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Nuts are healthy, delicious, and make a great energy-boosting snack. You can get them raw, roasted, and activated. Activated nuts are a nutritious option, are easy on your tummy, and can be easily prepared at home.
People lean towards activating nuts as they can be hard to digest, according to the Grow Whole website. This is because raw nuts and seeds contain phytic acid, a type of anti-nutrient that protects the nuts from being eaten. It gives off a bitter flavor that repels squirrels, birds, and other animals away from the nuts. Raw nuts also have an enzyme inhibitor that makes them hard to digest.
Activating nuts solves both of these issues very easily. If you consider a nut or seed as being dormant just like a regular garden seed, you could understand that they need to be woken up and sprouted to grow. This soaking is similar to seeds growing in moist soil.
Activating means soaking nuts to wake them up, thereby breaking down both the enzyme inhibitors and the phytic acid. When nuts start their germination process, all of their nutrients are ready to be easily absorbed and digested.
Here’s how to activate nuts
Activating nuts is all about brine and dry heat. An ancient process, according to a blog on Laura Jane Living, in modern times, the hot sun is now replaced by a dehydrator or oven.
To get started, cover the nuts in salted water to soak. Each nut requires different soaking times: sunflower seeds require seven to ten hours of soaking followed by 12 hours of drying; while almonds need 12 to 14 hours of soaking and 12 to 24 hours of drying.
As cashew nuts may become slimy, soak cashews for just six hours. After your nuts have received their salt bath, dry them in the oven on low heat or inside a dehydrator. The result will be a crunchy, healthy food that is easily digestible.
Food combining helps too
If you do not have a sensitive stomach or you only eat a few nuts, you do not need to activate nuts. Instead, food combining may do the trick, reports the HuffPost. For example, the vitamin C in tomatoes and apples will help you absorb the iron in almonds and cashews. Eating acidic food also helps to break down the phytates.
Be sure not to confuse activated nuts with regular roasted nuts, Roasting nuts at a high temperature can actually destroy their nutritional value. For those who are nuts about nuts, it may be best to activate them. This will ensure your favorite snack is healthy, nutritious, and easy on your tummy.
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