Why use Sprouted Flours?
The answer to this is simple and complex. In essence, when grains are sprouted, starch molecules transform into vegetable sugars, shifting natural chemicals in the grain. The body then equates the sprouted grain as being similar to a vegetable, resulting in greater ease of digestion. The more involved explanation is related to the profound changes imparted within the grain. The steps are highlighted below.
Three reasons why
First: altering the composition of the starch molecule, converting it into a vegetable sugar, so the body recognizes and digests sprouted grains as a vegetable.
Second: enzymes are created that aid digestion, complex sugars are broken down which can eliminate painful gas, and vitamin and mineral levels increase.
Third: sprouting neutralizes potent carcinogens and enzyme inhibitors, as well as, an acid that inhibits absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc.
Importance of sprouting
as explained by our founder, Shelley Summers:
‘Because they are so easy to digest! In the 40 years I have done nutritional counseling, I have found most bodies struggling to digest grains. Yet these same bodies flourished with grains that had been sprouted. I found that grains normally digested as starches in the body using pancreatic enzymes, but most people were only producing these enzymes in small quantities. When grains were sprouted, the starch molecules changed into vegetable sugars and most people produced large quantities of vegetable enzymes that digest these simple sugars.
So, for years, I had people eat only sprouted breads while they healed their bodies and increased their production of pancreatic enzymes. Over time we could reintroduce ‘regular’ grains but even when bodies could ‘handle’ regular grains, they never wanted large amounts of these in the diet and preferred sprouted grain products.
When I decided to develop a company to make Sprouted Flours, it was for the above reasons. But as I started on this journey, other information came to me about the problems inherent in regular grains.
The purpose of all seeds is to reproduce its parent plant. As far as a seed is concerned, being eaten means the end of this purpose! It means death to that line of plants. So, plants, in their wisdom and evolvement, developed defense mechanisms to try and survive even if they were eaten! When I first read the following information about the difficulty of digesting any kind of seed, a picture sprang to mind that made me aware of these plant defense mechanisms.
I saw the image of a horse eating a stalk of wheat. If the seeds were not broken by the teeth, the seeds merrily worked their way through the digestive system untouched until they were pooped out into this wonderful pile of compost, where they were able to develop into a new and beautiful plant, thus completing their true purpose! These defense mechanisms create havoc in the human digestive system, literally making it difficult to digest any grain, nut or seed! When they are sprouted and the plants growing mechanisms are triggered, all these defense mechanisms are chemically changed or neutralized!’
What is the difference between Starch and Gluten?
There has been a lot of confusion about these two terms, and they have been used interchangeably and incorrectly.
Sprouting Research
Browse through some published research reports below to uncover more detail about the special effects that sprouting/germination have on grains and lentils.