Posts Tagged ‘legumes’

My First Time Sprouting

September 21st, 2010

HPIM1644Sprouting involves beginning the germination process and it increases the nutritional value of the grain or legume because it breaks down the enzyme inhibitors that protect it.

I was interested when I originally read about sprouting, but wasn’t entirely sure how it worked. Sure, the instructions sounded simple, but I had no idea how big the sprouts were supposed to grow or how to know when they were ready to eat or even if I would like them. Time passed, and I decided that the only way I would find out was to try for myself.

I was already prepared with a sprouting lid I had purchased prior and having obtained permission from my mom to “borrow” one of her mason jars. The only choice left was what to sprout. I had just read about someone sprouting quinoa and considered it, but then decided to use mung beans. The beans had been sitting untouched in my cupboard for several months and I figured if things went wrong and I had to toss the works I wouldn’t miss them. Poor mung beans. My choice made, I forged ahead.

The first step was to soak the beans for twelve hours. I placed a handful into a bowl and covered them with what I thought was plenty of water. By the end of the day when I checked on them I realized I had barely placed enough water in the bowl. The beans really soaked the water up and expanded quite a bit in size.

The second step was to place the soaked beans in the mason jar and screw the lid on. The sprouting lid is simply a plastic lid with a bunch of holes like a sieve to let moisture leak out. You could use cheesecloth instead. I placed the jar in my sink at an angle so the moisture could drip out.

Over the next couple of days, I ran water into the jar to moisten the beans. It was fascinating to watch the sprouts grow. The very next morning I could tell things were happening and by the end of the first day tiny white shoots were growing. I wasn’t sure if I could eat them yet, and decided to wait.

The next day I tasted them even though the sprouts were small. They tasted amazing! I was surprised how good they were. I admittedly didn’t have anything to compare them to, but I was certainly glad I gave this a try. I continued to let them grow for another day.

The results were greater than I expected, both in taste and volume. I got a lot of sprouts from a small number of beans. Next time I’ll try sprouting a little less because for just myself I don’t need that many and it is something that has to be eaten within the first couple days when they’re fresh.

If you haven’t tried sprouting, I definitely recommend that you do. I’m certainly going to be sprouting again and experimenting with different grains and legumes. Eating for Energy has more details about just how beneficial soaking/sprouting is and the length of time you can expect the process to take.

If anyone has any suggestions for what to sprout, I’d love to hear from you.

Nichole

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Posted in Client Journeys

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What Foods Are Acidic?

April 30th, 2010

If you have decided to eat for energy, you may have begun to hear more and more about the pH levels of your food, and how they can affect your overall health. It has been said that a diet higher in acidic foods can result in an increase in stiffness of the joints and muscles, as well as an increase in headaches. If you are interested to know what your pH levels are, you can test your urine with pH papers, available at any pharmacy or drug store.

It is true that foods with a high acidity will be less beneficial to you than if you were to dine on a diet with a higher concentration of alkaline or non-acidic foods. And while you might think it would be relatively easy to determine which raw foods have a high acidity level and which do not, there are always a few trick foods that will make it very difficult to guess.

For instance, you might assume, based on the sour taste, that a lemon would certainly be highly acidic. The truth is, lemon juice is in the low end of the alkaline scale – it is not the most alkaline food to be sure, but it certainly is not acidic in your system.

A high energy diet, of course, cannot forgo all acidic foods when maintaining a raw diet, but it is a good idea to limit your intake of highly acidic foods as much as possible.

Raw foods can even have differing pH levels within the same food groupings. For example, high levels of acidity can be found in some nuts and legumes like walnuts, peanuts and lentils – which can certainly be a healthy part of a raw diet. Other nuts, like filberts and brazil nuts, are less acidic; and nuts like almonds are actually very high in alkalinity.

There are also some vegetables that are fairly high in acidity, including asparagus, green olives and artichokes. Again, these food items can be successfully incorporated into a healthy raw food diet for effective eating for energy, but care should be taken to include highly alkaline foods on the same plate, including most leafy greens, or other items like carrots, beets or cucumbers.

Surprisingly, most fruits are moderately to highly alkaline, with the notable exception of the very popular blueberry. This little fruit has an incredible number of benefits for the body when eaten raw, so it would be a mistake to remove it from your raw foods diet. But again, balance is what you are going for here, so for every heaping helping of blueberries you eat, make sure you include some alkaline fruits, like figs, raisins or prunes (highly alkaline), or peaches, bananas and avocado (moderately alkaline).

Avoiding acidic raw foods altogether is not practical or advisable for most people. These items often contain other benefits that you would be harder pressed to replace in a raw foods situation. But on the whole, you want your meals to be heavily favored towards an alkaline pH level, for optimal health and good eating.

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Posted in Food For Thought, General Nutrition, Raw Foods

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