What’s the big deal about soaking grains and legumes and fermenting dairy and generally spending a lot more time in the kitchen, You ask?!
WELL. I can understand your skepticism… after all, you’ve been eating all these foods without soaking and fermenting them and and you feel just fine.
Now here’s where I’m a bit of a skeptic myself. Do you really feel fine? Or have you just gotten used to feeling any of these things after you eat “normal” grains (bread, cereal, etc.), dairy, nuts and/or beans? Maybe they are just an annoyance, but perhaps they do exist for you (one or several) and you barely even notice it when it happens. The side effects I am talking about are:
- bloating
- gaseousness (you know what I’m talking about!)
- nausea or unsettled stomach
- “Stuffed” to the point of feeling kind of sick even if you did not eat that much
- cramps
- gas pains
- heartburn
- diarrhea
Do you really think this is the way you should feel after eating? I know I did for … um… let’s say, the past thirteen years. But a healthy digestive system should not have any of these symptoms after eating grains, dairy and legumes! (unless you REALLY overeat!)
Now, one thing to point out is that, of course, other ingredients that you eat with these things could also be bothering you. We won’t get into that. For now, we’ll just focus on these three things and why preparing them traditionally is actually important for you.
(And if none of this is clicking with you at all, let me ask you another question: do you know anyone who is allergic to corn, soy, wheat/gluten, dairy and/or nuts???)
Grains and Legumes
In many indigenous cultures, these items are prepared first by soaking them in an acidic solution. The food may then be cooked and eaten. These processes were “invented” LOOOOONG ago. These peoples (Fallon cites examples coming from all around the world where people soaked their grains: Africans soaked millet, North American Indians soaked nuts and ground them into a “milk”, Central American Indians and people who still live in Mexico and surrounding areas soak their corn in a lime solution, in Asia soybeans are always prepared through fermentation before eating, Fallon also said as recently as a few generations ago, there were directions on the back of the quaker oat can with instructions to soak the oats overnight before cooking. These are just a few examples from memory. Please read the book, Nourishing Traditions for many more examples from history.
So, why did they do this and why should we care? The process of soaking foods in an acidic solution helps to break down the grain so that it sprouts or begins to sprout. Doing this releases enzymes that neutralizes phytic acid in grains. This acid inhibits absorption of important minerals into the body such as calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc. Fallon writes “…sprouting also neutralizes enzyme inhibitors present in all seeds. These inhibitors can neutralize our own precious enzymes in the digestive tract. Complex sugars responsible for intestinal gas are broken down during sprouting…” (p. 112, Natural Traditions)
Wheat is one of the healthiest grains, but the gluten in the wheat is very hard for us to digest. Soaking or sprouting the wheat breaks down this protein so that all the components can be assimilated.
Not only these things, but other important changes take place: your grains actually undergo a process that renders them healthier, increasing available vitamins such as the B vitamins and sometimes vitamin C.
The above description goes for nuts and seeds and now you know why so many processed grain products are fortified with many other vitamins and minerals. Some seeds cannot be sprouted due to how they have been processed, but they still benefit from soaking because the sprout inhibitors will be neutralized.
Read my personal account (under “Coping with the Implications”) of digestive troubles cured by transitioning from raw almonds to soaked and roasted ones. And check out this article on how to “Be Kind to Your Grains.“
Now on to dairy
You are already familiar with many cultured dairy products: yogurt, buttermilk, cheese, sour cream. Well. Here’s the rub (And really, the content more suited for another blog entry) — it really depends on what KINDS of these products you’re eating as to whether or not you’re getting the full benefit. But let me back up a bit more. Yes, cultured dairy is good (we have seen all those probiotic yogurt commercials). But, more importantly, why is uncultured dairy bad? Or at least not so good?
Well, again, I will skirt the larger issues and the politics and just lay it out there: because our milk is pasteurized and because of the harsh methods used to “produce” milk from cows. For now, let’s only talk about pasteurization. This process heats the milk at high temperatures, making many proteins less available; the fats in the milk are more likely to go rancid after this process; vitamin C loss usually exceeds 50% and loss of other vitamins may be as high as %80. Some vitamins, such as B12 are entirely destroyed; Fallon claims there is some evidence that pasteurized milk strains the pancreas and may be the reason behind the linkage between drinking milk and diabetes. Oh, yes, and again, this is the reason your milk is fortified!
The relevant fact for this posting is that pasteurization destroys the enzymes in the milk. These just so happen to be the enzymes required to assimilate certain ingredients found in milk, such as calcium. (Ever wondered why so many milk drinking people are getting osteoporosis??)
Other compositional changes take place during pasteurization, making it even more difficult to digest. Without the important enzyme component found naturally in milk, what you now buy at the grocery store is a product that is essentially indigestible! (and I have given you the tame, cliffnotes version of the milk saga!)
YES, and yes, all of these problems with digesting improperly prepared grains and dairy can and are related to allergies. It is no wonder so many people now have gluten and lactose intolerance. So — here is the case for cultured dairy — many of these products are tolerable to those with dairy allergies. WebMD states “A food allergy is an immune system response. It occurs when the body mistakes an ingredient in food — usually a protein — as harmful and creates a defense system (antibodies) to fight it. Food allergy symptoms develop when the antibodies are battling the “invading” food.”
What is cultured dairy? This is a milk product that has begun to separate (the lactic-acid producing bacteria consumes the sugar (lactose) in the dairy) and it begins to ferment, hence the word “lacto-fermentation.” These foods include yogurt, buttermilk, kefir, sour cream and others. However, there are several different versions of fermented milk products found around the world and each are soured, cultured, or inoculated in slightly different ways. Suffice to say, the process of fermentation helps to break down the difficult to digest protein, casein, in the milk as well as increasing the beneficial enzymes (for example the enzyme lactase, which helps digest lactose) and vitamins in the milk product, even after it has been pasteurized. Consuming these products will also help you maintain a good balance of beneficial bacteria, helping you stay healthy and resist illness.
Please refer to pages 33-35 and 80-81 in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon to read more and see where I liberally “stole” all this information. I also encourage you to check out the Real Milk website to really dig deeper about the milk “conspiracy” and read “The Raw Truth About Milk.“
So if you want to learn how to prepare these foods, I encourage you to explore the links to the right to learn more. And the best source I know of to really learn is the book, Nourishing Traditions. Good luck…!
