HOW TO CHOOSE AND PREPARE GRAINS THOUGHTFULLY
Properly Prepared Grains & Legumes
The BIGGEST misconception about most grains is that you can eat them cooked or even raw, our human digestive systems are not equipped to manage that process. We are not cows! Humans started relying on grains after the nomadic stage, when we entered in to an agricultural stage of living. But, up until the 20th century, most cultures were still preparing there grains for consumption. They would soak oats for a day before they ate them, they would soak beans, leaven bread and ferment other grains. After the Industrial Revolution, a time in which people started to move away from rural areas and in to the cities and quick and easy eating ensued, grain products like Kellog's cereal became very popular. Along with sugar and eventually bad oils, pollution, and poor hygiene, quick grains were the start of a decline in health in Americans. This is when cancer and other diseases really started to take hold and we have never recovered.
We as a society are definitely good at sanitizing nowadays ;-) But we aren't so good at taking the time to properly prepare our food. The quick and easy mentality and the commerce associated with that has only gotten worse.
What can you do?
Grains and legumes contain a substance called phytic acid. Phytic acid is an “anti nutrient”, phytic acid in whole grains blocks calcium, zinc, magnesium, iron and copper; (others nutrients are retained maybe because of good gut flora, which in some cases can break down phytic acid, but you have to have super start gut flora!) In addition, when animal fats providing vitamins A and D accompany dietary whole grains, the effects of phytic acid are mitigated. Phytic acid not only grabs on to or chelates important minerals, but also inhibits enzymes that we need to digest our food.
How do you break down the phytic acid to better digest your foods? You sprout or ferment the grain or legume.
Choose organic sourdough breads
Choose organic sprouted wheat and grain breads, cereals, pastas, crackers etc.
Soak legumes 8 hours before cooking
Soak oats and grains 8 hours before cooking
Buy sprouted corn/popcorn and nuts as well. Or soak your nuts for 12 hours in filtered water w/ sea salt. Then bake for 12 hours at 150 degrees.
Soak grains with an acid and warm water for even more breakdown -> lemon, apple cider vinegar or whey (a scoop of yogurt works as well)
Soak (and wash) your rice before cooking. 8 hours for whole grain/brown, wild, black and red. 30 minutes for white/jasmine/basmati/sushi
Good food should take a bit of time, so always make big batches! My favorite is to make a bag of dry pinto beans in the instapot and throw in a few sliced up pieces of bacon and about 5 whole garlic cloves. Soak the beans first for 8 hours and then cook on manual for about 25 minutes. I then mash them in some of their juice, add butter and seasonings and they make the best refried beans. Then I store them in jars in the fridge or freezer.
And always remember that you will never be perfect, I focus on this enough so that maybe 70% of my food is "right" and then there are the french fries, food out that you can't control, movie popcorn, chips and all my other vices!
Cheers to happy bellies!