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Nuts and seeds and the truth about digesting them . . .

Nuts nuts nuts!

Are they a health food or stopping your gut from healing? How many is good and in what combination is best?
People who have had inflammatory bowel disease or leaky gut or suffer with a gut-brain connections such as (depression, autism) generally do not digest fats well because they lack the enzymes needed to break them down, I was no exception and the low carb high fat diet nearly killed me! Then moving away to a gourmet raw vegan diet. . . I still overloaded on raw desserts and nut cheeses and pates as I was living a gourmet raw diet trying to recreate cooked dishes that were so high in fats and hard to digest foods and fancy gourmet dinners.

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This is what I’ve learned and why I now eat a simple diet with simple combinations and a small amount of  seeds germinated here and there.

High- protein, fatty and oily foods must be minimised, especially during the first year of gut recovery or you will plato and cause long term damage. Learning to eat within your digestive limitations is so important for healing no matter what your mind wants and your eyes see. Fat intake must be increased gradually only in accordance with what you can properly digest good overt healthy fats are essential in the diet but must be stopped or minimised at first to get the healing. Overeating on overt healthy fats like nuts, seeds, coconuts and avocados will, typically, stress the digestive system and create a toxic condition indicated by gas, foul, putrid bowel odours, stomach acidity, constipation, fatigue, etc., which can trigger an inflammatory bowel disease flare up. None mind bad fats, them you just need to steer well clear off.
• One to two ounces of nut or seed or nut butters eaten with one dinner (away from fruit) in a salad meal once per day, may be all the fat that anyone can digest effectively after healing inflammatory bowel disease. Or 1/4-1/2 of an avocado may be your digestive limit per day.
• Raw (ungerminated) nuts are difficult to digest; but, when eaten in small quantities (one ounce per meal, once per day, one to three times per week, depending on your digestive strength (I can not even cope with that much without getting sluggish and tired) and of course chewing them well with lettuce, celery or cucumbers, then they might digest ok and give healthful benefits. The masticating action (chewing) of our teeth is not capable of effectively breaking down hard nuts and seeds to particle sizes small enough to be completely digested by our stomach acids. We are not squirrels! Stomach acid can only act on the outer surface of the nuts particles; if acidic digestive enzymes are not able to act on the protein within the particles, the protein will pass through the system unused and without giving you its nutrients and will putrefy in the bowel causing bloating, gas and wind. Activating your nuts and seeds helps with this.
• Raw nuts and seed smoothies (made with water, citrus fruit (only) or vegetables in a blender) and raw nuts and seed butters -made in good blenders and or available in jars from health food stores, not mass supermarket brands. Are much easier to digest than unprocessed whole nut and seeds, and are, therefore, recommended to eat. Still, they are very rich in oily fat which can cause problems if eaten beyond your digestive capability and you know how fast a bag of nuts goes or a jar of nut butter. So go easy on them with small amounts in the right food combinations and always the freshest highest quality. Food combining and why is it essential for health!-chart. I would suggest having smoothies with fruits, greens and water with NO NUTS OR SEEDS ADDED.

 

• “Living” nuts and seeds, i.e., raw nuts such as almonds germinated/sprouted in water for 12 to 24 hours then sprouted in room temperature air, are more digestible than ungerminated (raw) nuts. The soaking and germination process hydrates and softens the hard fiber and reduces complex proteins into readily digestible amino acids. Germinated nut and seed blends (cheeses or patés) are perhaps easiest on the digestive system—an easy salad dressing is to blend one to two ounces of nuts or seeds with water, fresh-squeezed orange juice, a slice of orange or a tomato in a blender, then use this as a salad dressing or dip for vegetables.
• Experiment making nut and seed milks. Soak raw nuts or seeds in purified water for 2 to 24 hours, rinse well, blend at high speed with purified water in a blender, then strain and slowly drink the milk, mixing in your saliva. Chew chew chew even liquids!

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Step by Step – Making Nut and Seed Milks.
• Avoid old rancid nuts and seeds that’s any that come from a supermarket or in packets, they can be 1-3 years old—these tend to feel soft, taste cheesy with no sweetness and appear darker in color than when they are fresh. You are not getting nutrition from these just toxins and more mucus being formed.
• Heated or roasted nuts and seeds are very toxic and must be avoided. Avoid roasted and salted nut and seed butters. Never cook with nuts!
• Peanut butter is not recommended because: 1. In raw or heated form, it is difficult to digest due to its high protein and starch content which we know doesn’t digest well; 2. In roasted form it is highly toxic; and 3. Peanuts are one of the most heavily pesticide-sprayed crops even in Australia.
• Organic, whole, raw peanuts can be eaten in moderation if they have been sprouted (soaked in water and allowed to germinate for several hours). However, these are subject to a toxic, yellow mold and must be carefully inspected and eaten with caution. Peanuts are actually a legumes and not recommend for gut healing as they are hard to digest.
If you are to eat nuts I would suggest choosing high omega 3 nuts like walnuts, pistachios, Macadamia, Brazil nuts which are great brain foods, over the higher omega 6 almond if you can. I do not suggest the raw nut desserts the are so hard to digest and are high in fats and rancid oils. Once you’ve done the healing work add them in as an occasional treat or different texture!

Step by Step – Making Nut and Seed Milks.

It’s hard to believe how easy it is to make your own nut or seed milks. It’s cost effective and great for you and the animals and the planet!

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My Pumpkin Seed Milk which I love to use in baking . . .

Below are the step on how to make your own and options of flavours:

Step 1. Soak your nuts or seeds like cashews, pumpkin, sunflower, quinoa, almonds, brazil or macadamia nuts for 4-8 hours in filtered water in a large jug with the water just covering them, this step is important because it will remove any sprays if not using organic and to remove naturally forming phytic acid. Also because nuts contain numerous enzyme inhibitors that can put a real strain on the digestive system if consumed in excess and soaking helps with this. This also increases the enzyme quality of the nuts.

If your using previously activated nuts and seeds you can skip this process. Also hemp seeds don’t need to be soaked first.

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Almond Milk is still my favourite . . .

Step 2. Drain off the water and add the nuts or seeds to the blender with 1 pitted date for sweetness but this is optional, if like us you use your milk for smoothies and are adding fruit you will not need to sweeten it,  but if it is to drink straight add dates to get the taste you like. For 1 litre of milk 1 use 1/2 cup of nuts or seeds to 2 -1/2 cups of filters water to make more I use 1 cup of nuts or seeds to 5 cups of water (nut and seed milks freeze well in ice-cube trays ready to use)

Step 3. Blend the soaked nut or seeds and the filtered water till it’s all a pulp. I have a good blender and I still do this at least twice to make sure.

Step 4. Use a large jug or bottle with a wide neck and place your nut milk bag over the edge of the jar or bottle, pour the blended nut or seed liquid through it. Tie up the string and leave the jug or bottle with the bag in it in the fridge over night or for at least 8 hours.

Step 5. Over the sink as it can be messy, start to squeeze the bag gently as you watch your beautiful nut or seed milk drip out, this is very therapeutic. keep squeezing until all the milk has left the bag and you are left with a dry pulp in the bag.

Step 6. Seal the lid on the milk and store in the fridge for 4-5 days or as  I said freeze it.

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Hemp Milk frozen in cubes ready to go . . .

Step 7. Use the pulp! Either add to your raw pizza bases or crackers or add bananas and make pancakes or if you have a dehydrator then you can dry it out to use as meal at a later stage. But don’t waste it. Wash your bag out by hand and dry properly for next time.

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Don’t waste that pulp . . .

Additions:

Once you get the hang of this process you can add fresh ginger, carob, cinnamon or any flavour you like. Either blending the ginger in it or using essential oils as Step 3. or when you bottle it adding the flavour then. Perfect for those kids who love chocolate milk after school (carob) . . . goodness without the guilt.

Enjoy making it your own and feel free to make combos too. . . I love pumpkin and hemp seed!

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Good fats and bad fats and how to use them in your detoxing…

Fats are good for you . . . yes you heard right fat fat fat!!

But are you eating good fats like avocados, coconut, some nuts and seeds, or bad fats that harm your body?

Good fat does not make you fat alone, simple carbohydrates like pasta and breads, bad fats like oils, chemicals and refined sugars, flours and bad food combining makes you fat. Good saturated fat is nourishing and gives you energy and keeps you fuller for longer . . .when eaten in the right food combination away from fruit and proteins. Fats also slow down detoxification as they put stress on your kidneys, so if you are trying to move your lymphatic system I do suggest limiting your fats to below 5 % of your nutrition plan or temporally avoiding them.

Good fats and are essential for the brain and body. Without good fats your body starts to break down and health issues arise. Fat is essential for growing children’s brains and they need more as they grow and then can even out later on. Fats are essential in preventing ageing concerns like Dementia and Alzheimer’s and Depression. The increase in health issues has arisen through low-fat chemical foods and getting away from traditional nourishing foods. But the amount of fat to eat is often over exaggerated. We do not need spoonfuls daily, or the amount we find is raw desserts and nut laden treats.  And we do not need for each meal to have fat in it. All whole foods have protein and fats in them alone side carbohydrates like a banana. Each person will need a different amount of fat depending on the individual and on how toxic they are and how much thy need to detoxify.

  • if they are a child before 7 years old they will need more for there growing brain so let them eat avocados and coconut galore.
  • a teenager going through puberty will need more to cope with neurone changes.
  • if your are ill you will need less until your body has cleansed out the virus, disease or build up of waste as fats slow down detoxification.
  • if your are pregnant you again will need an adequate about to support you and baby in the second and third trimesters.
  • if you are old you may need a small daily amount of fats but be guided by you digestion.
  • if you have candida which will show up in psoriasis or eczema you will need to go 0-3% fat until your body has cleansed the waste out then you can slowly add in a small amounts again.

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I can’t stress strongly enough about good fats and children on the spectrum as it’s been proven that a good levels of omega 3 fatty acids can improve the brains function and repair neural pathways. Supporting depression and anxiety and healing the gut.

So start to increase your good fats daily starting small and building up to about a 1/4-1/2 avocado daily or 1–2 raw coconuts a week or 1 glass of raw nut or seed milk daily depending on your bio-individual needs and weight, if you are trying to loose weight do not eat too many fats and always in the right food combinations. I do not recommend cooking with ANY oils as when you heat them, they change and become more volatile and carcinogenic rendering them toxic and unable to be digested by the body. Nuts and seeds should be eaten raw to get the good saturated fats from them and to keep them as a rich nutrient dense food. NEVER COOK/ HEAT NUTS!

Of course avoiding all the bad poly- unsaturated and trans-fats that cause many health concerns and are toxic and rancid like:

  • Borage oil, Canola oil, Corn oil, Cottonseed oil, Evening primrose oil, Rapeseed, Safflower oil, Peanut oil, Sunflower seed oil, Vegetable oil, Olive oils, Avocado oil, Coconut oil, Sesame oil, Nut and Seed oils.

These are not fresh and become rancid within hours. They are not in there whole food state and can not be digested and used by the body!

When you make an oil from a plant or whole food is no longer is a whole food and looses all its nutrients and life force even organic. 

  • And that means processed and home cooked food that these oils are in too:
    ALL– crisps, crackers, chips and frozen foods and meals, corn chips, biscuits, lollies and sweets, chocolate, Processed meals, sauces and jarred products, pastas and noodles, bakery products, veggie burgers, patties, meats and deli meats , hams and sausages ect

Eat fats in the right food combinations so they can digest efficiently and send that goodness to the brain, so its not stored as waste in the body!

If you are new to increasing fruits for detoxification and health, you may feel a little tired if you have lots of fat in your system then you eat fast digesting fruits. I suggest as you increase your fruit you reduce your fats for optimal digestion and energy…

Check out the truth about fruits here: The truth about fruit . . .