Vegan Nutrition with Marty Davey

Marty Davey is a Registered Dietitian and has a Masters degree in Food and Nutrition from Marywood University. She became a vegetarian in 1980 when she discovered that the chemicals in American meat made them unsellable to Europeans. She and her husband have raised their son as a vegan. She teaches nutrition and has a private practice specializing in assisting clients transitioning to a plant-based regime step by step. Her website is martydavey.com

My daughter has multiple food allergies, and I often make an egg substitute from boiled flax seeds. The mixture is boiled for 10 minutes and strained so that the actual egg substitute doesn't have any of the seeds in it. I was wondering if there is any of the omega fatty acids etc. left in this product, without the seeds, to make it be preferable to other egg substitutes mostly based on baking powder, starch, etc.

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As to whether there is any Omega-3's in the mixture, I'm not sure since boiling will dissipate any fluid. But what is the boiling about? Ouch. Too much like work for me. It would totally interfere with making martinis in between starting water for quinoa, chopping veggies for the salad and using flax in my fruit crisp topping (shaken, not stirred).

Are you using this blob of faux egg-stuff as the end product? Man, your kid is tough. Or, [please say yes], are you adding it to tofu scramble and banana bread batter? Flax seed is not a replacement for all of the nutrients in eggs. I don't promote eating eggs, but if you are thinking they are interchangeable, you need to think again. Eggs have no fiber, lots of fat and cholesterol. They also have B12 and protein. So, if you are wanting the fiber, B12 and protein without the fat and cholesterol, have you child take a sublingual B12 and make sure they have lots of whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.

Here's a much easier way to get the flax goodies. Buy a coffee grinder. They cost about $15. Grind the seeds in there and store them in an opaque container in the frig. The ground seeds are now flax meal. I grind enough for a few days and keep the whole seeds in the freezer. Here's the skinny on flax as an egg substitute from my pal and author, Jo Stepaniak (not a martini drinker).

1 Tablespoon Flax Meal to 3 Tablespoon water. Toss these into a container that is water-tight. Shake, let sit for a minute or two before using.

I use this for baking, pancakes, smoothies and soups. Although, you have to be careful with the soups. They can become too gelatinous.

Now, that should give you plenty of leisure time while making your meal. [Take half full martini shaker out of freezer, use same olive. Recycling is important.]

Get your own personal nutrition consultation with Marty here.

Disclaimer: The advice given here is for eductional purposes only. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

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