with sugar so it felt great to get the texture and a nutrition bump to my yogurt every morning.