Does common sense apply when thinking about the nutrition in raw versus roasted nuts and seeds? My common sense has always told me raw is best for some foods, but not for all. Again, one size doesn’t fit all for much in this life, my common sense tells me.
Spinach should be cooked, some say, to make sure calcium is better absorbed, and this is also the case for almonds. Grains should be soaked and cooked for maximum nutrition, too. There is a plethora of anti nutrients that light cooking can remove from foods to boost the nutrition your body gets from these foods too, like broccoli.
So what is best for nuts and seeds?
Shereen Jetgtvig, nutritionist, says that roasting nuts and seeds only slightly reduces the healthy fats and antioxidants; the nutrition remains the same. Hmm . . . don’t you kinda want the healthy fats and antioxidants?
Sally Fallon and Weston Price have a method for soaking and drying (at low temperatures) nuts to get the full nutrition from them. Enzyme inhibitors out, digestibility in. Seems to me they may be onto something. The low temperatures would preserve the healthy fats and antioxidants, so you can have your cooked nuts and eat them too.
In a post full of questions, one thing remains: Everything in moderation. If you eat some nuts and seeds raw, some cooked or just how you prefer them, you’ll be doing yourself more good than if you didn’t eat them at all.
How do you eat your nuts and seeds, and what reasoning do you use to make your choice? Yes, taste counts!
Author by Debra McDuffee
