Soaking grains: Why is it important?
When I was studying nutrition, we focused a lot on how our ancestors prepared their food. I was constantly amazed at how they instinctively knew how to prepare meals in a way that would give them the most access to bio-available, beneficial nutrients. For instance, have you ever heard of soaking your grains before you consume them?
Grains include things like rice, wheat, oats, quinoa, whole wheat/grain, etc. These foods contain anti-nutrients, which include phytic acid, lectins, and other enzyme inhibitors. These anti-nutrients are present to hold off predators from consuming the plant before it is fully grown. While that may be an amazing design, it poses a problem for human consumption. The anti-nutrients in grains inhibit us from getting the nourishing benefits from grains by binding to essential nutrients like zinc, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, copper, and iron in the intestinal tract, therefore, preventing the body from absorbing them. The process of soaking grains breaks down the anti-nutrients present and makes the nutrients more bio-available to the body, meaning that it is getting what it needs freely.
Anti-nutrients that bind to essential nutrients can cause mineral deficiencies, bone loss, irritable bowel syndrome, leaky gut syndrome, bacterial overgrowth in the digestive system, autoimmune responses, and so much more. While many people have cut out grains due to the negative impact they have on their body, our ancestors had traditional methods in which they could prepare the grains in a way that still nourished the body. One of which was soaking. Soaking neutralizes most anti-nutrients, increases the bio-availability of beneficial nutrients, and improves digestibility so that grains can still be apart of the diet if the individual can tolerate them.
Our ancestors had amazing intuition when it came to food. I strive to walk in their footsteps to promote optimal health. Here is an easy method we can implement to do so.
If you decide to eat grains, legumes, nuts, or seeds, make sure that you are following the soaking method I outline in my free guide below to promote optimal health and nutrient absorption.