The phytate issue is fiercely contested in the nutrition world, with some believing that soaking grains is critical, and others believing it’s unnecessary.   I have studied compelling evidence on both sides, leading me to the following recommendations.

Regardless of whether phytates in whole grains lead to mineral deficiencies, soaking and slightly fermenting your grain clearly aids in digestion.   It costs nothing and doesn’t really add time to a recipe’s preparation, although you do a portion of the work in advance.

Most adults in the Western world need to be kind to their digestive systems.   That’s because before most of us get serious about treating our bodies right (which you’re doing if you’re reading this), we have abused our bodies with the modern lifestyle.   In particular, we’ve damaged our digestive systems.   Some of us have developed chronic digestive problems, and many of us have decades of damage to undo.    Part of a whole-grain habit, then, is to as often as possible soak your flour or grain for up to 24 hours, and add a bit of whey, kefir, or yogurt.   Even 8 hours of soaking is very helpful.   Many  12 Step recipes (in Ch. 9) call for soaking the flour or grain.  

The grain with the highest phytate content is oats, so if you like oatmeal, put the boiling water in the rolled oats right after eating breakfast, add a Tbsp. or two of yogurt or kefir, cover with a lid, and just reheat it for breakfast the next morning.   It can sit for 24 hours and will be just fine, so don’t worry.   If you like sourdough, you’ll probably like the slightly fermented taste.   If it’s too much for you, soak it only 8 hours and use a very small amount of yogurt.   This habit requires thinking ahead but is worth developing.    

Unlike oats and wheat, brown rice, millet, and buckwheat have low phytate content, so you can soak them just overnight, for shorter periods of time.   When I am serving brown rice for dinner, I put boiling water in it in the morning.   I cover it and leave it to steam all day in the oven preheated to 350 degrees (and then turned OFF).   The rice is perfectly cooked at dinnertime.   When making kasha (buckwheat cereal), I put the boiling water in the night before, letting it steam overnight.   All of this is in Step 9.    

Part III (the end of this topic) tomorrow.

Getting off refined grain products and onto whole grains is a great thing to do! But some of you have been scared silly by Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions, regarding phytates.   I  hope you’ll feel a bit  more peaceful on that topic  after reading this three-part blog.

Phytates are a natural, acidic chemical compounds in the bran of grains that some experts say bind to calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc, making those nutrients less bioavailable and potentially leading to deficiencies.   So that we can absorb the nutrition of grains well in the gastrointestinal tract, grains can ideally be soaked in water, sprouted, or fermented to neutralize the phytic acid.   This is easy to do and requires only a little planning ahead.   Step 9 of 12 Steps will guide you through this.  

This process is related to the nutritional power of lactofermentation you know about with milks, if you have begun making kefir or yogurt from my Jump-Start Basic recipe collection.   This fall, we’ll also have a step on fermenting vegetables (like sauerkraut) with garden produce.

The way it works in grains is that enzymes and microorganisms break down starches, tannins, and proteins including gluten.   Many people who are gluten intolerant do well with soaked/sprouted grain.    

Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, PhD say in Nourishing Traditions that “virtually all preindustrialized people soaked or fermented their grains before making them into porridge, breads, cakes and casseroles”  (p. 452).     Modern culture has largely abandoned this practice.   However, I do not believe (as Fallon did writing her book 15 years ago) that unsoaked grains pose a great risk to our health, and I also believe much evidence exists that unsoaked grains have also been widely used by healthy populations.  

Jordan Rubins (The Maker’s Diet) speaks of how ancient peoples stacked damp grain, which cultured it (as evidence of our need to soak/culture our grain).   This makes no sense, because damp grain quickly becomes moldy grain.   I find that sprouting grain is rather difficult to achieve without mold, even when you’re fairly experienced (like I am) and live in a dry climate (like I do).   Soaking grain 8-24 hours is easy, but sprouting it can be tricky.   Seeds and nuts are much easier.  

Part II tomorrow.

Q: Dear GreenSmoothieGirl, I work crazy hours and am rarely home to make myself good food. Can you recommend anything to make and eat quickly that is really healthy?

A: Yes. Of course I recommend green smoothies, because they are quick to make, and you can put them in the fridge for up to two days (shake it up well before drinking). A friend of mine loves Living Fuel, which is a great product with live, dehydrated foods for excellent vitamin/mineral and especially enzyme content. However, it’s about $6.75/serving! Some time ago, I looked for an alternative affordable by more people and found The Ultimate Meal, which you can order for the best price on Amazon, and the cost is less than $2.00 per serving. I regularly use this product myself.

Things I love about The Ultimate Meal:

1. It takes 60 seconds to make in the blender.
2. It’s primarily made up of sprouted quinoa and millet, then brown rice and yellow pea protein, then flax seed, spirulina, and broccoli. Great ingredients, freeze-dried so enzymes are mostly intact.
3. It contains every nutrient necessary for optimal health and eliminates the need for vitamin supplements.
4. It has 16 grams of protein, which should make those worried about plant foods not having enough protein quite happy. Also 8 grams of fiber!
5. With half an apple, and a banana, it blends to be a crazy green color, but it tastes pretty good.
6. The shake, with apple and banana, has 350 calories and keeps you satisfied until the next meal.
7. This can be a meal replacement shake twice a day. This would be SO much better for dieters than SlimFast and all the other chemical-additives, corn-syrup and cheap-ingredients-added shakes and soy diet products on the market.
8. Most of the ingredients are organic, and it has 4 grams of good fatty acids, no soy or whey, no genetically modified foods, no yeast, salt, or sugars (just stevia), no animal products.
9. It lasts 3 years on the shelf (2 months after opening the can, so freeze some if you won’t use the whole can in that time). It’s great for food storage.