I’m a carb lover, and while I now consume a liberal amount of nutrient dense and healthy fats in my nutrition, I don’t think I would ever enjoy going keto.
I have loved grains my whole life (bring on the bagels, baby!), but it wasn’t until I began solids with my son that I learned that most of us consume grains in ways that over time can do more harm than good.
I am so thankful that I found the Weston A. Price Foundation early in our starting solids journey! It was here that I learned that grains are actually not the best first food to feed a baby AND that when grains are introduced, they should be properly prepared to make them “safe” to consume and more nutrient dense.
Anti-Nutrients in Grains
If you’ve never heard of the term “anti-nutrient,” I’m probably about to send you down a wormhole. At least, this is what happened to me and I’m still learning!
Grains contain various compounds called “anti-nutrients” that help protect the seed until it is ready to sprout. This is what allows a seed to pass through a bird’s digestive tract intact. One of these anti-nutrients is phytic acid.
Phosphorus is an important mineral for bones and overall health and up to 80% is locked up in the grain seed as phytate, an unusable form. (Source) Calcium will bind to phytic acid when phytate is present (unless the amount is very small) and so you end up with a problem:
The body is losing calcium and not absorbing phosphorus. (Source)
When phytic acid is consumed before being broken down, it can also affect absorption of magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc.
Over time, this can lead to a nutrient deficiency.
This knowledge was mind-blowing to me. How many kids are picky eaters and spending their life consuming grains and sugar in various forms, all day every day? Are these grains properly prepared? Probably not.
Cereal, bagels, sandwiches, crackers, oatmeal, cookies, “snack cakes,” granola, etc.
This can affect a child’s bone growth, dental health, jaw development, tooth decay, and overall height. (Source)
While I wasn’t much of a picky eater, the above was a big portion of my diet for most of my life (+ other things, too). When I did a food sensitivity test several years ago, it came back telling me I had all of these various deficiencies. Weird! I ate pretty healthy.
I now believe this was a factor, plus the simple fact that our food system does not usually offer the most nutrient dense food.
A Look At Our Ancestors
As previously mentioned, the Weston A. Price Foundation has been a wonderful resource, and I have especially enjoyed this article teaching on how traditional cultures prepared their foods. Here are a few examples from that article.
- India: Rice and lentils are fermented for 2+ days before making idli or dosas.
- Africa: Natives ferment corn or millet for multiple days to make ogi, a porridge
- Mexico: Pozol, or corn cakes, were traditionally fermented for multiple days and up to 2 weeks in banana leaves.
- America: Pioneers were well-known for sourdough breads, pancakes, and biscuits.
- Ethiopia: Injera bread is made by fermenting teff, a grain, for several days.
…and more!
Cracking the Code
So, when introducing grains to my son, I was slow and picky as I researched this topic. I learned that one of the most important anti-nutrients to break down was phytic acid and that there are several ways to do this:
- Soaking/Souring
- Fermenting
- Sprouting
I started on the journey of learning to make sourdough bread, which is simply bread dough that has been allowed to have a long fermentation process before baking. We are so used to adding commercial yeast to baked goods so they rise, but sourdough uses wild yeasts (like they did it in the “olden days”).
I have LOVED learning how to make sourdough, and I personally will not typically eat bread that hasn’t been fermented anymore, except I do enjoy Ezekiel bread (which is sprouted).
Soaking Grains to Reduce Phytic Acid
Another way to reduce phytic acid is to soak your grains. I began doing this to my wheat berries recently. We originally bought them to make flour because store-bought flour, even organic, has WAY less nutrition than the whole grain because it loses it just a few days after it is ground into flour.
Interestingly, white rice and bread will not be as high in phytates because the bran and germ have been removed, so there will not be as much of a nutrient pull as the whole grain. The downside is that these foods are void of vitamins and minerals, having been devitalized. (Source)
However, I quickly learned that I cannot make flour in my Ninja or food processor. So, until we invest in a grain mill, we are eating the wheat berries like rice.
Bread is supposed to be extremely nutritious, but again our food system and its mass production has compromised such a valuable food. In consuming the whole wheat berry (after soaking + cooking), we are reclaiming that nutrition.
How to Soak Grains
Soaking your grains is oh-so-simple! For wheat berries, I usually do 2 cups wheat berries, 2 cups water, and 2-3 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, then let it sit for 12-24 hours. After that I rinse them, then cook.
We also use this method to soak our rice!
Fermenting Grains
Wheat and rye are great options for sourdough fermenting because they contain high levels of phytase, which will help break down phytic acid. Note that using commercial yeast for sourdough will not have the same phytic acid reducing effects. Also, phytase in wheat and rye is actually destroyed by the heat of industrial grinding.
This is why freshly grinding the whole wheat berry is the better method by far. (Source)
Grains like millet, sorghum, and corn contain low levels of phytase. Oats also contain very low levels of phytase. This will greatly inhibit the needed breakdown of phytic acid. Adding freshly ground rye flour or a sourdough rye culture is a great option to provide the phytase needed.
For more on how to prepare these low-phytate grains properly, click here.
Sprouting Grains to break down phytic acid
Sprouting is another great way to reduce phytic acid and unlock more nutrient power in the grain. To do this, you would simply soak the grains for 8-12 hours, then drain/rinse and turn your container upside down over a mesh (whether a lid or a colander) and leave for several days, rinsing every 6-8 hours or so.
Sprouting is also a great option for legumes as well because they are also seeds and contain anti-nutrients.
