Don’t let their size fool you. Tiny though they are, seeds can be some of the most nutritious foods on the planet.

The power they contain inside their tiny package (that enables them to grow into a vibrant plant) is the same power that enables your body to fight disease and stay vibrant. In other words, incorporating seeds into your daily diet is one of the easiest ways to maintain health.

The key to accessing all a seed has to offer, however, is in sprouting them. This step unlocks all of their valuable vitamins and minerals and makes them easier for the body to absorb.

Sprouted seeds are known as living superfoods. And this is particularly true of sprouted flax. Nutritionists already consider flaxseed a “miracle food.” But sprouting massively multiplies its best features:

• ability to balance cholesterol

• ability to strengthen skin and nails

• ability to stabilize mood

• ability to protect your bones, heart, and brain from internal inflammation and other degradation

Convinced that sprouted flaxseed needs to be added to your diet? Then let’s move to just HOW to sprout flaxseeds. They’re a mucilaginous seed, meaning they take up water and become a jelly-like mass when submerged. This makes them tricky to sprout.

But after considerable research, I found someone that’s learned how to do this. Jeem Elliott shares her technique on her great site, The Gourmet Vegetarian Kitchen (www.gourmetvegetariankitchen.com) . Here’s what she says we need:

• Flaxseed

• An unglazed terracotta dish.

• A spray bottle & water (preferably a glass one–Jeem just uses a spray head with a recycled glass jar).

And here’s what she says we do to get perfectly sprouted flaxseed:

Day 1: Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of the seeds in the terra cotta dish.

Spray them with water until completely drenched, but not floating in water.

Cover the dish and leave it in a dark and quiet area (someplace where they won’t be disturbed). You can cover it with cardboard or anything to keep the light out. Jeem uses another terracotta dish for a lid.

For the first few hours, spray them as often as you can remember to. This step is important; they must not dry out.

Day 2: Keep spraying them at least 2 times a day: once in the morning, and once in the evening. Keep the dish covered and in a quiet area.

Day 3: You can see some tiny sprouts trying to break out. Keep on spraying.

Day 4: Almost all have sprouted. Jeem usually dehydrates them at this point. Be careful not to let them sprout too long if you want to dehydrate them.

To eat dehydrated flaxseed, grind them as you do when you eat non-sprouted flaxseed. Also, these sprouts can be added, undehydrated or ungrinded (aka fresh sprouts), to your green smoothie.

To eat them fresh just keep repeating the process until their sprout tails get longer and the seeds develop leaves (usually about day 6). Stop covering them, and put them in a glass jar. Put the jar somewhere they can get some light. Keep them refrigerated and eat them as part of your salad.

Here’s to increased health and vibrancy!