Have you even felt bloated after eating a lot of nuts, or felt your energy and focus just plummet? This could be because your body was having a difficult time digesting those nuts. But rather than cutting nuts out of your diet, you just need to start soaking them!

Nuts and seeds are one of my FAVORITE foods to add to all my meals because they are such a versatile ingredient in meal prep, taste amazing, and they’re packed with nutrition — good-for-you fats, protein, fiber, and vitamins and minerals. They are definitely an essential food to include in your daily diet to  improve overall health and longevity, and are especially helpful for preventing heart disease.

However, I know many people also fear eating too many of them because of their high fat content. If that’s you, then let me first debunk the myth of fat making you fat (healthy fats that is). Then I’ll get into talking about the importance of soaking and how to do it properly.

Why you shouldn’t worry about the fat in nuts making you fat

Let me first tell you – eating fat does not make you fat. I won’t get into all the details in this post because we’re talking about soaking nuts and seeds, but you should be more concerned about the sugar and refined carbohydrates in your diet than healthy fats such as nuts.

Numerous studies have shown that the addition of a handful or two of nuts a day will not lead to weight gain. (6)

One study in 2012 even had people add over a hundred pistachios to their daily diets for three months and they didn’t gain a pound! (6)

Eating more nuts and seeds can actually help you to lose weight because you’ll likely eat less unhealthy foods when you start eating more nuts and seeds.

The problem with nuts usually comes from eating too many roasted/salted nuts, especially those that have been cooked at high heat in some sort of processed, highly inflammatory oil such as soybean oil.

So when I talk about nuts being a super healthy food, I’m talking about raw, pre-soaked (aka activated) nuts and seeds.

How many nuts and seeds should you eat a day for good health?

Your lifespan could be increased by up to 2 years simply by eating just a handful of nuts 5 or more days a week.

Dr. Greger, as part of his daily dozen for good health and longevity, recommends consuming at least a ¼ cup (30 grams, or 1 ounce) of nuts and/or seeds each day, or 2 tablespoons nut/seed butter.

For example, about 23 almonds would be a ¼ cup (which also gives you 6 grams of protein!).

In Dr. Greger’s book, How Not to Die he shares:

“The Global Burden of Disease Study calculated that not eating enough nuts and seeds was the third leading dietary risk factor for death and disability in the world, killing more people than processed meat consumption. Insufficient nut and seed intake is thought to lead to the deaths of millions of people every year.” (1)

So, as long as you’re consuming sufficient fruits and vegetables (see my post on how many veggies and greens you really need to eat each day) and other high-quality sources of protein, you really don’t need to worry about how many you’re consuming – as long as you’re also being mindful when eating them. This means that you aren’t chomping down on nuts and seeds while watching TV or driving.

When you eat mindfully you’ll naturally stop eating when your body has had enough. When you eat while distracted, or eat too quickly, you’ll overeat before your mind sends the signal to stop because you’ve had enough to satisfy your body’s needs.

Why soaked nuts and seeds are better for you

While nuts and seeds are full of good nutrients, this doesn’t mean your body will absorb the full amount of those nutrients (as with all foods).

You are not simply what you eat. You are what you digest and absorb!

You can ingest nutrients, but your body may not be absorbing and assimilating them if digestion is impaired – which means you’re actually getting less of the vitamins, minerals and protein from foods that are hard for your body to digest.

Additionally, when your body is able to more easily digest nuts and seeds (and any other food), you’ll avoid stomach discomfort, bloating, gas, AND avoid an energy crash (assuming the rest of your meal was not taxing on your digestive system, as hard to digest foods, or just eating TOO MUCH food at once will require a lot of energy to be broken down — thus leaving you feeling zapped of energy for other functions like moving and focusing on work).

Here are more details (if you’re interested) on why soaking nuts and seeks is so important. (2, 3, 4)

–       Soaking neutralizes enzyme inhibitors. Enzymes in raw foods usually help us better digest our food; however, raw nuts and seeds have enzyme inhibitors to keep them from sprouting until they have the right conditions. This prevents the seed from sprouting prematurely but can cause potential problems in humans by binding to nutrients in the body and contributing to nutrient deficiencies and digestive system irritation. When you soak and rinse nuts and seeds, you remove the enzyme inhibitors and allow the enzymes to be activated. After soaking, the seeds become living food which is easier to digest. This equals more energy and better nourishment.  

–       Soaking removes anti-nutrients like phytates, tannins and goitrogens. For example, brown peel of almonds contains tannin that can prevent absorption of nutrients. As you soak the almonds, the skin will come off easily and allow the nut to release its nutrients effortlessly. And while all plants contain some amount of phytic acid, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds usually contain the highest levels. A small amount is fine because your body can naturally neutralize it during digestion, but large doses can create problems with nutrient absorption because phytic acid binds with minerals in your body and prevents absorption, and reduces the digestibility of those foods – thus leading to bloating and fatigue as well.  

–       Soaking makes proteins more readily available, and thus your body absorbs more of it. According to Dr. James Costello, “Pre-sprouted nuts and seeds are the best source of living energy and protein for the body. When you pre-sprout the nuts and seeds, the protein conversion rate of these particular foods is twice any kind of protein-based foods.” Protein conversion rate refers to the rate your body assimilates and converts the food source into protein for its use. (5)

How to soak your nuts & seeds

For firm nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecan, pistachios, hazelnuts, etc. its best to soak overnight (or at least 7 hours) with some sea salt. Same goes for seeds like sunflower or pumpkin seeds. The sea salt adds minerals to the water that would be naturally occurring in the soil, and thus create an ideal environment for the enzymes in the nuts and seeds to be activated. For a handful of nuts just a 1/4 tsp of sea salt would be enough, or if you’re making a larger batch to store for later, use 1 tbsp salt per 4 cups of nuts, or 1 tsp per cup of nuts. (7) You might even notice that you’re nuts or seeds start to sprout (have a little tail starting to grow) — this is more than totally okay — you’ll actually be getting even more nutrition!

Chia seeds can be soaked overnight as well, but only need at least 20 minutes, and no need for salt.

Softer nuts such as cashews, macadamia nuts, and pine nuts require less soaking (2-4 hours) as they do not contain inner skins, and therefore not as many enzyme inhibitors.

My favorite ways to consume soaked nuts

1.     Chilled on ice. When I first came to Iraq I was intrigued by the bowl of soaked raw/unsalted almonds served in a bowl of ice at some restaurants. Then I later saw the same thing being sold as street food in Turkey. “Wow!”, I thought to myself — if only we had this kind of healthy street food in the U.S. instead of sugar-coated fried nuts! Anyways, you must them like this! They are so satisfying and much more refreshing than a bowl of salted, roasted nuts. Try serving this at your next get-together, alongside some  cucumber and carrot spears served in a glass of lemon juice (also something I tried for the first time here in Iraq with the soaked almonds on ice).

2.     Blended into soups and smoothies. Adding some soaked, blanched almonds or cashews to a blended soup is a delicious way to get the same creamy consistency that you’d get from using cream, but healthier. Same goes for smoothies. If a recipe calls for “nut milk” you can also just throw in a few soaked nuts with water and get the same recipe (a creamier smoothie, with enhanced nutrition and less additives). Try this vegan cream of spinach soup — it is one of my absolute favorites! And I swap the spinach for other veggies like cauliflower or mushrooms sometimes — the roasted garlic and the soaked almonds or cashews really make it delicious! You can also swap out the parsley for other fresh herbs. And I personally find it delicious with just the green onions, so I don’t use the red onion (because the recipe I follow from her cookbook doesn’t include the red onion). Alternatively, you can blend up a cashew cream and drizzle that on your soup afterwards, just like you might do with cream.

3.     Made into nut juice (aka nut milk) & used in oat or quinoa porridge, or to make chia pudding. You’re probably familiar with almond milk, but you can use any nuts or seeds to make a homemade milk substitute. Rather than using store-bought almond milk that has a lot of additives, try making your own, which is super easy if you have a high-speed blender like a Vitamix. If you don’t have a high-speed blender, try using a softer nut like cashews that will blend up more easily.

What if you want to pack your activated nuts as a snack to go?

Since soaked nuts and homemade nut milks and creams will only last a few days (refrigerated) before going bad, you have the option of drying them out after soaking. The best option is to use a dehydrator (if you have one), but you can also just set oven temp. to 150 degrees F and leave the pre-soaked nuts on a baking tray in the oven for 12 to 24 hours, until fully dried out and crispy. Taste test a few to be sure they are completed dried out, otherwise they could go moldy in storage. Once ready, you can pack them as a snack to go; otherwise, keep then in an air-tight container in the fridge or freezer to prevent the fats from going rancid (this is a rule of thumb for storing raw nuts and seeds as well).

What is you want the benefits of soaked/activated nuts and seeds but don’t want to make yourself?

If you’re just not interested in taking the time to soak and dry your nuts and seeds and are willing to spend a little extra money for convenience, there are many options available online or in health food stores. For example, I love Go Raw’s sprouted pumpkin seeds. You can buy them here. And I also love sprouted flaxseeds by Sprout Revolution (which I talked about in my post about the amazing benefits of consuming just 1 Tbsp of ground flax seeds daily).

p.s. Stay tuned for next week’s blog post where I’ll talk about why enhanced digestion is SO important and should be the first thing you address when striving to optimize your health.

References:

1.   Dr. Michael Greger. How Not to Die. 2017. 

2.   https://nicolelana.com/sprouted-raw-nuts-interview-james-costello-part-1/     

3.     https://healthyblenderrecipes.com/hints_tips/soaking_nuts_seeds_grains

4.     https://wellnessmama.com/59139/soaking-nuts-seeds/

5.     https://nicolelana.com/soaked-nuts-versus-whey-protein-foods/

6.    https://nutritionfacts.org/video/nuts-and-obesity-the-weight-of-evidence/ and https://nutritionfacts.org/2012/12/27/nuts-dont-cause-expected-weight-gain/

7. https://wholelifestylenutrition.com/recipes/appetizers-snacks/is-soaking-nuts-necessary-how-to-properly-soak-your-organic-raw-nuts/