Soaking nuts or seeds in water overnight can help enhance their nutritional value and can make digestion easier. Soaked nuts or seeds can help improve the body’s ability to absorb their nutrients.
Here are some nuts and seeds which you can soak in water overnight to reap their benefits:
Nuts :
Truly one of my personal favorites, soaked almonds! The skins of the soaked almonds come off easily too and they taste yum! There are many health benefits of eating almonds and walnuts soaked overnight. It can help improve digestion and also aid weight loss as they are low in carbohydrates but high in fibre. Therefore, it promotes a feeling of fullness and can reduce one’s overall calorie intake, as the food consumption decreases. It can also be beneficial for improving brain function, lowering cholesterol levels, improving blood sugar levels and maintaining healthy skin.
Soaking walnuts can help reduce the bad cholesterol levels in the body and can become easier to digest, as compared to the normal walnuts before soaking. The nutrient absorb from the soaked walnuts will be better than just eating them without soaking it.
Tips when soaking nuts: The harder the nut, the longer it needs to be soaked. For example – almonds can be soaked for 10 to 12 hours, while cashew nuts can be soaked for even 2 to 4 hours.
- Nuts to be soaked longer (8 to 12 hours) – almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts
- Nuts to be soaked for medium time (4 to 8 hours) – pecans, walnuts, Brazil nuts (These nuts are oiler and can swell up quickly).
- Nuts to be soaked for lesser time (2 to 4 hours) – cashew nuts, macadamia nuts, pine nuts (Soaking these for longer than required can break down their health promoting oils).
When the nuts are ready to be consumed, strain the water out and eat only the nuts. The residual water contains the absorbed enzyme inhibitors. These enzyme inhibitors are used to protect the nut. They help keep them in hibernation until they can sprout. Soaking the nuts and seeds replicates the moist conditions required for their germination/sprouting and neutralizes these anti-nutrients (phytic acid or phytates) and enzyme inhibitors, making it easier for digestion. Please remember that soaking and sprouting is often used interchangeably, but they are different, soaking is the stage before germination; germination refers to the seeds sprouting.
Seeds :
Sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds promote mineral deficiencies like iron, zinc, calcium etc. soaking these seeds in water help reduce this phytic acid and help increase the nutrition of the seeds. Consuming these soaked seeds can help in digestive issues, in the regulation of blood sugar levels, reduce inflammation etc.
You can soak a tablespoon of the seeds like Pumpkin, sunflower or watermelon seeds to get rid of enzymes and make them easier to digest. The seeds provide a lot of nutrients for your skin and hair, they are a rich source of selenium, anti-oxidants and Vitamin E that are much needed stop hair fall and grow healthy hair. They are a rich source of potassium and magnesium that leave an impressive impact on our skin and hair.
Chia or flax seeds:
Chia or flax seeds are rich in fibre and can help aid digestion and bowel movements. It can also be a prerequisite to weight loss, as the seeds contain high amounts of soluble fibre and can absorb even 10 to 12 times their weight in water. Consuming these water soaked seeds can promote a feeling of fullness and can decrease calorie intake with lesser consumption of food ingested. These seeds are rich in antioxidants and can protect the body from free radical (an unstable molecule causing damage to other healthy molecules in the body) damage. READ MORE – CHIA WATER – the morning elixir
Here’s how you can soak the nuts/seeds:
Step 1: Take the nuts/seeds you are going to consume or wish to soak and put it in a container or glass jar which has a lid,
Step 2: After you’ve placed the nuts/seeds in, fill the container with water. Let the water be a little more and not just covering the nuts/seeds, as they will start absorbing the water and begin to swell. Keep the container covered with a lid.\
Step 3: You can keep the container with the soaked nuts/seeds in the refrigerator or even outside in room temperature.
Step 4: (Keeping in mind the soaking time required, remember, harder the nut/seed, longer the time required to be soaked). Strain the nuts/seeds and it then can be consumed. Discard the water.
Tips:
If you aren’t able to consume all the nuts which were soaked, rinse them under running water and dry them on a towel or under heat, as they can get mouldy. Therefore it is preferable to soak only how many nuts you wish to consume. READ MORE – NATURAL HAIR GROWTH SUPPLEMENT FOR FASTER AND THICKER HAIR GROWTH
Caution: Mould refers to the fungus that grows especially on damp and decaying items. Consuming items with mould can cause health issues like throat irritation, nasal stuffiness, eye irritation, cough, wheezing, skin irritation etc.