Nuts acid forming?

[ChaiLife]

Got a question for all of you nutritional smarties. :D

I have read that protein from meat is acid forming. But I have also read that nuts (except almonds) are acid forming because of the protein.

So does soaking nuts cause them to lose that property and become alkaline?

Any insight about nuts to help this nut would be appreciated. ;)

[ChaiLife]

AHA! i finally found something. This is from www.rawfoods.com article.

"As to nut - they are acid forming and major stress to body, unless you soak them , 6 to 24 hrs, depending on size. Nuts and seeds are 60% plus in fat as well as high in protein - hard to digest. Soaking, activates the enzymes in seeds, which predigest the food. The inherent enzyme inhibitors are flushed out, the phytates and oxalates (which reduce bio-availability and absorption of minerals). The high metabolic waste of the fat and protein digestion, which is acid, is also flushed out in soaking, which would have been created in your body."


So there ya go. ;)

[ShelShel]

Thank you for that info. It's extremely helpful to me...as I have been having trouble with nuts myself. ;)

[Eastersky]

If nuts should be soaked before consumption, then what about making nut butters? Should I first soak the nuts and then dehydrate them, or should I make my nut butters out of just soaked nuts? Does dehydrating the nuts defeat the purpose of soaking? I am confused :confused:

[ChaiLife]

I am a little confused as well. I am sure someone on this board has the answer though. ;)

What I had planned on doing was soaking my nuts (something sounds really weird about saying that) and then dehydrating them. So the inhibitors are neutralized but you still get that crunchiness.

BUT since my dehydrator is not here yet (it has been shipped though) I will have to wait. :o

[cornvalley]

It might be good to know why enzyme inhibitors exist before classing nuts indigestible or difficult to digest. Their main purpose is to preserve those foods until the right condition presents itself where they can now grow into a plant. It’s nature’s way of preserving the life force for the purpose of future plant reproduction. These enzyme inhibitors are waiting for the right signal (water) when the seed may start growing. It has somewhat little bearing for human nutrition being that we have our own digestive enzymes that are quite powerful, especially when given the oppourtunity to 'flex their muscle' as an adaptive response.
The muscle analogy is a good one, and answers the 'but they are are difficult to digest' complaint.
And my answer is ... so what?
Lifting 25 pounds over my head is more difficult than 20 but certainly my abilities to do the former are increased the more I do it. Likewise, the ability to digest difficult items increases dramatically the more one takes on the process.
Does this make sense?