Every weekday morning, I pour myself a hearty, grainy bowl of granola and top it off with berries, bananas, or almonds. (On the weekend, I indulge my egg love).

Recently, I switched from my long-time favourite honey-and-oat-based cereal to one filled with pumpkin seeds and flaxseed - these teeny-tiny brown seeds that, I hesitate to admit this, I first thought resembled legless bedbugs. Eww, unappetizing, I know. Don’t get me wrong, they tasted great - slightly nutty and added just a bit more texture to the mix.

But once I read up on those little nutritional powerhouses, I realized what a good breakfast choice I’d made.

Why flaxseeds are fabulous:

- Just a tablespoon of flaxseed provides a hefty helping of the kind of omega-3 fatty acids that can help to protect us from heart disease, high blood pressure, and bone loss.

- Flaxseeds are one of the best sources for omega-3s for those who don’t eat fish or want to take fish oils.

- The little seeds pack lots of soluble and insoluble fibre to aid digestion and help to lower cholesterol and stabilize blood sugar.

A helpful flax fact: Flaxseeds are so small that it’s easy to just swallow them whole. What you’ll come to find out is that a flaxseed swallowed whole will, ahem, stay that way once it’s digested. Be sure to chew them up to get the full benefit of the seeds!

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Keep reading for more information about flaxseeds’ nutritional benefits as well as what they taste like and how to store them and sprinkle them into a healthy diet.