At the retreat I use to teach that you can absorb up to 600% more of the nutrients from grains, nuts, beans, legumes and seeds simply by soaking them for 8-12hrs. While this may serve correct for most grains, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes, there is a huge elephant in the room and I mean a prehistoric elephant!!
Shedding some light
It is true that these food have evolved with a defence against animals eating them, the main ones being enzyme inhibitors. Different cultures around the world quickly worked out that these foods can cause bloating, pain, IBS, Ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, Diarrhoea and leaky gut, not to mention the more chronic problems like lowering stomach acid, osteoporosis, food intolerances and allergies.
They found that by simply soaking these grains to initiate the first stages on germ activation, this would neutralise these problems.
This all sound well and good, and this is why the activation craze has taken off around the world, but there is a huge elephant in the room. Many who eat these products think that they are now doing the perfect thing for their health, when in the reality they are not, how many people out there have tried activating only to find there problems never went away or even got worse?
A lot! I can tell you I saw hundred of these cases, the principal was right but there was fundamental flaw that no one was addressing.
You see, grains, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes all come equipped with enzymes to break down these toxins, but, and I really mean BUT, these delicate enzymes are destroyed by oxidation and heat. This means that if these foods have been exposed to oxygen, light or heat at any time from being harvested to you soaking them, soaking or activating will do no good.
Why?
You simply cannot activate something that has had its activating enemies destroyed.
For example, when companies use heat to crack the macadamia nut shell, which is done in Australia (I met with a Macadamia farm and discussed this procedure, so I heard first hand from the lion's mouth), its destroys the enzymes in the nut, even if you buy raw ones, this may and probably has unfortunately been done. Many other nuts that have been bought in from foreign countries have no enzymes simply because they are too old. Most nuts will only hold their enzymes for 3-6mths once they are hulled.
I use to work at a health food store on the Gold Coast whose almonds were often a year old because they were bought in bulk.
It wouldn't matter what type of magic you performed, these nuts wouldn't activate.
Purchasing activated nuts
Eating those nuts from a stall at the markets, which is selling them under the deceiving title of activation is a blatant lie, but please don't persecute those stall holders, they aren't aware, they are trying to help but just don't know the science. These nuts are not activated, they are merely nuts that have been soaked in water that are dried out again, I repeat "The enzymes that would activate the nut just aren't there to do the job, they were destroyed in the processing and storage"
So in reality you are paying triple the price for a wet nut that has been dried.
What about activated cereals?
Activated cereals will always be made with a base. Take for example one which has rolled oats in it, these oats have been steam rolled, yes heat steam rolled which destroys the valuable enzymes. This does serve a purpose, it gives the oats a long shelf life, but it does nothing for the nutrition that was originally in the grain.
It doesn't matter how long you soak the grains, it achieves nothing. Scientific testing has proven that rolled oats contain little enzymes for activation and it may prove a pointless exercise, the conclusion was that oats just don't contain these enzymes, but this isn't true either.
If that was true then the oat would not be unable to ever grow into a plant, because these enzyme inhibitors must be neutralised in order for the grain to germinate, the truth is that whole raw oats contain many enzymes to break down these toxins, rolled oats don't. Whole oats are raw, rolled oats are cooked. You can buy steel cut oats but as soon as the oats have been fragmenting they turn rancid, do you know how long it takes for a milled grain to turn rancid? At room temperature 3-5 days
Why should I do?
I would strongly urge anyone eating these foods to purchase them in their whole form for a start, the second thing would be to buy local, unfortunately no nuts, seeds or grains from overseas. These are old, and have been sprayed, heat treated and exposed to high temperatures or irradiated before coming into the country.
If you want to mill them, do this yourself with a $15 coffee grinder, and soak them yourself.
A good rule of thumb is to think what you will be eating the next day, and if any meals contain grains, nuts, seeds, beans or legumes, put them in a bowl covered with water and soak overnight at room temperature.
We all read all the best things to do, but sometimes it is simply easier to be taught and shown. Sometimes it all seems just too hard, when in reality its quite easy, you just haven't been shown how to do it by someone who has learnt the short cuts. That is the difference at my two and four day retreats, I've put it altogether and teach you, hands on the easy way.
No confusion, no misinterpretation, you leave and you know what to do, by practical application until you master it.
So remember buy local, buy whole and soak yourself
My name is Blair Harvey and I have had the pleasure of working at one of Australia's best Health Retreat's for the past fourteen wonderful years. Over those years I have had the delight of working with a spectacular kitchen team, we all have an immense passion for cooking good healthy food that is unique and tantalizing to your taste buds. Together we have not only developed our skills in cooking wholesome, nourishing and out right delicious foods, but we have been committed to broadening our knowledge of healing with whole foods and exploring the beauty of healthy living. Because of our enthusiasm in the benefits of foods and there healing properties I developed a blog to help us SHARE what we have learnt with the rest of the world.
You will find tasty gems of wisdom on health, food and healing, helping to expand your mind and revitalize your knowledge of healthy eating.