Regarding your question, I decided to try it and see. Honestly, up until this point, I have always ground my flax seeds in a coffee grinder; then added it to my smoothie recipes in my Vitamix. It just never occurred to me to try the Vitamix. But since the blade in the Vitamix is extremely powerful and has been researched at the University of Toronto for its benefits in making food more bio-available, I thought I would try it! You can read about the research study here: http://www.vitamix.com/household/infocenter/research.asp

So here’s what I did. I took 8 oz of unsweetened Almond Milk, 2 heaping Tablespoons of Organic Golden Flax Seed and added it to my Vitamix. Put the lid on and started it up. The variable speed, even on level 10, was not enough to break apart the seed, so I had to go to High at Level 10.

The results: At High on Level 10 for 30 seconds, the Vitamix DID break apart the flax seeds. Unfortunately, because of the high speed used, the liquid spun up very high into the container and there was alot remaining on the sides of the container and in the lid itself. So there was quite alot of waste in my opinion.

So my opinion is that even though it is capable of doing flax seeds, because of the waste, I would recommend you grind them in a coffee grinder first, THEN add them to your smoothie mix in your Vitamix to blend completely. A traditional blender is not strong or powerful enough to break apart the flax seeds sufficiently so you would definitely need a coffee grinder for this. If time is a challenge to do this extra step every single day, I recommend grinding up about 8 oz of flax seed ahead of time and storing in an airtight, tupperware-type of container in the freezer. It does not freeze, so you can just scoop out the appropriate amount every morning and add it to your smoothie. Saves time and the freezer keeps it very fresh!

Hope that helps answer your question and thanks for passing it on!
Stay Healthy!
Melissa Wood, ND

I just bought some Organic Golden Flax Seed. I make Green Smoothies in my Vita-Mix blender (it is a powerful machine).

I want to know if I need to grind the Flax Seed in a coffee grinder, or if I can just add them in my Vita-Mix when I am blending my smoothies???

What do you think if I put the (liquid) I will be using in my Vita-Mix and (just) the Flax Seed and run (the liquid & Flax Seed) for 30 seconds to 1 minute or so, will this be good enough to grind the Flax Seed??? Or do you still recomend the coffee grinder?

I have read that people put the Flax Seed in a normal blender when they are making smoothies. But, maybe they don’t get ground good?

Thank You so much, I am anxious to read your comments on this. I will pass your suggestion on to The Raw Divas group.

Susan Glover