Chia Seeds Recipe At-A-Glance

This lemon, chia, and apple cider vinegar drink is how I start each morning! My morning elixir has lots of health benefits, but most important to me, it gets me in a healthy mindset for the day.

I’m about to get real hippie-dippie, crunchy granola on you. So those of you who maybe aren’t on the natural medicine bandwagon, consider yourself warned, k?



That’s why I try to eat healthy. I drink lots of water. I go on lots of walks. I meditate. I’m trying to cut back on the stress in my life. And I make sure to really evaluate when if I need to take medicine or not (and if I need to, I do it—hellllooo Excedrin Migraine, never stop being awesome).




Now, there are a lot of drug commercials out there with smiling happy people that will try to convince you that you are powerless when it comes to your health. Like there is no way you’ll ever feel better unless you ask your doctor about this specific drug. And for some people, those drugs are really necessary. And if you’ve found something that works well for you? Awesome. I’m super stoked for you!

But I do, in general, wish that our first instinct when something feels off with our bodies or minds is to look to the decisions that we make on a daily basis—specifically our food choices. Am I saying that eating some chia seeds and drinking a kale smoothie is the same as a miracle drug? No. But I’m saying it can’t hurt. And sometimes, it might even really help.





And that’s where My Morning Elixir comes in. I wake up each morning, stumble downstairs, and make myself a cup of lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, chia seeds, and warm water. And it’s changed my life.

I’m not going to claim that this drink is going to make you run marathons until you’re 120 years old, but I will tell you how I feel when I make sure to drink this drink each day. Is this anecdotal evidence? Totally. But the great thing about using food as medicine is that anecdotal evidence is all you need. There is nothing to lose (except maybe a few bucks on the ingredients if they aren’t things you have kicking around). If drinking this makes you feel nothing, oh well. But if drinking it makes you feel as great as it makes me feel, well isn’t that a win?

Now, there are a ton of other benefits listed out there if you just Google “benefits of lemon water” or “benefits of apple cider vinegar” or “benefits of chia seeds”. But that list up there is what I really notice from drinking this personally. And those changes are impactful enough for me, that I want to share my morning elixir with you!



Before I dig into the “recipe” (it isn’t really), I do want to give you a few notes on ingredients. Some things to keep in mind when shopping for your ingredients:

Apple Cider Vinegar: You’re looking for raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar. I use Bragg’sbecause it’s readily available—they sell it at my regular grocery store in the salad dressing/vinegar aisle. You want to avoid using the regular apple cider vinegar that has been filtered and pasteurized (the clear stuff). The healthy enzymes and bacteria from fermentation are good for you, and filtering and pasteurizing the vinegar removes those.

Lemons: I choose to use organic lemons, because I figure that if I’m drinking something for my health, avoiding as many pesticides as possible is a good idea. I use half of a lemon in the morning in my elixir, and then I usually squeeze the other have over a salad at lunch.

Chia Seeds: One of the great things about chia seeds being so popular—you can get them almost anywhere now! You want whole chia seeds, and either white or black will work.

Water: If you’re really anti-added chemicals, you’ll want to use purified or filtered water. I personally just use warm tap water. There are lots of different articles out there about the temperature of water you should drink, and it seem there are advantages and disadvantages to just about every temp range. I personally use warm water, because I’m almost always chilled when I get out of warm bed and head to the cold kitchen!

Oh, and a note about taste. This is definitely an acquired taste. If you often drink kombucha, you probably won’t mind the tart flavor of the drink, but if you don’t, it might take some getting used to. When I first started drinking it, I’d add about a teaspoon of raw local honey (lots of health benefits to that, too!), and then slowly stepped the honey down. Now I drink it without sweetener, and I love it. To your health, my friends!

My Morning Elixir

This lemon, chia, and apple cider vinegar drink is how I start each morning! My morning elixir has lots of health benefits, but most important to me, it gets me in a healthy mindset for the day.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon whole chia seeds
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups warm water

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients together. Let rest for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the chia seeds have formed a gel. Drink up!

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