Table of contents hide 1 Sprouts, Great Nutrition in “Small Pack” 2 Great Reasons to Eat More Sprouts 3 Grow Your Own Sprouts It is Fast, Easy and Economical 4 Incorporate Sprouts into Your Food It is a Simple Way to Strengthen Your Nutrition 5 Sprouts: Reasons to eat more, by Dr. Mercola

One of the most effective ways to achieve optimal health is to eat whole, organically grown foods and sprouts could offer the highest levels of nutrition.

Best of all, you can grow your sprouts easily and cheaply in your own home. They are an excellent option during the winter months, when outdoor gardening is limited or discarded. Another of the main benefits is that you don't have to cook them.

If you don't know much about gardening, they are a great way to start experimenting with the joy of growing your own food. The beauty of sprouts, unlike gardening, is that you can harvest your food within a week of starting the process.

They are eaten raw, usually as an ingredient in a salad or juice. What exactly are the "sprouts"? And what makes them so nutritious? As noted by The World's Healthiest Food: (1)

“Many of the foods we eat begin their plant life as germinated. "Germinated" is simply the way in which the seed is first opened and sends a root or stem up, out of the ground, in the open air.

Because the stage of growth of the sprouts is so unique in the life of the plant, there has been a special interest in the potential health benefits that could be related to this stage of growth.

In general, sprouts contain higher concentrations of certain nutrients and some key antioxidants, when compared to the fully mature plant version. ”

Sprouts, Great Nutrition in "Small Packaging"

Sprouts may be small, but they are packed with nutrition, which includes vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and enzymes that help protect against damage caused by free radicals. Watercress, for example, is a source of nutrition. In fact, it is the richest vegetable in nutrients there is.

Based on 17 nutrients - including potassium, fiber, protein, calcium, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, zinc and vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E and K - the cress took a perfect 100 in a recent study, entitled "Defining Powerhouse Fruits and Vegetables: A Nutrient Density Approach." (2) (3)

Two of my favorites are sunflower seed and peas - usually both are 30 times more nutritious than organic vegetables. They are also among the richest in protein. In addition, sunflower seeds contain healthy fats, essential fatty acids and fiber - all of which are important for optimal health.

I generally have three trays of sunflower sprouts grown when I'm not traveling and I usually eat them almost every day when I'm home. Other common sprouts are beans, nuts, seeds and grains that include:

• Alfalfa: a good source of vitamins A, B, C, D, E, F and K
• Wheatgrass or wheatgrass: rich in vitamins B, C, E and many minerals
• Mung beans: good source of protein, fiber and vitamins C and A
• Lentil sprouts: contains 26 percent protein and can be eaten without cooking
• Brussels sprouts: One cup of cooked Brussels sprouts contains only 56 calories but is loaded with more than 24 percent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin K1 and almost 130 percent of the RDA of vitamin C.

In addition , Brussels sprouts are a good source of fiber, manganese, potassium, choline, B vitamins, antioxidants and other phytochemicals that promote health .

Great Reasons to Eat More Sprouts

Many of the benefits of sprouts are related to the fact that in their initial phase of growth, plants contain more concentrated amounts of nutrients. As a result, you need to consume less sprouts, in terms of quantity, compared to their mature versions. For example, when you germinate seeds, nuts, beans and grains, you get:

• Higher vitamin content. In some seeds, the vitamin content increases up to about 20 times during the germination process. Some even more. Vitamin B1 contained in mung beans, for example, increases by 285 percent when germinated; the B2 515 percent and the B3 (niacin) 256 percent. (4)
• Higher enzyme content: Sprouts contain an estimated 100 times more enzymes than fresh fruits and vegetables. These enzymes allow your body to extract higher levels of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from other foods you eat along with the sprouts.
• Higher content of essential fatty acids and fiber. The content of essential fatty acids and fiber also increases dramatically during the germination process. Most people do not get enough fiber or healthy fats in their diet for optimal health and sprouts can be an excellent source of both.
• Greater bioavailability of minerals and protein. When the seeds begin to germinate, minerals such as calcium and magnesium bind to the proteins in the seed, which makes both minerals and protein more available and usable for your body.

Apart from this, the proteins are altered in beneficial forms during the germination process, so it obtains more and greater quality, from the protein in the sprouts than from eating the seed without germinating.

In addition to its superior nutritional benefits, sprouts are also the latest in home-grown food. When you grow it yourself, as long as you use seeds, nuts, beans and organic grains, you are making sure that you and your family are not exposed to pesticides and other harmful chemicals.

Sprouts are also one of the most economical foods you can buy or grow. Many say you can't afford to eat healthy because that's expensive, but sprouts are cheap, so there's no excuse for avoiding them - especially if you grow them yourself. Doing so can reduce the cost up to 90 percent or more, compared to buying them.

Growing Your Germinated Own Is Fast, Easy and Economical

Growing your own sprouts is quite simple and best of all, you don't need much space to do it. You can find instructions on how to germinate different types of nuts, seeds, beans and grains at RawFoods-LivingFoods.com. (5) OrganicAuthority.com (6) also offers a simple five-step protocol to germinate using ball or Mason jugs.

When I began to germinate seeds for the first time, about 25 years ago, I used ball-shaped jugs, but I changed my way of doing it and now I use trays. With the ball-shaped jars you need to rinse them several times a day to prevent mold growth and it is annoying to have to leave them in the sink because they take up a lot of space.

On the other hand, you need dozens of jugs to produce the same amount of sprouts from a single tray. I had neither the time nor the patience for that and probably neither did you. However, the decision is yours. You can grow sprouts and sprouts easily with or without soil.

My Sprout Doctor Starter kit comes with what I consider the three best sprouts to grow sunflower, broccoli and pea sprouts. When grown in the soil, you can harvest your sprouts in more than a week and a pound of seeds will probably produce more than 10 pounds of sprouts.

Sunflower sprouts will give you the greatest volume for your effort and, in my opinion, it has the best flavor. In a 10 10 tray, you can harvest between one and two pounds of sunflower sprouts, which will last approximately three days. You can store them in the refrigerator for a week. Broccoli sprouts look and taste similar to alfalfa sprouts, which most people like. They are perfect as salad ingredients and sandwiches and are especially tasty when combined with fresh avocado.

Incorporating sprouts into your diet is a simple way to strengthen your nutrition

If you want to learn even more about what the food you eat contains, along with some useful recipes, visit our Healthy Food Data Library. Most people are aware of the large amount of nutrients available in whole foods, particularly fruits and vegetables. By knowing your food, you can make informed decisions about how to eat healthy. And when we consider the amount of nutrients that are obtained when eating fresh sprouts, this in combination with its price, adding more sprouts to your diet is really obvious.

I repeat, sprouts allow you to obtain the greatest benefits of a plant in the most biologically concentrated form. When you germinate your food, the content of proteolytic enzymes increases; When you eat foods that do not contain digestive enzymes, your body is forced to produce them (instead of producing enzymes that it should be producing). After a while, your body's ability to produce the right enzymes weakens along with its ability to fight disease. The enzymes in sprouted foods can help replace the enzymes that your body has stopped producing. Friends and family,

Sources and References

• 1 Whfoods.org, Sprouts
• 2 Preventing Chronic Disease 2014; 11: 130390
• 3 Time June 6, 2014
• 4 Dr. Weil
• 5 rawfoods-livingfoods.com, How to Grow Sprouts
• 6 Organicauthority.com, How to Grow Sprouts in 5 Easy Steps

Taken from:
Mercola.com

Published by:
Glory of the Angels Espíndola
www.unmundodebrotes.com

Sprouts: Reasons to eat more, by Dr. Mercola