Preparing Nuts & Seeds

Nuts, seeds, beans, and grains—all technically seeds—can be deeply nourishing. But they’re also among the hardest foods for the body to break down. Their tough fibres, enzyme inhibitors, and antinutrients can make them feel more like a digestive burden than a blessing—especially when your gut is in a sensitive state.

The good news? We can unlock their goodness simply by preparing them properly.

The methods already exsist. They’ve been practised for thousands of years across cultures—long before the science behind antinutrients was known. Whether soaked in clay pots, fermented into porridges, or sprouted before grinding, traditional people understood how to make seeds truly nourishing.

And yet, many of us—especially in industrialised, convenience-driven societies—were slowly pushed to unlearn these techniques. In the name of speed, shelf life, and mass production, we let go of practices that once kept families strong and digestion resilient.

There are still people in parts of the world who hold on to this knowledge. Their kitchens are slow, their preparation methods unchanged, their trust in food rooted in time and observation. They may not have had peer-reviewed studies, but they had something more intimate: experience. Trial. Error. Generational memory. They noticed what nourished and what harmed, and they passed that wisdom on.

Meanwhile, we—with libraries of information at our fingertips—have become strangely forgetful. Distracted. Detached. Somehow, in the flood of data, we lost our trust in the quiet truth of tradition.

But the body remembers. And the soil still offers us the same seeds. It’s time we re-learn what once came naturally, and honour the ways that help us not just survive, but truly thrive.

Antinutrients are natural compounds in seeds that protect them from being eaten or sprouting too early. But in our bodies, they can bind to minerals (like zinc, iron, and calcium) and block their absorption.

Common example:

• Phytic acid
• Oxalates
• Lectins
• Tannins

Enzyme inhibitors block digestive enzymes, making it harder to break down protein and starch.

When your gut is strong, small amounts aren’t a problem. But when your digestion is compromised, removing these compounds can make a huge difference

Curious about oxalates specifically (a major antinutrient in many seeds)? Read my post: The Green Clean Myth

These simple techniques help:

• Neutralise antinutrients & enzyme inhibitors
• Pre-digest proteins & reduce fibre load
• Make seeds gentler on the gut & easier to absorb.

Soaking helps neutralise antinutrients and softens the seed for better digestion. You can find the full method for soaking—including time, salt, and storage tips—in this step-by-step guide.

Sprouting reduces enzyme inhibitors and activates enzymes in the seed. For a full walkthrough—including rinsing, draining, and spotting the sprout—see this simple sprouting guide.

Fermentation adds beneficial bacteria and further breaks down proteins and antinutrients. You can learn how to do this at home using whey, kefir, or brine in this fermentation how-to.

• Eat plain as a snack
• Grind into flour for grain-free baking
• Use in pancakes, breads, or cookies
• Blend into nut or seed butter
• Make fresh nut milk
• Use as a crust for fish or chicken
• Use as a crumble on baked fruit
• Add to energy balls or homemade bars
• Pulse into grain-free granola
• Make seed or nut crackers
• Add to salads or stews
• Mix into smoothies

Across centuries and continents, people prepared seeds with care. They soaked, fermented, and sprouted before eating—not just for flavour, but for function. These weren’t fads; they were survival strategies rooted in understanding.

Today, we return to those quiet, ancestral practices—with science to affirm what tradition already knew.

Did You Know? One tablespoon of phytic acid can block your body’s absorption of nearly all the zinc, calcium, and magnesium in a meal. But soaking or fermenting can reduce phytic acid by 40–70%, making minerals far more bioavailable.