Greetings Lovelies!!!

Enhanced Audio Version of article below & Naturally You Radio Podcast Episode 24 

I’ve been in the practice of mindfully preparing our whole foods to get the most nutrients and digestibility (is that a real word?!?) out of them as possible.

One of the things i do to achieve this is soaking and sometimes sprouting almost all of our nuts, seeds, beans, lentils and grains before cooking or eating them.

Here’s an excerpt from my book “Becoming Naturally You” page 138 where I explain the reason for doing this:

“Nuts, grains, beans and seeds all become more nutritious when they are soaked before cooking. This is because in their dry state, they contain various antinutrients (inc enzyme inhibitors, phytic acid etc) which protect them and keep them in a dormant state until they are ready to grow in nature, but also make them indigestible.

This is so that while in nature, until they find the right conditions for growth they won’t rot or get eaten up entirely by insects. Whether you plant them in the ground and water them or soak them in water overnight, once exposed to enough moisture for a certain amount of time, nutrients in them become activated and available, either to make a healthier more digestible food to eat or to give it nutrients and energy to grow into a new plant in the ground.

This is due most of these protective antinutrients being effectively soaked off them. Antinutrients are naturally occurring substances found mainly in plant seeds that interfere with our ability to digest vitamins and minerals within the plants.

So when we eat foods with antinutrients on them, not only do we miss out on the nutrients locked in the unsoaked foods we’re eating, but the antinutrients once in us, can literally bind to nutrients in our bodies making them unavailable. One such antinutrient called Phytic acid has been shown to bind to calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc and block our bodies ability to absorb them efficiently.

People who regularly eat unsoaked and poorly prepared beans, grains, lentils etc are at risk and have even been shown to suffer with mineral deficiencies, which could be avoided and reduced simply by soaking these foods and cooking them well before eating them.

Once soaked, live enzymes are also formed in these foods, which make them an energy boosting food and further help our bodies to digest them.

Once you’ve soaked these foods, you can then drain them and allow them to actually sprout, and as the name suggests, you will see a sprout and eventually a green shoot begin growing from what your sprouting, which if left to continue could grow into a plant of that food.

Sprouts are famous for their energy and protein content (think alfalfa sprouts, watercress etc) so they are great for those who are lacking protein or energy while adding more raw food to their diet.

They are also useful for vegetarians, vegans and raw vegans who are found to be protein metabolic types or who want to boost their plant based protein intake.”

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Discover more about my book and download your copy of the book instantly here

Here’s a video I shared recently of how I prepare some of our foods in the Salmon House 🙂 

I hope you found them useful and please comment with any food preparation tips you’d like to share

Much love, Take care and stay healthy

Take care and stay healthy

Leah

The Naturally You Coach

About the Author: Leah Salmon, The Naturally You Coach, is a bestselling author, speaker, nutritionist, live blood analyst and life coach, focused on womb & pregnancy health and premature birth prevention & on a mission to help 100,000 black women to eat for health, think for happiness and live in harmony by 2020 or what she calls Becoming Naturally You. She does this through her clinic, books, programs, coaching, events, workshops, videos, articles and a free weekly ezine.