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What are Activated Nuts and why are they good for you? – by Gemma from Totally Nuts

Activation – the what and the why  

 “What is activation?”

It is a straightforward and simple process – we simply soak the nuts and seeds in water and then dry them in a dehydrator. At Totally Nuts we soak the nuts in filtered water with Himalayan Crystal Salt. The salt makes them taste sensational but also increases the enzyme activity in the nuts. Drying them instead of roasting them after soaking is important because it protects the nuts’ fats and proteins – when exposed to higher heats they are destroyed and your body cannot use them.

“Why activate nuts?”

This is the really interesting part of the story! Nuts are plant seeds, so it helps to look from the parent plant’s point of view. You put all this effort into creating a perfect little seed with all the potential to grow into a full-size tree. Clearly you are going to want to ensure that this precious little seed has the best chance possible to grow and mature. So you’ll protect it.

Your protection takes the form of complex compounds that make your seed dormant until the appropriate conditions arrive for its growth. When we eat your raw seeds (sorry about that!) we also eat those protective compounds which, it turns out, are not great for our digestive system.

The two main compounds we are concerned with are phytic acids and enzyme inhibitors.

Phytic acid functions as a mineral storage mechanism. It locks up important minerals so they will be available to the growing plant after germination. Unfortunately, it does exactly the same thing in our gut: it locks up minerals so they can no longer be absorbed in our digestive system.

Enzyme inhibitors shut down germination enzymes in the seed so that it doesn’t try to germinate in the wrong conditions. Again, they do the same job in our gut, and shut down our digestive enzymes. This is why many people find that when they eat a lot of raw nuts they feel bloated or heavy.

Activation – or more precisely, the soaking part of activation – mimics the start of the germination process. Water floods into the cells of the nut and those complex and indigestible compounds are broken down into simple ones that our body can deal with.

The beauty of activation is that it is so unarguably logical and unmissable, once you think about it from a plant’s point of view. Obviously, the fact that they taste amazing helps considerably! And do not believe that all activated nuts are the same – different people do it differently, and the taste varies accordingly. Until you try Totally Nuts activated nuts you have missed out!

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You can buy certified organic Totally Nuts Activated Nuts from The Wholefood Pantry.