Nutrition

Especially in the time of winter in a lot of regions it can be difficult to get nutrient-rich food. Either it has travelled long distances or it has been in storage for quite a while. Both are not very helpful to have a lot of nutrients in your food. There is a fun way, which is also simple, to boost the nutrients in your food – sprouts.

The advantages of sprouts

Sprouts are very nutrient-rich. They contain a lot of vitamins and minerals. The seed of a plant holds a highly concentrated nutritive tissue stored for the growth phase. During the process of germination, the nutritive tissue is activated. Now, the concentration of protein, fat, carbohydrates and fibers is highest, as well as the concentration of vitamins and minerals.

Growing your own sprouts in your apartment

You can grow your own sprouts in your apartment. You do not need a garden. And you do not need a lot of space. You only need a bit of equipment in which you cultivate the seedlings. I like to use a sprouting jar. This is a glass with a lid, whereas the lid is a sieve out of stainless steel. During the seeding this jar is placed on a holding device on which it is in a diagonal top down position. You can put the whole thing on your windowsill or on a shelf or any other spot, where the seeds get some light.

How to grow your own sprouts

• In a first step the seeds need to be soaked in water. You can do this already in the sprouting jar or in a separate glass or bowl. Depending on the kind of seed this takes several minutes to several hours.
• After the soaking rinse the seeds thoroughly. If you had soaked them in a glass or bowl, put them into a sieve and rinse them with water in the sieve. Afterwards put them into the sprouting jar. If you had soaked them directly in the sprouting jar, rinse them in the jar. I do the latter one about 3 to 4 times. Afterwards place the jar on the holding device.
• The germination time takes 1 day to about 2 weeks depending on several items as the type of seed, your preferences, light intensity, and temperature. The sprouts taste different during the germination process. And the amount of nutrients is different during the seeding. They contain the highest amount of vitamins, when they have developed into a young plant with stems, small leaves and fine roots.
• During the sprouting it is very important to rinse the seedlings thoroughly 2 to 3 times per day. Each time I rinse them for about 3 times.
• When I rinse the sprouts and before eating them, I like to detect the scent. If they smell funny, I throw them away. So far this happened only rarely and usually only if I tried something new.

My favorites

I like to use buckwheat and fenugreek for my muesli, and lentils and lupins for salads or as topping for a lot of other dishes. I prefer about 2 days of sprouting for the buckwheat and fenugreek, and about 3 to 5 days for the lentils and lupins.

There are a lot of other types that can be used as adzuki beans, mustard, chickpeas, broccoli, mung beans, radish and so on. I prefer to use seeds that are not too small. If they are too small, the sprouting jar does not work very well, as the seeds block the sieve during rinsing. There are other devices you can use for smaller seeds. Somehow, they did not work so well for me either. These are my examples, when the sprouts smelled funny and I threw them away. So, if you have any tips, how I can also grow smaller seeds properly, let me know.

Photo by Iwona Kisiel

During the last years, I discovered how important a proper digestion is to feel good. And during the last years, research gives more and more relevance to the gastrointestinal field and looks deeper into this topic. Nowadays, the gastrointestinal tract is even called the abdominal brain. In this article I am going to share three quick hits with you how you can improve your digestion.

The abdominal brain is a highly organized nervous system. It contains around 100 to 200 million neurons. These are more neurons as in the entire spinal cord. About 90 % of nerve cords run from the gastrointestinal area to the brain. That means that more connections run from bottom to top than the other way around. What is the reason for this? Very simple – the information from bottom to top is more important than from top to bottom. The communication from the gastrointestinal area is omnipresent. We just do not recognize it consciously except for warning signals as for example pain or nausea.

There are a lot of things you can do to improve your digestion as for example intestinal cleansing, detox, and repair. Some of them are quick and simple and some of them take more effort. If you want to start with something that cost you no effort you can do the following three things:

1. Do not drink while you are eating and do not drink anything about 10 to 20 min before and 20 to 30 min after a meal. The acid in your stomach works better if you do not dilute it with any liquids.
2. Make sure that you chew your food properly. Depending on the texture of your food you should chew one bite about 20 to 40 times or even longer before you swallow it. Digestion starts in your mouth. In addition, the more you break your food up in your mouth the less needs to be done by the rest of your digestive system.
3. According to Pareto 80 % is king. Do not overeat. Only eat about 75 to 80 % of your stomach size. The muscles of your stomach mix and knead the food and the gastric juice in your stomach. With this the breakup of the food in your stomach happens and finally the transport of it to your duodenum. If your stomach is too full the mixing and transportation of the food is more difficult. Just think about if you want to mix and knead the ingredients for a dough. If your bowl is completely full with the ingredients it is more difficult to mix and knead them than if the bowl is only 75 to 80 % full.

If you want to try it out please be patient with yourself and remember how difficult it can be to change your habits (Why Are Habits So Powerful? ). Do it consistently in small steps (A Playful Approach to Achieve Your Goals). For example, if so far you gulped down your food in one bite, start to chew it at the beginning 5 times and then work yourself slowly up to 20 to 30 times. Or if you overate so far reduce the amount slowly but surely bit by bit to 75 to 80 %. Give yourself time to learn these new habits and enjoy the process.

Photo by Alesia Kozik