I have read over and over the value and ability to get more nutrients from nuts and seeds by soaking them. Soaking helps remove the naturally occurring toxins on most nuts (hey they are meant to be planted to grow a new plant, these toxins protect the nuts and seeds) and also helps the nutrients, minerals and vitamins be more available for you to digest. Read more about the philosophy and way to soak your nuts from Wellness Mama, she explains it well.
So I purchased some beautiful, organic raw almonds and covered them with water and a bit of salt for a little over 24 hours. I rinsed them until the water ran clear and then I spread them out to dry. I skipped the suggested step of drying them in the oven, it seemed counterintuitive to me to "dry" the nuts in the oven after you just uncovered all the goodness. I thought maybe it would bake away the goodness, that, and I don't follow directions well :-P, I'm a do-it-yourselfer, and sometimes I pay the price.
So I let my almonds sit out to dry for the better part of most of a day, maybe 10-12 hours, then I threw them in a glass jar.
They were delicious, creamy, juicy (who knew a nut could be juicy?) and I also noticed I could eat fewer as a snack and feel more fulfilled and for a longer period of time. I'm sold, soaking nuts is the way to go!
So I attended a seminar this weekend, more on that in a bit, but I grabbed my jar full of soaked almonds, threw it in my bag to take with me. On one of our breaks during the seminar I realized my nuts we starting to mold - eew! So I picked out the few and went about eating my nuts. Well today, they are filled with mold, double eew! So yeah, I guess the drying process in the oven is necessary, and I suspect the super low temp (150˚ I think) won't likely do much nutrient zapping and will likely save you from having to compost your entire batch of gorgeously, soaked organic almonds.
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| Nice pic of almonds you might think.....but no, see the yuckiness?! Wahh! :( |
So this seminar....
I took a seminar on Open Communication, also known as Nonviolent Communication with Peggy Smith, at the Green Gem in Bangor this weekend. What a beautiful, eye opening, expansive experience. It was so amazing to learn how imperfectly we communicate and how we so easily say words and judgements, often not even intending to, but being hurtful to or triggering the recipient. Hence all the conflict in the world! :o While I did learn about active listening or empathic listening in my Health Coach course at IIN, I had the ability to practice it this weekend and so much more.
I would highly, highly recommend as a universe we learn more about nonviolent communication. It should be taught in schools early on. If we all were more in touch with our feelings and new that there are universal needs we all have, we could avoid SO much conflict. It was liberating to learn that there are core universal needs that all humans have, and no this does not mean are "needy", but that we all have basic needs that are associated with every. single. feeling. we have. When we have a feeling it is because it is associated with a need being or not being meet.
NVC is a beautiful practice and a glorious tool because communication is imperfect, but if we learn to approach each other from a place of empathy, openness and curiosity the world would be such a better place.
Lastly this ties into a book I have been reading each morning upon waking, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, by Pema Chödrön. It is an illuminating and insightful book. While I can not due it justice in a mere few sentences, what is really resonating with me right now is Pema talks about maitri the sanskrit word for loving-kindness. Loving-kindness for ourselves, which so few of us actually practice and believe is even a possibility, extrapolating into loving-kindness for each other.
I think both the book and my recent attendance to the seminar illuminates my need, but also the universal need for loving-kindness towards self, everyone and everything in this world.
But let's each start with loving kindness to our selves.
What makes maitri such a different approach is that we are not trying to solve a problem. We are not striving to make pain go away or to become a better person. In fact, we are giving up control altogether and letting concepts and ideals fall apart.
The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves. Yet it's never too late or too early to practice loving-kindness.
