Why Soak Nuts, Grains, Beans, Peas, Before Eating?

In one of Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Kitchen YouTube videos she mentioned the importance of soaking nuts and rinsing nuts and explained a little about them containing enzyme inhibitors. This made me wonder more about why we should soak nuts before eating them? My research shows that all nuts and seeds contain enzyme inhibitors which will neutralize some of the enzymes our bodies produce. Your body needs enzymes to survive. I learned a lot from reading several articles on this topic and share my findings below.

Cooking is one way to destroy enzyme inhibitors. The other is by soaking and rinsing your nuts thoroughly. The soaking process not only removes the enzyme inhibitors, but releases the nutrients in them.

Here’s how to soak nuts and seeds:

Soak your nuts in a glass container filling it with purified or filtered water well above the nuts to allow for swelling. Allow them to soak for 8 – 12 hours. Rinse them thoroughly! If you are not going to use them right away drain and rinse them; and then fill the container with fresh water again. Soak and rinse them the next day. Doing this twice is ideal, but once definitely helps. If you are not going to use them the next day you should store them in the refrigerator and allow the air to get to them (not in a sealed container).

If you are going to use them in a protein shake, you may use them as is. If you wish to have them crunchy again, the best way to achieve this is to use a dehydrator. Make sure you purchase one which can accommodate small nuts, which has a small screen, versus a large screen for fruit and nuts.

I found an article that explains how to dehydrate specific types of nuts and at what temperature. The article suggests adding salt during the soaking.

Foods which contain enzymes are:

• Raw peanuts (have a lot)
• Raw wheat germ (one of the most)
• Peas
• Beans
• Lentils
• Potatoes (concentrated in the eyes)
• Eggs (mainly in the egg white)

Grains and beans also contain phytic acid which absorbs calcium, phosphorus, iron and zinc. To prevent this from occurring you should ferment these food items by soaking them in water for about 7 hours and beans for at least 12. Ensure to add either whey or powdered yogurt.

Salt is also an enzyme inhibitor.

One of my readers’ daughter did some research on which food dehydrators are the best to use for nuts.  Her daughter is studying Nutritional Therapy.  She ended up purchasing the ED2400 4 -tray food dehydrator for $105.99 with free shipping through http://www.therawfoodworld.com.  It can be used for small nuts.

SOURCES:

ARTICLE ON SOAKING NUTS AND SEEDS ON http://www.avenaoriginals.com/ NO LONGER EXISTS. THEREFORE, THE LINK HAS BEEN REMOVED.

http://www.soul-guidance.com/health/enzymes.htm