Why Should You Grow Your Own Sprouts?

Sprouts are Easy, Fast, and Convenient.

Sprouts can be made with very little space, and only a few minutes of effort each day. In a few days, you will have an abundance of sprouts, one of the most powerful healing foods!

• Sprouting takes less than a minute per day
• Ready to eat in 3 to 7 days
• Very little space
• Low cost
• The entire plant is consumed: root, seed, and shoot
• Can be stored in the refrigerator (in a jar) for up to two weeks

Health Benefits of Sprouts

• Super Rich in Phytochemicals. Phytochemicals are plant compounds designed to protect the plant and will also confer protection when you eat them.
• High in Antioxidants. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals and support the immune system.
• Cancer Protective. Broccoli sprouts, in particular, contain high amounts of sulforaphane. Sulforaphane has been shown to block DNA mutations that lead to cancer, slow tumor growth, and reduce cancerous cells’ ability to multiply.
• Enzymatically Rich. Enzymes aid in the digestion and absorption of nutrients. An abundance of enzymes generates incredible energy reserves. High heat denatures enzymes. Sprouts should not be cooked because the enzymes, one of the most beneficial components, would be denatured. For example, high heat denatures the enzymes needed to convert glucoraphanin to sulforaphane in cruciferous foods. Raw mustard seeds, also in the cruciferous family, contain the necessary enzymes – myrosinase – to make the conversion.
• Superfoods! Sprouts are some of the most nutrient-dense foods: excellent sources of easily absorbed vitamins and minerals.
• Alkalize the Body. Many illnesses thrive in an acidic body. The standard American diet is very high in acidic foods (caffeine, sugar, processed foods, animal products, alcohol), and even chronic stress contributes to making the body more acidic. Grains and legumes, while generally healthy, are slightly acidic, but by sprouting them nutrients are converted, becoming more plant-like and thus more alkaline.
• Extremely Nutritious. The nutrients from sprouts are easier to assimilate as sprouting converts macronutrients to an easier-to-digest form. Fats are converted to fatty acids, starches from carbohydrates are converted to simple sugars, and complex proteins are converted into amino acids (this is essentially a predigested protein). This allows vitamin production to be increased 3 to 12-fold. The delicate cell wall of sprouts allows for nutrients to be easily released.
• Easy to Digest During the germination of seeds, carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins are broken down into simple molecules that can be easily digested and eventually absorbed.

Conclusions

As perfectly stated in the 2022 article Sprouts and Microgreens-Novel Food Sources for Healthy Diets, “sprouts and microgreens are novel functional food sources with great potential for sustainably diversifying global food systems, promoting human health, and facilitating the access of a steadily growing urban population to fresh microscale vegetables. These novel food sources have vivid colors, exciting textures, and diverse flavors and tastes, and they can be purchased in supermarkets or even home-grown for daily harvesting as needed. Furthermore, due to their short growth cycle, these nutrient-dense food sources can be produced with minimal input, without using pesticides; hence, they have low environmental impacts and a broad acceptance among health-conscious consumers. Furthermore, as sprouts and microgreens are usually consumed raw, there is hardly a loss or degradation of heat-sensitive micronutrients or vitamins through food processing¹.”

References

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