Have you ever thought about soaking your nuts and seeds before eating them? Are you already soaking your oatmeal and grains? Then you should include nuts/seeds because they all have 2 things in common… they contain phytic acids & enzyme inhibitors that can cause problems for our gut if not properly removed or reduced.
Today I am over at The Nourishing Gourmet sharing how soaking nuts & seeds helped my digestion, what I learned about nuts & seeds and how you can learn to properly prepare them in 3 simple steps.
I used to cringe at nuts & seeds growing up. I wasn’t fond of the waxy, slightly bitter taste or the bland texture. My parents would often put out a bowl of trail mix… I would always eat the M&M’s and dried fruits instead of the nuts. When I did force myself to eat a handful or two, I didn’t like how I felt afterwards… my stomach would sometimes feel heavy & aching. My head would hurt. My mouth sometimes felt funny and I often got tired & cranky.
I was told these guys were supposed to be healthy and a great source of energy for those who were active in sports!! Not so for me. I thought it was because I’m more of a “carb” person and couldn’t handle a lot of protein.
Fast forward to several years later, through research I learned that I was basically experiencing mild nut/seed allergies and that my body was telling me my digestive system was under a lot of stress trying to digest them.
Now, I can digest and throughly enjoy nuts/seeds with no problems! You can continue to read my story over at The Nourishing Gourmet, but before you head over there to read how soaking nuts & seeds helped my digestion… please read through these 10 reasons why you should soak nuts & seeds.
When the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors are removed, it basically sets the vitamins and minerals free to be easily absorbed by the body.
6. Helps make the proteins more easily available for absorption.
Phytic acid inhibits two specific enzymes needed to make the proteins easier to digest and absorb, Pepsin and Trypsin. Pepsin is needed to help breakdown the proteins in the stomach and Trypsin is needed for protein digestion in the small intestine. Tannins also prevents the body from properly absorbing the proteins and is removed during the soaking process.
Diets high in phytate (phytic acid) cause mineral deficiencies. Again, we know that when phytic acid is eaten, the acid binds itself to minerals like iron, magnesium, zinc, calcium, manganese and chromium in the gut. Thankfully, soaking helps deactivate the phytic acid to allow the minerals to be absorbed in the body.
Studies show that we absorb about 20% more zinc and 60% more magnesium from our food when phytic acid is removed. It is important to note that phytic acid does not leach minerals that are already stored in the body… it only prevents the absorption of minerals from food where phytic acid is present.
Ready to Get Started?
You can easily learn how to properly prepare your nuts & seeds using 3 simple steps and the soaking times varies for each nut and seed. Be sure to give this a try at least once… that’s all it took for me to be won over!
Think you will start soaking your nuts & seeds? Your gut will profusely thank you if you did!

references:
Food Enzymes for Health & Longevity by Dr. Edward Howell
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4111248
http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid
http://www.ajcn.org/content/47/2/270.full.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2998440
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=250
http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/cell2.htm
http://www.ajcn.org/content/47/2/270.full.pdf
http://www.alive.com/articles/view/17406/the_best_colon-cleansing_diet
I am very interested in this website because I do have trouble digesting nuts and don’t like the bitter taste of walnuts so want to know the amount of time to soak them. Thanks so much Patti
Hello! You can soak them overnight, but I like to soak them closer to 24 hours. Cashews only need overnight soaking.
Hi Marillyn,
Thank you for sharing such a great idea :D. Do you have the soaking time for each nut? Is that the same or different?
There is a link in the post that will lead you to the soaking times for each nut.
Thank so much! this post very useful for me.
Thanks so much. This post very useful . You can write about piza and calo
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