I wanted to open this thread to ask some questions and get feedback on the issue of sprouted grains and legumes (mung beans, chickpeas, adzuki beans, lentils, green peas only as other types of sprouted legumes will make you sick - if I have forgotten one, let me know).

First of all, I sprout them currently and use them in manna bread (raw flat bread) and as an ingredient in salad (e.g. quinoa sprouts, lentil sprouts). I also use them (grains) to make Rejuvelac and a few other things.

The value added to me is that the lentil sprouts and green pea sprouts are great sources of raw protein per calorie. One cup of raw lentil sprouts has 81 calories and 7 grams of protein. One cup of green pea sprouts has 154 calories and 11 grams of protein (source Becoming Raw by Davis and Melina, p. 85. fwiw, they claim that a cup of kale juice has 7 grams of protein with 70 calories. The latter quote is at odds with Joel Fuhrman who claims that most of the protein partions to the pulp/fiber rather than the juice. The citation for the kale juice in Becoming is a personal communication between Vesanto Melina and Cantest Laboratories on "Green Giant Juice" involving kale and almonds. Presumably a mass balance was involved. It would be useful to look at that before accepting the kale juice estimate at face value.

Questions:

Do you use raw sprouted grains and/or legumes in your raw food diet? How?

Have you experienced a downside by doing so?

Have you experienced a benefit by doing so?

What is your net assesment about using sprouted grains and legumes in a raw diet for you personally?

Looking forward to your response.

Paul

I cannot add much to this discussionas I do not like any sprouts at all. I cannot digest them and think they all taste fairly horrid so I never eat them.

I am hoping that my diet is perfectly adequate without them. I shall watch the responses with interest however.

1-Do you use raw sprouted grains and/or legumes in your raw food diet? How?
A- Sprouted lentils, they are very tasty. Sprouted grains no as I find them unappetizing without major doctoring (a sign I take to mean I shouldn't be eating them).

2-Have you experienced a downside by doing so?
A- Nothing I've noticed.


3-Have you experienced a benefit by doing so?
A- They are tasty and filling and meet the need for protein, plus I feel great eating foods that are alive like sprouts are.

4-What is your net assesment about using sprouted grains and legumes in a raw diet for you personally?
A- I like them, I like most sprouts. Not the grains so much unless it's buckwheat which I understand aren't actually even a grain.

I eat sprouts now and again, in pittas with falafals and such or in salads, for some reason my body looks at sprouts as something to eat now and again rather than basing large part of your diet around them.

They are a great plant source of protein. They don't taste great really though in my opinion. You could do perfectly fine without them in your diet but they are nice now and again.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

I am not 100% raw at this time, But I am maintaining a vegetarian diet. I have started including mung beans not really to increase protein, but as a source of high enzyme, high vitamin food. The local produce sometimes seems to be lacking in vitality.

I have noticed an increase in a sense of alertness and aliveness from eating mung bean sprouts. I thought that was from the vitamins/minerals/enzymes etc., but perhaps it might be due to something else. Maybe some subtle allergic reaction? The main thread seems to indicate some toxicity. I hope not, as I hoped that the addition would be a plus in my diet.

I probably have a pound of seed left, which I am working on finishing. I have always considered sprouts a good addition to any diet. But if it doesn't appeal to someone certainly don't force them down. I actually sometimes eat them when I don't really find them appealing, so I need to practice what I preach more. But then again, sometimes I find myself craving more after eating them, so I guess it depends on my mood. I would say that they are much better than eating a doughnut or a hot dog, which is probably a poor comparision!

Paul,

I eat sprouted seeds--alfalfa, radish, broccoli, etc.--as a nutrient and textural boost to my grean salads, but not grains or beans anymore. When I did consume sprouted grains and beans, I tolerated them OK, but didn't feel any great benefits from most of them, at least not sufficient to continue to sprout and process them; too much a hassle. Of the ones I sprouted, I think sprouted garbanzos(for raw hummus) and sprouted raw buckwheat(for dehydrated raw trail mix) were my favorites and had the most noticeable energizing effects.

Buckwheat greens should be avoided Coco as the mature shoots with green leaves contain a toxic compound called fagopyrin and should generally be minimised or avoided in the diet (Becoming Raw - Davis and Melina pages 225,226)

They go on to flag up warnings about legumes too (trypsin inhibitors); one of the worst offenders being chickpeas.

But you have this book Paul and have no doubt drawn your own conclusions

Jan,

Yes, I have read that section. Chickpeas are the worst offenders among legumes you can sprout (i.e. they have the highest level of trypsin inhibitors relative to lentils and mung beans which have lower levels). I think with chickpeas it's moderation. The worst offenders among all legumes cannot even be consumed sprouted, such as red kidney beans.

Paul

I was talking about sprouted buckwheat, not baby greens. It's really good dehydrated, very crunchy with that crisp mouth-feel that's missing in a raw diet.
I think the benefits of buckwheat greens outweigh the negatives though, it contains rutin, a bioflavinoid not found in beans or grains, that can help strengthen blood vessels. It's the highest source of dietary rutin in fact.
Besides, you'd have to eat just LOADS to develop photo-sensitivity. Who is eating or juicing more than a small amount of it, really? All things in moderation, as they say. I'm not about to cut out the tiny bit of onion, garlic, ginger etc that I eat either. Some things are meant to be eating often and others benefit best in small quantities.

I personally wouldn't eat sprouted legumes aside from lentils. If you've ever had a mouthful of raw undoctored garbanzo bean sprouts or wheat or oat or even kamut sprouts you'll notice the flavour is less than appealing, very starchy and even bitter I've found. I can eat a small bowl of lentil sprouts plain though, they are very tasty. Even mung and adzuki don't appeal.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2012 02:20PM by coco.

No, I don't use them anymore. I did experiment with them because they're part of the raw foods thing. My body has never liked legumes.

I wish I could say I have been sprouting lately but it's been quite a while. What I have sprouted are alfalfa and clover (seem to taste the same although the latter is supposedly better for us), French lentils and turtle beans. I tried to sprout mung beans and it was a yucky experience. You are supposed to sprout mung beans in the dark but it just came out rotten. Mung sprouts are high in protein. I don't like them raw, though. I just don't dig the flavor. I sometimes use them in stirfry.

actually, lentils sprouts are much higher in calories and protein than mung bean sprouts. green pea sprouts even more so.

Paul

I donb't know. I bought some lentils from Stop N Shop but they didn't sprout. I ate them soaked instead. Still yummy.

The added value is vitamin C? enzymes? increase in B vitamins?

I think it's a plug for Wal-Mart Mislu. I wish Wal-Mart had a natural foods section. Yay! organics! I want a sprout section, perhaps some gourmet brown rice, bulk nuts, raw cocoa, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, some sesame oil, almonds, walnuts, cashews, pine nuts, a juice bar with wheat grass and maybe Jalapeno Chipins e v e r y t i m e I look for them. Oh, and those boxes of stuff that make corn syrup free cake frosting.