Natural Remedies for Eye Floaters

Eye floaters do not necessarily come from one aging. No one in my family has eye floaters, even my mom who is in her 70/s. I used a mascara that was given to me from Sephora brand which I never used before. Upon using their brand my eyes were all red and was burning. I went to the doctor and was told a chemical in the mascara. I am a very sensitive person when it comes to certain products. I never used any of these products again. However, I am using origins plant based mascara and did not have this problem. My eyes were extremely red and inflamed from the chemically mascara. I am taking lysine, digestive enzymes' and taurine. When I am stressed they show up more. The only thing I am able to control them with proper nutrition and some eye exercises along with a good eye vitamin.

Do you use MSM drops in the eyes or internally with capsules? Where do you buy and how much do you take? Thanks.

Oh and what brand organic multivitamin?

Thanks so much. I recently bought MSM eye drops with vitamin c. Have been doing a few drops several times a day. Haven't had any changes in my two floaters yet. But patience is a virtue.

Thanks for updating, Alex. I have floaters, too and have considered this remedy but you are saving me the trouble!

~Mama to Many~

I've use a 5ml bottle of Can-C eye drops (N-Acetylcarnosine) with NO RESULTS for my eye floaters as the site which produces it says. One drop every day for weeks. No side effects either

I've used about 150gr of Comfrey tea with zero results. Every time I did a tea I also put 1 drop of the tea in my eye in the morning and one in the afternoon. Zero results for me with no side effects either.

Castor oiled failed for me. I used cold pressed, hexane free castor oil not only for 8-9 days as Al Miller have suggested, but for a whole month with no results. My eye floaters still remain. I used one drop per day in the afternoon. I had no infection at all even though the castor oil is not sterile. If I used it just before bed time though I had much eye in the morning so I abadoned night use.

Be carefull, because it is oil, if someone has a RCE (recurrent corneal errosion) it can deteriorate the cornea and make the epithelium stick off with ease even while not sleeping! I had that case and stopped the use in my left eye allthough it was fine for months.

Yes, getting old is a series of "ok, that wasn't there before". Yesterday, had my first sudden floaters, never had them before. Will see the eye doc. Recently started taking Benfotiamine for my leg circulation.. so wonder if that somehow contributed. Kind of a reminder for me to stay away from supplement hype and try to go natural. In this case just stick with Nutritional Yeast for my B vitamins.

Flash of light is our bodies changing from carbon to crystalline, I also have flash and floaters, its all related to ascention, read the phoenix journals.

How much comfrey did you use?

I picked four good sized leaves (stems included) chopped them up and boiled them for about five minutes in two quarts of water. Drank the tea through out the day.

How do you put it in and what kind do you use?

Interesting article on floaters:FLOATERS AND THEIR TREATMENT WITH CHINESE HERBS

http://www.itmonline.org/arts/floaters.htm

Taurine? I used that a lot for type 2 diab. It did not show any results. I also have floaters. No improvement as well, so don't get your hopes too high :)

Hi Saba, you described exactly what I am experiencing and the reason I started looking at these symptoms. It's annoying and for me it started two days ago, and it seems to intensify with less light. Anyway I'm going to start with B12 as I'm reading it did the trick for Art (thank you Art), and I'll let you know.

Hi Karan, Why don't you try it and see what your results are? It has worked for me. But I eat at least one can of beets per week in what I call my health salad. It is so tasty! I would eat it more often but it takes about a half hour to prepare, and often I just eat something else instead. I'm trying to get into a routine with the same breakfast and then the salad for a combination of lunch/dinner and a snack later on. The salad is large, so it lasts a couple of days or a bit longer if I eat that exclusively for each meal. Good luck!

I'm not sure that eye floaters have much to do with age. I've had them since I was in my late teens/early 20's. :

Back then (I'm 53 now) the eye doctor said; "Meh...it happens", and that was that. No real explanation.

Hi Julie Tor. Cda & Prioris FL,

My Can-C eyedrops and L-Carnosine 500 mg capsules arrived today. I have put one drop of Can-C in each eye and have taken one L-Carnosine capsule. I will let you know how it works out for me to get rid of my eye floaters.

Today is the tenth day of the Can-C and 500 mg L-Carnosine capsules for eye-floaters regimen. Starting today I am increasing the Can-C drops from one drop per day to two drops per day, with one drop in the morning and one drop in the evening. So far there is no decernable change in my eye-floaters.

I'd give the test 4 weeks or just finish bottle. Doesn't seem to be too promising from your reports. I have tried it for 2 weeks with no positive results. I will experiment with it more later. I have had some positive results with taurine but it starts to give me a migraine.

It is now five weeks since starting using Can-C eye-drops and a 500 mg L-Carnosine capsule per day for my eye-floaters. I am currently using two Can-C drops per day and there is no improvement to report.

Hi Frank-- I had some bad eye-floaters at one time, such that I couldn't see all the letters in a sign for instance. I also saw strange colors like an oil slick sometimes. Like it or don't, but what really helped me was putting collodial silver solution in a small, glass spray-mister bottle, and spraying a few squirts in my eye a few times. It was a godsend, and worked almost immediately.

What I do now, for my dry eyes, is put coconut oil on my lids and all over the lashes and everything. It does not bother my vision at all, and seems to be clearing it of dry eye, stringers, parasites, floaters and what-have-you... as another poster has mentioned.

But my big secret is that I follow an East Indian practice of placing urine in my eyes (i.e., M-urine).

Hope it works as well for you as it did for me! I wouldn't do all three at the same time.

--May You See Your WayClear

Awesome, Thank you for your Comment I'll try this eye drops because I have very heavy eye floaters from the vitreous like clouds on the Sky, I can't see the signs when I driving and lot distractions, Thank you

Hi Francisca, Sharon and John. I also have used Adelle Davis' books Let's Eat Right and Let's Get Well for at least 30 years and have found solutions to many health problems through them. The way I have come to look at our bodies is that they are biological machines and like any machine require certain things to operate properly. I we look at a car and you didn't have gas in the tank, or water in the radiator, or air in the tires, etc. , you'd have problems. The same is true of our bodies. If you don't have vitamin B1 you get beri beri. If you don't get vitamin A you go blind. If you don't have enough vitamin C you get scurvy. In fact, a vitamin can't be classed as a vitamin unless it can be demonstrated that you'll get some specific disease without it. Similarly, minerals play an important role in our bodies. Without iodine your thyroid gland can't produce thyroxin. Without iron your body can't produce hemoglobin. And sodium and potassium play an important role in maintaining the proper balance in bodily fluids, transport of substances into and out of cells as well as energy production and messaging in the body. In short, our bodies are a tremendous conglomerate of many systems that make use of many chemicals and minerals in the fulfillment of their functions. The reason I mention these things is that Adelle Davis among other things held a Masters of Science Degree in Biochemistry. As a result, she was able to gain unique incites into how the body functions and what illnesses might result from the deficiency of an essential nutrient necessary to a certain body function. And, if you reverse that she was often able to see that certain illnesses were the likely result of some nutrient deficiency. Adelle didn't have all the answers and the knowledge of biochemistry is increasing very quickly, but if a scientific fact was really true back then, it will still be true today like water will always be H20. After I read Adelle Davis' Let's Eat Right, I was hooked. It explained in simple understandable language the effects of so many nutrients and their functions within the body. Ever since, I have been a student of nutrition and I don't just accept things like there's no cure for dry eyes of eye floaters like my optometrist said a week ago. I seem to have already found a solution to my dry eye problem and am reading this forum looking for ideas on eye floaters. I have often found that it is like detective work. You just keep searching and reading. And, you pick up a clue here and a clue there until you get and understanding of the problem and then hopefully a solution. I believe Adelle Davis' Let's Eat Right should be read by everyone. It's not all knowing but a great place for anyone to start their researches. IMHO.

Exactly, Debbie. We are not in Kansas anymore, Toto! Things have changed. a carrot is not what it used to be. the soils are depleting and the rain is not as pure as before either. we have to take supplements to get anywhere near where our grandparents were at in regards to nutrition.

And also, there is nor use saying that putting better fuel in will cure everything that is wrong, as some suggest here on EC. The best petrol in the world will not help an engine if the radiator is clogged and the spark is not strong to the spark plugs!

I apologize to all for how my above post came out as one long paragraph. I typed it up in MS Word and copied it over. I should have checked it before posting but it lost all the breaks between paragraphs in the process. Sorry.

Wow, John you are certainly well informed and eating everything right. You are so lucky to be living where you are where you have access to such great food. It sounds like a good book.

I have a farmers market near me. The guy that was selling oranges had no idea that roundup was a deadly thing to spray on the roots of his orange trees. Even the apple seller was using Roundup at the base of his apple trees. Roundup takes minerals out of the soil and the plants in it which we then eat. I used to use roundup myself until I found it is a Montsanto toxin. Deadly in our soils. The organic eggs I was buying, the hens were being fed grains. I am thinking of buy a laying hen and feed it herbs.

You are right that kids today should be educated about food. I myself am learning new things every day. Thank goodness for the internet.

Do you eat any fresh herbs? That would be a good thing to add to what you are eating. A few herbs that I recommend if you can get them are Gotu Kola and Brahmi. They are both Ayurvedic herbs and are renowned in India as being longevity herbs as well as amazing for the brain (can reverse many brain ailments). They are blood purifiers also. The Gotu Kola can reverse arthritis and clear the arteries.. And many, many other amazing stuff. Another herb which is amazing is Herb Robert if you can find some, especially as a blood purifier and for cancer. The Gotu Kola you can even use like they do in Sri Lanka in a fresh salad every day. If you grow it fresh it grows very fast and you can access to free salad greens every day.

Stinging Nettles is also considered a weed but are a great source of calcium which is organic unlike calcium in pasteurized milk which is inorganic (because of heat) and unavailable to the body. Raw milk is definitely better if you can buy it.

People buy a lot of herbs in a bottle these days but forget that they are usually very easy to grow and won't have additives in them like the bottled ones do. Also you don't know if the seeds in supplement herbs were even organic seeds not or treated with something.

Herbs that you grow are cheap and an easy source of vitamins and minerals and have no pesticides in them). You can also dry them in the good months and have them as a tea or even sprinkle the dry herbs in cooking over the winter.

Even Dandelion leaf is great in a salad and is a good source of magnesium as well as other minerals.

We also need to be saving our non-hybrid seeds for future generations.

I feel very worried about uninformed kids of today and what their lives will be like. In Australia we are seeing more and more overweight kids and adults.

I will seek out the book you are recommending because it sounds like a good book to have on the shelf. I am buying books so my son can access some education about our foods today.

A pity there aren't more people contributing to this section as there are many people suffering from eye floaters. I have tried a lot of natural remedies but nothing has worked so far, also eye therapy to lower my myopia. I have to say that I am ready to try a lot of things but the cottage cheese not really as I can't stand most milk products. I have tried MSM drops, herbs for the liver, phosphatus, cordiceps and a lot more but so far nothing made my eye floaters better. Maybe someone comes up with an answer......or more things one could try!

Quark, flax, cheese - forget it - just try those l-carnisine eye drops.

1. can-c

2. Bright eyes

You might have to order them online but they exist and reduce your floaters amazingly well. Use them as much as you want - the more the better. No side effects except your eyes feel a million times better. They are a miracle so try them if you have bad floaters. Forget diets, looking into the moon or sun & any other stupid old remedy - just get those drops and start using them alot.

Then get back online and tell people - maybe the eye community can make those eye doctors tell us about these drops even if they aren't a prescription. They don't seem to recognize them - which led me to get my 2nd floater - if I had used them when I got the first one - I never would have got this second one and my life would have been way better.

Please clarify

1 a day for 7 days?

Does that mean you take this throughout the year? or just take it for 7 days total?

Has anyone tried HA in the form of eye drops for floaters? Thank you

I have tried hyaluronic acid eye drops with no results for my eye floaters. They usually sell them for dry eyes.

I had cataract operation couple of years ago. Since yesterday I am seeing something like a black lined circle and a dot in the middle with my left eye. Initially I thought it is my hair which is coming in front of my eyes. But then I realized it's something I can see whichever direction I turn my eye, I able to see. Please let me know some home remedy

Did the flashing lights go away too?

I used crystalline taurine every day for six months with no results to my eye floaters.

What is oil pulling for eye floaters? Do you pour oil in your eyes? I'm curious. Thanks.

Hi how bad were your floaters? I'm looking for a remedy and would like to try this

What kind of castor oil should I buy for the eyes?

That's great! How long was it before you noticed improvement?

I've been eating canned beets and drinking the juice they come in every day for a week and haven't noticed improvement yet. How long does it take? Getting burned out with beets and not seeing results.

I am from VN. I have suffer floater for years. How can I find beets or any fruits can replace it. DO you have any experiment share to me? Thank you so much

Hi Carolina, sorry to hear you haven't seen any difference after eating beets. Have you gone to see the eye doctor to make sure what you are dealing with are really eye floaters and not something else? There are several other conditions that cause black spots in your vision, and some of them are very serious.

Hi Duc, I would imagine you could get fresh beets at the vegetable market in VN. Cook them and eat them. There is no substitute.

Hello Pbatech.

I would like to know for how long you have gotten these eye floaters? And how old are you? Do they become more visible if you don't eat beets?

How often and how much do you drink?

William, which Castor Oil do you use?

I have more floaters in my eyes that I even care to talk about... Does the castor oil really work? More info. would be great! Steve

So are you saying it's safe to put castor oil in the eye and if so how much?

Dear Bell,

I keep castor oil in a small squeeze bottle and then it is easy to put into my eyes. Keeping some in a small bottle with an eyedropper would work, too.

I look for brands that are cold or expeller pressed and hexane free when using it in my eyes. I have used castor oil from Heritage, Home Health and Mountain Rose Herbs.

~Mama to Many~

I have floaters in both eyes and emerging cataract. Read about castor oil for cataract and got down some oil (USP) packed by a company called Humco in Texas. According to the label it is to be used as a laxative. Unfortunately I am not sure about the purity of the castor oil here that is why I imported it from USA. Could I use this for my eyes? Regards

Sri Lanka, see if you can find online Can-C eye drops (with L carnosine). I have seen photos of before and after 6 months, of a full blown eye cataract from a trial. Gone. So it is a proven eye drop solution, doctor developed, for humans and animal cataracts. The box one buys comes with TWO eye-drop bottles.

How many weeks did it take for the castor oil take to cure your eye floaters? Thanks

@Carri, Rmt & Stress Reduction Practitioner. Good advice that made me think about this connection. Just one more thing - chronic tight neck/shoulder that is not relieved by any therapy is probably caused by the liver energy imbalances, according to TCM. Sometime neck tightness disappears on its own, just to come back without rhyme or reason. I would not focus on stretching if you are one of the people with chronic stiff neck/shoulders. Address liver imbalances.

Stephanie- Is this Taurine you're taking the same stuff they use in energy drinks? Are they in the form of eye drops?

Om, how do you apply the castor oil, to the eye lids?

FWIW, I have taken a 500 mg capsule of Taurine everyday for five days now and I don't see any noticable difference in my eye floaters so far.

I have also taken with the Taurine a 50 mg zinc gluconate tablet, a 40 mg manganese capsule, a 100 mg vitamin B6 tablet, a vitamin A&D caplsule and a lecithin capsule as these are supposed to be synergistic with Taurine.

Just a suggestion. I would experiment with N-acetyl-carnosine since it addresses a broad range of eye problems and report back on the results.

Lately I'm seeing flashes in my eyes. Sometimes they come on the sides and sometimes at the bottom. They only last a second or two. Does anyway know what they are and how to heal it? Please help, thank you.

Saba: when you see eye flashes you should RUN to the doctor! It may be nothing but it may be something very serious and you MUST catch it early.

This is one of the rare times I am going to say this.... You need to see an eye doctor. Right away. As in first thing in the morning. You could have something very serious going on that could cause blindness. I am not trying to scare you, but please.... Go. Good luck, and please keep us posted.

OK thanks I will do that. Scary!

I got these once in the shape of a football that got larger and larger until I couldn't see at all... For about half an hour , then I was fine and went to the eye doc. He asked if I had a pounding headache. I said no, he said lucky you, it was a migraine. My friend gets them and loses her sight all the time, for more than an hour at a time. Maybe low magnesium. I had this over ten years ago, only one!

I belive that there may be a b12 connection the other way.

I was having red flashes, that intensified with additinal B12, I suspected the cianide in the pharmacutical B12, and changed to methyl B12. The red flashes stopped right away, the floaters that came with them did not.

If my hunch is correct, the cianide may be a causetive factor. I did not reaserch further as of yet.

For the floaters I used dr, william wright's protocol, choline +inisitol.

Big improvment, not perfect, and you have to keep up the treatment. Ten years of pretty good sucsess so far.

But my second eye started now, maybe I need to up the dose, perhaps I am not absorbing the vitamins properly.

Saba, from experience, you most likely have vitreous detachment. The jelly vitreous fluid of the eye ball shrinks with age. Light then fills the void causing the flashing. Not much can be done but important you see an eye doctor immediately to make sure is not major problem that could be forming.

Hi Jay, Hoping you are doing great. I am suffering from eye flaoters since 4 years and after the last few weeks it got increased. I have been checked by eyes from varius Doctors but they said no treatment is required. Could you please let me know about the beet juice and how much benefit you got with that? Regards, Shikhar

Would also like to know about the beet juice. I purchased some beets a few days ago and would like to know should I just juice them and how much juice are you using? Thanks so much!!

Hi Carol, I use canned beets. Drained and rinsed under running water in a colander to rinse off the excess salt used in canning. And then I put them in a "salad" that is more like a gazpacho. If you get raw beets I think that the extra work of cooking them all the time would get tedious and make someone stop bothering with them. When I tell people about how wonderful beets are they will say they love beets, but I find that they will eat them once or twice a year. This is not often enough to see any improvement from them. I make my large salad weekly and it lasts two or three days for all my meals.

Hi Jai, I have flashes and floaters both. And my vision of left eye is going too blurry. Could you tell me that will it work on my flashes? If yes then how much quantity should be used.

Raj from Himachal - u must visit an eye doctor asap. This condition could be very serious. Don't waste time.

Sleeping on your stomach causes eye floaters.

Hi Tonio, eye floaters have nothing to do with any sleeping position. They are caused by aging. And if beets can make them improve, then to a certain extent nutrition, or lack of certain nutrients in the diet.

Hello Pbatech.

I would like to know for how long you have gotten these eye floaters? And how old are you? Do they become more visible if you don't eat beets?

Hey Jay...did it work..I have a lot of them in both eyes..please let me know

Hey Jay, I am Pankaj. I am happy to see your post regarding beet juice affects on floaters. Even I am from Hyderabad and facing the same floaters. So please will you let me know how your floaters exactly are?, and is this beet juice really effective?

Hi , I've been trying the Can C drops- been through 1 bottle so far but no significant reduction in floaters... got them in both eyes and they're especially irritating after physical exertion and while looking at plain and monochrome surfaces like a white wall etc...Give them a shot... all the best.

It is now three weeks since starting using Can-C eye-drops and a 500 mg L-Carnosine capsule per day for my eye-floaters. I am currently using two Can-C drops per day and there is no improvement to report.

Hi Prioris. I originally planned to use up all of the Can-C drops and L-carnosine capsules to complete this experiment. It's getting a bit discouraging because I hoped to see some improvement in what I think are blood cells floating around if not the larger floaters But I can't detect any change even there. For now, I still intend to continue with the program. I have two bottles of Can-C drops and I'm still on the first bottle and there were 60 L-Carnosine capsules in the bottle to start with. Like you I got some headaches from the Taurine and stopped taking them when I started with the Can-C and L-Carnosine, so as not to confuse any results I might get. The research I did about Taurine indicated that it is important to retina health and I will likely resume taking those capsules once I finish this regimen.

Eye Floaters: Taking 1000mg of Vitamin C in the form of Magnesium Ascorbate works for me, as does Pantothenic Acid in the form of 'Pantethine', 450mg occasionally, as needed. Adelle Davis, in her book 'Let's Get Well' p. 351-352 recommends both the above and along with Vit. B2 and B6.

Thanks Pro8688, all the information on eye floaters is very welcome because there isn't much on this very irritating problem! I had a look at the reviews on Adelle's book on the Internet but she seems to be quite controversial and the book is quite old, do you find it a useful read? I also suffer from allergies and she seems to talk about that as well...

l have used Adelle Davis' book for many years, and the information in it has helped me tremendously to avoid a lot of problems suffered by most people. I used it successfully in my 3 pregnancies as well, and everything she says is true, except using potassium for colic in infants. The reason it is controversial is that nobody wants to know that they can successfully stay healthy by eating properly and getting the correct nutrition, especially your physicians, who need you to be sick to make money. She has some quick fixes as well as long term fixes for most health problems. My favorite book is "let's have healthy children". I found online, an attorneys statement that 2 families tried to sue her when they erroneously tried something in her books that clearly were not suggested as remedies, just after notes of interest. One other of the families had given their small child 1 million units of Vitamin A daily. They settled out of court for small amounts.. Most of her ideas were harmless unless carried to extremes. She died at age 70 with bone cancer, and people immediately fixated on this, never mind that she lived to be 70.

Hi Sharon, I also have an Adele Davis book that I bought in about 1970. It's "Let's Eat Right to Stay Fit. " I have referred to it as recent as last week. The pages of my book are yellow it's so old. If something worked 40 years ago it still will work today... The book has everything in it... I have read it many times.. Much much information... She was many many years ahead of her time.. A brilliant lady... God Bless her..

Hi Nadine, I have also had floaters for many years. That seems to be connected with the age and the fact that the retina starts pulling and getting detached. Mine are always there is there is more light and nothing I try makes me see less of these crazy things. Could you maybe explain what you did with the flaxseed oil? Did you do oil pulling, take it or something else? I have been taking flaxseed oil in pills for a while but didn't notice any difference. Before that I also took 1 soup spoon a day with no results and I was afraid the oil would turn rancid without me noticing it so I stopped and started with the pill. Please tell me what you do exactly and I hope they never come back for you as this is really annoying! Like you I am always hunting for solutions!

How did you use flaxseed? Please give details!

Have you tried the Mini beet protocol (details on earthclinic are available)? When I tried it for 2-3 days, my eyes looked to bright and clean. I think it will help with eye issues you have. Others who used the MBP also said that their eye-balls looked clear after doing the MBP.

Hello Julie, First of all I want to thank you for sharing the experience you have had with these drops. Could you please tell me where to buy these drops? I would be so thankful if you provide me the link or tell me from where did you get these drops. Thanks

Have you tried doing a gallbladder liver flush? I am on my second day of preparation. you really have to prep for it so I will definitely look into it do six days of getting your stones in your gallbladder and your liver soft so they will go out easy. Because liver congestion is a big issue with a lot of our health issues I have personally suffered from a few gallbladder attacks over the past year and I'm ready to do this! But prep is the key and you can do it several times a year until you are flushing out no more stones

You need to find out about the Budwig Diet.Read the information at www.cancertutor.com/Cancer/Budwig.html.

Dr. Johanna Budwig was the foremost expert in the world on fats and oils. She was able to heal people even from their deathbeds using flaxseed oil and cottage cheese. (It's all about the electrons!) She also recommends veggies and fruit. (no meats, animal fats, or sugar.) She lived into her 90's. and was a nominee for the nobel prize many times. Earth Clinic should be all over this one. It helps all sorts of diseases, Heart Infarction. arthritis, cancer etc, and is good for athletic performance and in fact, the whole family. I have done oil pulling for only a short time and it has helped the floaters in my eye get smaller & less dark. (they were the result of a burst capillary.)

i have floaters and you say that the use of flax seed oil can help .how much per day should i take and can i get it from my local organics shop. please write back

I don't like cottage cheese. Can I just take it by the spoon? What about doing oil pulling with flaxseed oil? I hadn't seen the answer to a first question I posted on this subject but I will surely look into the mini-beet protocol. I am so fed up of these floaters especially in my right eye which is the one most affected by myopia. I have tried countless natural medication for the liver but nothing ever changed. As someone suggested here that massaging the shoulders seems to help I will roll my shoulders next time I go for a walk in the sunshine as I see them when I am in bright lights.

I have done quite a bit of reading about the Budwig diet, and it seems that as an alternative to cottage cheese you could use quark. It makes it taste much, much nicer, especially with some cinammon and some berries. I have it every morning because it's delicious - tried the cottage cheese for awhile but the consistency put me right off.

Also, I don't think yogurt works too well - something to do with the sulphur content, but I don't remember exactly. Sulphur in itself is a very interesting element and should be researched. I think it's one of the primary ways your body moves oxygen around your body.

I doubt safety of using flax seeds. A lot of parasite sites talk about possibilities of nuts and seeds being contaminated with parasites. This totally averts me from using raw seeds. If to do termal treatment of seeds then that omega 3 fats there go rancid, then there is no point.

I understand that there can be a benefit, I just do not know how to clean these seeds.

I hear you! That is why I soak raw seeds or nut in some powdered Vitamin C for about 10 minutes for flax seeds, overnight for all others.Then I rinse them in a sieve before using. Walnuts and other nuts I dry by cotton kitchen towel, and ten place in sun on a cookie sheet with rim. If it is cloudy I dry them on lowest temperature my oven has, perhaps even with door slightly open. Then save in fridge.

Frank, so putting flax seeds in a smoothie is not a good idea? Is this also true with blended chia seeds and/or sesame seeds?

Hi Mmsg, I used to take two tablespoons of flaxseeds ground up with an electric grinder everyday. As best as I can recall I took these in my oat bran cereal for breakfast or my daily Budwig shake. I would have thought that taking them in this way that they would have been sufficiently separated to prevent them sticking together, but I believe they become trapped first in the diverticulae, then stick together, and them become infected.

At any rate after doing this for about two to three years, I got diverticulitis. This causes the diverticulae to become stretched out and deformed. Now I have to have fiber daily such as oat bran or psylium fiber to keep these diverticulae flushed out so that food particles don't become trapped in them.

With regard to chia seeds, I have no direct experience so I can't really comment on them.

With regard to sesame seeds, I have little experience with them but I suspect they are also sticky like flax seeds as I recall eating them in a Chinese restaurant where you wet the chopsticks and dipped them in the seeds to pick them up.

However, I found out the cause of the diverticulitis when I told a friend about it and he responded, "Oh you get that from eating small seeds." FWIW

Dear Frank,

Thanks for taking time to keep us posted. You are right - you haven't failed, only found out something else that didn't work. I appreciate your optimism! I trust that you will keep us posted when you come upon the solution! Thanks again!

~Mama to Many~