If you were to leave a kernel of spelt, hard red winter wheat, rye, barley, or any other grain on your dining room table for the next five years, it wouldn’t rot or decompose. Grains were found in the pyramids. Not only were they intact after two thousand years, but when water was added, some of the kernels grew. There is a reason why grains don’t easily decompose. Grains, seeds, tree nuts, and most beans, contain a live, biochemical agent called an enzyme inhibitor. Enzyme inhibitors stop enzyme activity until the right conditions exist for germination. This is nature’s way of preserving the life force in a seed so it can reproduce.
Foods with enzyme inhibitors are very difficult to digest, and they slow down the naturally occurring enzyme activity in your body. Every time you eat regular pasta, bread, cake, cereal, and all other grain products, or nuts, seeds and beans, you are slowing down the communication processes throughout your entire body and suppressing your body’s ability to function at peak performance. Ingesting enzyme inhibitors causes obesity, lethargy, gas, bloating, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal difficulties, an enlarged pancreas, diabetes, destruction of the body’s own natural production of enzymes, and an overall general condition of poor health.
Enzyme inhibitors make meat protein more difficult to utilize, while causing animal fats to concentrate, and cholesterol and triglyceride levels to rise.
So does this mean we should eliminate all of these foods because they’re bad for us? Absolutely not! All we have to do is to prepare them correctly to release the enzyme inhibitors. Once the enzyme inhibitors are gone, grains, seeds, tree nuts, and beans are some of the most perfect foods. They are very high in assimilable amino acids (proteins) and extremely rich in the exact kinds of enzymes
our bodies need to keep us in good physical condition.
So, how do you get rid of enzyme inhibitors? The answer is simple. Sprouting! Water unlocks enzyme inhibitors. Soaking these foods in water sends them into “sprout mode” and starts the germination process.
Put sunflower seeds in a sprouting jar, add water, and let them soak. Empty the water at the end of 8 hours and place the jar out of direct sunlight. Prop it at a 45 degree angle so it can drain. Rinse your seeds twice during the next 12 to 16 hours. To allow for air circulation, be sure the seeds do not cover more than half of the jar lid. After 24 hours, drain your seeds well and spread them on unbleached paper towels on a cookie sheet and let them dry. The enzyme inhibitors will be gone and your seeds will be bursting with flavor!
Sprouting not only eliminates enzyme inhibitors, it also turns acidic grains, nuts and seeds into alkaline foods.
Only eat breads and pasta made from sprouted grains. Soak and sprout your seeds, nuts, and beans. A great book with charts on germination times for various foods is Dining in the Raw by Rita Romano.