Reinventing the Raw Enzyme Theory

[Tsurugi_Oni]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diastatic_power

Soooo in my late-night psuedo-ephedrine induced insomnia I've randomly stumbled across a nugget of knowledge.

Not sure if you guys already knew this but I figured I'd post anyways, and give my little breakdown of it. I guess sprouting develops amylase which breaks down the starches into simpler sugars for immediate use by the plant.

The Myth: Raw foods contain enzymes that help the food self-digest in the stomach.

The New Theory!!: Sprouting of certain starchy-seeds can converts much of the starch into an easily digested energy source. So they dont' actually "self-digest". What they do is turn nutrients that used to required human enzymes to digest into a form that requires none for the human to digest.

Sooo how does this fit into the bigger picture?..... let's continue!!

Basically a large portion of that dense energy that was contained within that starch is available for use. If*** this assumption was true, then that would give you a large amount of calories AND save you the trouble of having to produce so many enzymes (Which also would account why raw vegans dont need as much protein, because they don't need to manufacture as many enzymes. And why SAD do, because their 6-11 servings of dogma requires it. It could be debated that because of the disproportionately high amount starches in the SAD diet, many toxic cooked meat by-products are generally created just to create the enzymes needed for proper digestion of the diet's primary fuel source. A more complete study of meat & vegetarian protein profiles & digestive enzyme composition needs to be taken).

It's late and I'm tired. The theory is far from well-thought. Comparing carb. content between sprouted seeds and un- on nutritiondata.com shows a HUGE loss in the sprouted seeds. This may be because of the seed creating cellulose. If this is one of the primary causes then an experiment must be undertaken by a fearless soul. One must find the optimum germination time when most of the starches are broken down and the least amount of cellulose is created. This could be guestimated by sprouting sets of seeds, and eating huge monomeals of each one, noticing if any gastric disturbances occur from digesting raw carbs. Unfortunately the only compensation for such a thing is knowing that you've made one giant leap for raw vegans everywhere.

*Random sidenote* Does anyone spit in their green smoothies? If you're going to make a giant quart of green juice (which in natural form would have to be thoroughly chewed) wouldn't it make sense to spit into your smoothie mix? It may have a potentially significant effect on digestibility, especially if you sip your drink slowly throughout the day. I know you can spoil drinks super fast by spitting into them or drinking from the carton, so maybe it would help boost bio-availability. Not a cornerstone of raw vs. cooked debate, but an entertaining thought maybe?

Is it possible to make a test-tube rumen? That would solve our cellulose problem for sure.

I got class in 3 hours so I'm going to try and fail at sleeping. Tootooloo.

[DopeRawAbundance]

Good drop yo.

So how are you recommending one guesstimate the optimum germination time? By eating it at different stages of its life and seeing which one gives you the least gas?

[skier2]

Humans don't digest cellulose, period. Seeds don't "create" cellulose when sprouted until a shoot is formed; verily, the opposite is true. When a seed or grain is soaked, the STARCH (repeating alpha-linked glucose molecules) is hydrolyzed, and simpler glucose molecules form. This is what makes sprouted nuts and seeds easier to digest. This also hinges on the fact that starch dissolves in water. Cellulose, on the other hand, is generally not miscible with water and will not be hydrolyzed when soaked. Seeds and grains contain very little cellulose, and only once a physical shoot is formed will the starch from the seed be redistributed in the shoot as cellulose.

So, when you say "Sprouting of certain starchy-seeds can converts much of the starch into an easily digested energy source", you are correct, but when you go on to say that "they dont actually 'self-digest'" you go into murky territory because the conversion of starch to unchained glucose is technically self-digestion. You are semi-correct in saying that" What they do is turn nutrients that used to required human enzymes to digest into a form that requires none for the human to digest" because any food requires some human enzymes to digest, but really this whole sentence is an oxymoron, because the conversion into a more easily digestible material is technically self-digestion.

[Tsurugi_Oni]

I know humans can't digest cellulose....... and what do you think sprouts are? Sugars turned into cellulose. I never said seeds and beans contain cellulose, I said that a portion of the carbohydrate is lost in the formation of the sprout.

The self-digestion thing is a little murky. The old enzyme myth stated that most enzymes self-digest in the stomach. This really doesn't give much understanding. A better statement would be that only during a critical developmental stages do plant enzymes play an important role in most living foods.

[ShelShel]

Oh...look...I've gone cross eyed! :p LOL :D I think that how ever nature has seen fit to do this...it just works. Raw works. Period.

Food goes in here :eek: Happy raw fooder here :). Yummmmmm.

Sorry. I just had to laugh as I dissected each of the above paragraphs. You guys are wayyyyyyyyy too smart for your own goods.