Oh, almonds! Almonds are a beloved food of many people. They’re not something you should be eating a lot of. Really. Not if they are straight from the bag to your mouth. It’s like getting a double dose of the Omega6 Fats (PDF may take some time to load) that we know we are consuming, followed by a bit of phytotoxic acid (a mineral absorb inhibitor), to which we may not have thought.
To regulate my Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids intake, I focus mainly on REDUCING OMEGA 6 in-take and then eat my Omega 3s in the forms of grass-fed beef, wild fish, and very little flax oil.
When referring to eggs, “Omega 3 enriched” means that the chickens received flax seeds as Omega 3. The chickens converted the Omega 3 from these flax seeds into more useful forms for us humans: eicosapentaenoic (EPA) or docosahexaenoic (DHA). The conversions between ALA, EPA, and DHA are not as efficient for humans. This is why consuming Omega 3s in flax oil will likely not suffice for optimal health. I will only buy Omega 3 enriched eggs if my regular pastured egg is unavailable.
Reduce Omega 6 intake by avoiding vegetable oils (mainly canola, soybean, sunflower, and safflower – all high in linoleic acids), grains, and legumes.
For those who have given up vegetable oils and grains to adopt an evolutionary diet but still want to eat healthy and nutritious foods and snacks that are easy to grab and go, nuts and seeds can be a good source of Omega 6 for them. This advice is not only mine. This podcast interview with Matt Lalonde was conducted by Jimmy Moore, Livin’ La Vida low carb. Matt Lalonde is an organic chemist, a Harvard-educated Ph.D., and also advocates for reducing Omega 6s in our diets. On his podcast, Robb Wolf mentioned that shelling nuts is a great way to control our nut intake. This idea is great. This would be a good option if I wanted to avoid overeating nuts. Apart from their Omega 6 content, nuts can also contain other potential gut irritants or lectins. This is why they are at the tips top of the Paleo Pyramid.
“But I still want almonds!” They are my favorite! “You’ve already taken my bread, so don’t take my almonds!”
Okay, I get it! And I understand. Because I travel a lot these days, I might need to bring some almonds. I like to have snacks ready for when I go. A woman can’t live on jerky by herself. It’s amazing!
Here are my recommendations for preparing almonds (and other nuts-soaking time will vary depending on the type of nut):
- Raw organic almonds available for purchase
- Allow them to soak overnight in filtered water in glass containers.
- Rinse them
- You can make almond milk from them at this point.
- Place them on racks in the oven or on dehydrator racks. Dry them again at low temperatures. (Time varies, but it should take around 12 hours).
You can still eat the almonds as-is once they have been soaked. However, the texture isn’t right for me to snack on, so I recommend dehydrating them. You can use almonds for snacks by giving them a slow, low-temperature warm air vacation. To make almond milk, give them a spin in a filtered water tornado. A quick Google search for “how do you make almond milk?” will bring many videos. I had originally intended to tell you that the nuts should be kept at a low temperature to prevent their oil from oxidizing. However, a quick chat with Matt Lalonde revealed that an intact almond would not present this problem since oxygen cannot penetrate the nut. For all the almond-flour lovers out there, you can roast nut butter and almond flour or almond meal that has been heated. It can cause nut oils to become oxidized. Consuming oxidized oils is not something we want to do if possible. They can cause systemic inflammation and lipid peroxidation, both of which can be harmful to our bodies as well as our overall health.
Why soak and then dry the almonds?
Perhaps you are familiar with the concept of anti-nutrients. In the case of nuts, this anti-nutrient is phytotoxic acid. The bran, which is the part of whole grains in-tact, contains phytotoxic acid. This can be found in seeds, nuts and seeds. It binds minerals such as calcium, magnesium and iron, making it difficult to digest them. The phytic acid in nuts can be reduced by overnight soaking.
I find it a little odd that food needs to be prepared so carefully before being eaten.
It’s not that I want to make my life too complicated when it comes time to needing a portable snack, so I’m going to get some dehydrated almonds and my homemade grass-fed jerky.
