I am always raving about raw foods! Seriously! I love being able to show people how to bring food to life! And by that I don’t just mean jazzy salads – what I mean is how to release the enzymes in food so that the body is able to access all the benefits!

What are enzymes? 

Enzymatic foods should be abundant and plentiful in a living raw foods diet (think beyond the lettuce leaf). What this means is that nuts and seeds (in their raw unroasted state) need soaking (so we can clean them, release the enzyme inhibitors and start to ‘grow’ the nut). This is called ‘activating’ the nut or seed. The benefits of doing this are typically that they become more easily digestible (rest that stressed digestive system!) and they become living foods (loaded with enzymes!) There is so much living force in that one tiny nut or seed: it has the potential to become a fully living productive plant – or an almond tree for example. Just think about it. Activated living foods contain so much abundant energy: and I want me some of that!

Enzymes are hugely important and are the life force of food – responsible for all metabolic activity in the body. Enzymes are needed to break down food particles quickly so that the body can process them. Cooked foods are without enzymes and pass through the body slowly encouraging fermentation and allowing toxins to remain in the body which is not good. Toxins present in the body are ‘weight loss blockers’ and encourage hormonal imbalances – interrupting the body’s natural ability to heal itself, detox and process waste. Cooking food destroys many minerals, vitamins and amino acids. There are a few exceptions such as lycopene found in tomatoes and carrots. Let’s bust this myth right here. Yes, when tomatoes are cooked lycopene is more available in the body (around an 18% increase in bioavailability) but that same tomato loses almost half of its vitamin A, 65% of vitamin K, 35% of beta carotene and 100% of it’s alpha carotene. To read more about the benefits of raw foods go here.

This is part of what I term: eating foods at their highest vibration. Bring your food to life!

What is buckwheat?

Buckwheat is a wonderful food and is a fantastic addition to any diet: especially a living raw foods diet. Buckwheat is not a wheat: it is related to the fruit seed and is directly related to rhubarb! It’s a fab alternative to rice, or meat in any dish. It’s perfect for those looking to avoid gluten in their diet. It can make crunchy granola, chunky meaty like burgers and a whole range of incredible dishes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buckwheat is a very mineral rich food and contains high levels of mangenese. Some of the health benefits of manganese include a benefit to healthy bone structure, bone metabolism, and helping to create essential enzymes for building bones. It also acts as a co-enzyme to assist metabolic activity in the human body. Apart from these, there are other health benefits of manganese including the formation of connective tissues, absorption of calcium, proper functioning of the thyroid gland and sex hormones, regulation of blood sugar level, and metabolism of fats and carbohydrates.

I use it raw and sprouted and also roasted. But I do not boil or cook them.

Using roasted buckwheats (of course, it’s still awesome but not raw) I simply cover in water (not hot) and wait for the buckwheats to ‘pop’. They don’t explode or anything they simply expand out of their skin. This takes up to 4 hours or more.You can of course also boil them.

 

To sprout (or activate) raw buckwheat I simply sit the buckwheat in fresh clean (preferably filtered or bottled) water for two days – draining once or twice a day. Then I may sprout them further out of the water but it’s not really necessary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of my Nuts, Seeds, Fruits & Shoots workshop (as part of my Cookery School programme and my Raw Juice Camp and Summer Retreats workshops) I love demonstrating what happens to different nuts, fruits and seeds once they are soaked, sprouted and milled. This really helps to understand how you can use nuts and seeds really creatively in lots of recipes and explore so many options!

If you are not ready (or can’t find the time!) to soak your buckwheat then you can buy pre-activated buckwheat. I love Planet Organics range. Super fab!

The recipe

The recipe for buckwheat is so simple it’s almost not a recipe at all! All you need is:

Ingredients

• 2 cups sprouted activated buckwheat (soaked then dehydrated)
• 1/2 cup semi dried prunes

Method

Simply place the buckwheat and prunes in a food processor and process on the S blade for up to 3 minutes! You don’t want to powderise the buckwheats – you want to make sure that the fruit is broken down enough to create a sticky dough ball. Remove from the food processor and shape into delicious balls! They will last in the fridge for several weeks… not that I would know!

Once you are feeling more confident with using nuts and seeds you can add lots of extras to your taste! Activated sunflower seeds…oh the options are endless!

Enjoy!

Keeping it juicy & raw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Want to hear more about how to bring your food to life and learn how to activate nuts and seeds? Why not book a private tutoring session with me? Come join me in Cookery School? Access more recipes from my ebooks.

To purchase my new book Spiralize! from Amazon click here.