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We've
probably all heard of a sesame seed bun. You get a hamburger and your
bun is covered in all these tiny little seeds that you either love or
hate. I'm a huge bread lover but every time I see a bun covered in
sesame seeds I've always been kind of put off.
While sesame seeds on bread might not be your thing sesame seeds are
actually very healthy for you. Sesame seeds arechalk full of minerals
and vitamins that contribute to boosting your overall health. So the
next time you order a hamburger you may want to get your bun with sesame
seeds.
What Are Sesame Seeds?
Sesame seeds come from a plant. They grow in plant form, from the
ground, like most other seeds. They've been around for thousands and
thousands of years.
They are very small, only around 3 millimeters long. Sesame seeds come
in a variety of colors including black, brown and golden.
While sesame seeds are often found on and in bread it also can be used
to prepare a variety of food dishes including meats.
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Health Benefit #1 – Sesame Seeds Are High In
Protein
We hear about protein all the time and we know that we need it in our
everyday lives. Protein is essential in helping the human body in so
many ways. Protein is in every part of your body. It helps repair
tissue, make enzymes and is essentialin the formation of things like
bone, hair, skin, and blood.
There are over 4 grams of protein in every ounce of sesame seeds. This
makes sesame seeds a pretty great treat if you need to boost your daily
protein intake. It's also a great source of protein for those who don't
eat meat.
Health Benefit #2 – Helps Prevent Diabetes
Sesame seed oil has been long linked with helping to prevent diabetes.
It's also known for helping people with diabetesmaintain their sugar
levels.
Health Benefit #3 – Helps With Digestion
Sesame seeds contain a high amount of fiber and fiber is key when it
comes to healthy digestion and staying regular. You may think that
staying regular is not something you should have to think about too
often but many American's suffer from irregular bowl movements.
Don't go all ewww on me. Everyone poops. It's just what human's and
animals do. Just think about it this way, would you rather have all that
junk hold up in your body in an effort to stay dainty and clean or would
you rather have the waste out of you so you can truly be light and free?
Well adding some sesame seeds to your meals could help you put the
capital R back in regular.
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Health Benefit #4 – Helps Give You Healthy Skin
Sesame seeds contain a high amount of zinc and zinc is essential for
healthy skin. Zinc helps to reduce and eveneliminate and prevent acne.
There are very few things that are more awesome than having beautiful,
healthy, glowing skin.
Just by adding some sesame seeds or sesame seed oil to your weekly
dinner you could literally eat your way to healthier skin. Of course
there are many other factors that contribute to unhealthy skin but
eating sesame seeds can be a big help in combating those.
Health Benefit #5 – Reduces Blood Pressure
No one wants high blood pressure, or at least they shouldn't. Having
high blood pressure can lead to having a stroke, damage to your
arteries, and even aneurysms. I don't know about you but that sounds
quite scary.
Well the good news is that there are many ways to lower your blood
pressure and I'm not talking about taking a bunch of blood pressure
medicine. One natural way to help lower your blood pressure is to add
sesame seeds to your diet. That's right, sesame seeds contain magnesium
which is great for helping to lower high blood pressure.
Health Benefit #6 – Lowers Cholesterol
The next big thing aside from making sure you have healthy blood
pressure is making sure you have healthy cholesterol levels. High
cholesterol can lead to heart attack and stroke. If you do have high
cholesterol try adding sesame seeds or sesame seed oil to your diet.
Having baked fish marinated in sesame seed oil is a great meal that
won't spike your cholesterol levels.
Health Benefit #7 – Helps With A Healthy Heart
One organ you always want to make sure is pumping strong and healthy is
your heart. Your heart controls your whole cardiovascular system and
let's face it you kind of need that system to always work in peak
condition.
Sesamol is found in sesame seed oil which provides your body with
antioxidants. Antioxidants are great when it comes to helping your heart
stay healthy and pump longer.
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Health Benefit #8 – Helps Prevent Cancer
While the power of positive thought can go a very long way it can only
go so far when it comes to your health. You kind of have to meet
yourself halfway. You can do this by adding sesame seeds to your diet.
Sesame seeds are great at helping to prevent many types of cancer.
This is because sesame seeds contain certain compounds known to help
fight cancer, such as phytic acid, magnesium and phytosterols. While
sesame seeds kind of weird me out I think the fact that they help
prevent cancer is enough to convince me to add them to my diet.
Health Benefit #9 – Helps With Arthritis
Arthritis is something that can really affect you no matter what age you
are. It's painful and can be a hugeinconvenience. While over the counter
medicine can help lessen the pain if you want to help prevent arthritis
then you defiantly need to add sesame seeds to your diet. It helps to
relieve arthritic pain and it helps with inflammation in the joints and
ligaments afflicted by arthritis.
Health Benefit #10 – Helps With Anemia
Anemia is a condition in which someone has a deficient amount of red
blood cells. It's also known as the lack of blood illness. Anemic people
often get very weak and cold. The condition can be compounded if there
is a deficient amount of iron in the anemic persons diet.
While all sesame seeds contain iron the black sesame seeds are
especially rich in iron and can help people with anemia by giving them a
boost in their iron levels.
Health Benefit # 11 – Boosts Eye Health
I bet you've probably heard that carrots are great for helping your eyes
but sesame seeds can help your eye health. Sesame seeds are great at
helping your liver function properly which in turn helps your eyes
function properly.
Health Benefit #12 – Healthy Hair
If you're going to have great skin you might as well have great hair
too. If you want healthier, shinier hair then you need to use sesame
seed oil. Sesame seed oil contains vitamin E which is great when it
comes to helping to repair and protect your hair. Vitamin E is also
great at helping to promote hair growth.
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Health Benefit #13 – Benefits Babies
Sesame seeds don't just benefit adults, they can help your little ones
too. While it isn't safe to give a baby sesame seeds to eat sesame seed
oil can be used on the babys skin. It can be used to treat rashes on
baby or it can be used to help dry skin. Some even consider it to be a
tad bit better for the skin that heavy lotions and baby oil's filled
with chemicals.
Health benefit #14 – Helps With Oral Hygiene
Sesame seed oil is actually one of the oils that's great to use when oil
pulling. Oil pulling helps greatly with boosting oral health. It helps
fight bacteria, whiten teeth and even freshen breath.
Health Benefit #15 – Promotes respiratory Health
Because of the magnesium in sesame seeds it's great for the human
respiratory system. It is even said that sesame seeds can lead to the
prevention of respiratory problems such as asthma. For people who
already have asthma it can help maintain and prevent frequent asthma
attacks.
If you want to make sure that you get a sesame rich diet try cooking
with sesame seed oil about three times a week. There are many dishes
that are well known for being delicious sesame seed dishes. One very
popular dish is sesame chicken.
If you're not feeling chicken then you can cook almost anything else and
add sesame seeds to the mix. Really, just try it. You can have sesame
seed spaghetti, steak with a sesame seed crust and even sesame seed
cake! The possibilities are really endless and you can be as creative as
you want. Not only will adding sesame add a bit of excitement to your
dish you'll also get all the above mentioned health benefits.
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