The Importance of soaking your oats/grains/pulses

Just a quick post today, up until recently I never soaked my nuts/seeds or porridge oats (well I did used to soak porridge oats overnight but stopped for some reason), I have now changed over to eating oat groats which I soak over night in water then rinse a few times before adding coconut milk to it - tastes lovely!

Anyway the reason why we must soak our grains/nuts/seeds over night is because they contain phytic acid which can actually stop you from absorbing essential minerals in your diet. Here is a passage i recently found when researching it.

taken from http://www.choosehealth.net/PracticalLiving/Cookingwithgrains.html
'Untreated phytic acid can combine with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron especially zinc in the intestinal track and block their absorption. This is why a diet high in unfermented whole grains may led to serious mineral deficiencies and bone loss. The modern misguided practice of consuming large amounts of unprocessed bran often improves colon transit time at first but may lead to irritable bowel syndrome and, in the long term, many other adverse effects. Soaking allows enzyme, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms to break down and neutralize phytic acid. As little as seven hours of soaking in warm acidulated water will neutralize a large portion of phytic acid in grains. The simple practice of soaking cracked or rolled cereal grains overnight will vastly improve their nutritional benefits'

The reason why I say it's also important to soak nuts and seeds before eating them is because Pre-soaking nuts breaks down their natural preservative making them easier to digest, this means your body can absorb the nutrients better and there's less work for your liver, kidneys and colon.

So if you like your porridge on a morning still go for it but soak it over night, you might find there's no need to heat it up because the grains are already nice and soft to eat.

Same with the nuts and seeds, it gives them a better taste and it makes it easier for them to be broken down into smoothies and sprinkled onto breakfasts.

So go on get those nuts (seeds and oats) soaked ;O)

Have a great day x x