How to Enjoy Beans, Grains & Legumes on a Raw Foods Diet

If you’re on a raw foods journey, you may have wondered how you can safely consume beans, legumes, and grains which are all typically cooked. This is important, as certain health experts take the position that a raw vegan diet is limited to only fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds, with virtually no access to important plant-based protein foods, such as beans, legumes, and grains.

Here’s where we set the record straight. Virtually all uncooked beans, legumes, and grains are made accessible to the body by sprouting! Like cooking, the sprouting process neutralizes anti-nutrients like lectins, which hinder digestion.

Sprouting makes dry beans, grains, and legumes edible by neutralizing natural defense mechanisms and breaking down complex compounds, all of which makes these foods significantly easier for your body to digest. It transforms the dormant seed into a growing plant, “pre-digesting” the food so your stomach doesn’t have to.

In fact, sprouted beans, grains, and legumes are significantly healthier than cooked versions as they are literally alive, teaming with beneficial enzymes to support healthy digestion, all of which are destroyed, along with many nutrients, when foods are prepared at high temperatures.