Sprouts - Grow Your Own!

Seeds that I sprout and grow at home have become a large part of my daily diet.  Though it took me a while to learn how to fit them into my diet in a way that worked for me, once I figured that out they became a health-changing staple.
Yes - I can buy sprouts at the store and do in a pinch.  There are several good reasons, though, to grow them at home.  Often the sprouts on the store shelves at places like Sprouts, Whole Foods and Central Market don't look or smell all that fresh.  Containers of Brocco and similar sprouts sometimes look great on the store shelves, but other times they have brown roots, look slimy and smell moldy.  The second reason is that buying sprouts at the store is expensive,  and especially expensive if you're making them a dietary staple.  The third reason is that they're easy to grow at home, with minimal or even no investment other than the cost of the seeds.  A little seed goes a long way.  One cup of seed provides me with enough sprouts for a whole week's worth of green drinks, brown drinks (smoothies), salad and sandwich toppings.
Sprouting seeds, nuts and beans greatly enhances their nutritional value.  When oats are sprouted, for example, the vitamin B2 content increases by 1,300%, vitamin B6 by 500%, and folic acid by 600%.  Sprouts contain extraordinarily high levels of high quality protein.  As just one example, mung bean sprouts contain a higher proportion of their calories as protein than a T-bone steak.
I soak and sprout all kinds of seeds, nuts and beans, but my focus is on small vegetable seeds - things like broccoli, alfalfa, arugula, mustard, kale, onion and fenugreek.  Broccoli sprouts are perhaps my favorite, simply because they are crazy nutritious.  They aren't a substitute for adult broccoli - you should eat that too - but an ounce of broccoli sprouts contains as much sulforophane (supports antioxidant activity) as a pound and a quarter of cooked adult broccoli.  One ounce also contains 15% of the recommended daily amount of vitamin C, and is loaded with fiber and calcium.
I sprout seed blends - a little of this and a little of that - and eat between eight ounces and a pound of sprouts a day.  Vegetable sprouts are most often eaten raw.  Nut sprouts are also mostly eaten raw, and can easily be blended with water to become milks.  Bean & legume sprouts are sometimes eaten raw and sometimes cooked, but I like to cook them.
Here are some basics.  As I said, it's simple.  All you need is seeds, water, a soaking/sprouting container, and a tray of some kind to grow the sprouts in.
I buy organic seeds in bulk online and keep them in airtight containers.  You might be able to find them in some local stores, but check the freshness dates. Seeds and supplies are readily available online at sprouthouse.com, wheatgrasskits.com, sproutpeople.com and sprouting.com and others.

Above are alfalfa, broccoli and mustard seeds and one of the sprouters I like to use.  I'll start with 1/4 cup each of broccoli and alfalfa seeds, add a tablespoon of mustard or some other spicy seed, and combine them with lukewarm water in my easysprout container.

Another easy way to sprout seeds is with a sprouting bag, which is sometimes also known as a nutmilk bag.  I have sprouting bags that I've used dozens of times, and they always seem to do the job.

Here's some newly sprouted seeds, after about one day of germination.  First I combined the seeds with lukewarm water.  I let the seeds soak for eight hours and then rinsed and drained them.  Then, I let the drained seeds sit in the same container for germination.  At this stage, once fully germinated, I transfer them directly to a sprouting tray and let nature take its course.

Two days later the crop is doing well.  The trays I use are a double tray system.  The top tray has some holes in it for easy rinsing and draining of the seeds as they grow.  Seeds/sprouts like to be rinsed a lot - at least once a day while growing.  After rinsing them in the perforated top tray I put them in a solid bottom tray.  BUT, you don't need a fancy double tray covered system to grow great sprouts.  I used whatever basic plastic trays I could find around the house for several years before investing in better equipment.  The cover is also optional.  I started covering my trays this winter.  It seems to make the sprouts grow a bit faster, but other than that there's no difference.

The end result is nutritious great-tasting sprouts.  From seed to fully-grown sprouts takes about five days.  I start new seeds about every other day, though I mix it up.  Sometimes I might be sprouting small vegetable seeds like this, other times beans or grains.  The process for soaking and germinating grain to grow your own wheatgrass is very similar.  The only difference is that once you've soaked and germinated the wheat, you put the wheat sprouts on a tray of dirt to grow into wheatgrass.  That's a great thing to eat too, but deserves its own blog post.
The seed/nut/legume soaking times are sort of important, plus/minus a couple of hours.  Most small vegetable seeds are soaked six to eight hours.  Most hulled seeds like almonds, pumpkin and sunflower are soaked about eight hours.  Beans and legumes are soaked a bit longer, maybe ten to twelve hours on average.
Soak for a few hours, germinate for a day or so, and then sprout and green for a few days.  Don't keep them in the dark.  That's about all you need to know to Grow Your Own.

What - Or When?

Most people start a new diet by focusing only on the foods that they'll be eating. Though much or even most of what I've learned in my on-going quest for better health has focused on food and nutrition, I also know that food choices are a very personal thing.  Chances are that very few people who want to move from obesity to a normal weight will be willing to eat the kind of diet I eat today. I really believe that we all have to figure out what works for us food-wise, and that getting from one point to the next in improving our dietary choices is a process. Getting healthier doesn't need to be about starving yourself all the time, eating foods you hate or being miserable and unhappy.  In fact, I think that the opposite is true.  As I began to lose weight and get in better shape I found that the food I ate was more enjoyable and satifying.  Better health has paid benefits in every area of life.  I am a much happier person than I was when I was obese. Starting out on a long term quest for better health does require dietary change, but it's best to start to build a new lifestyle framework first.  That's why I so completely believe in FitDay, which involves setting very specific goals and closely monitoring eating and exercise habits.  In addition to a tool like FitDay, I have come to believe that when and how we eat is in many ways as important as what we eat.  Finding physiological homeostasis - life balance - requires giving our bodies the chance to work the way they were designed to work.  Our bodies need food at the start of the day to kick-start our metabolic system, and they also need time in between meals to digest and utilize the food we have consumed. Most obese people have horrible eating habits.  The problem isn't only what they eat, but when and how they eat it.  I've read many books and scores of articles on nutrition these past twelve years.  In fact, I've read just about everything I can get my hands on about this subject.  My email inbox in filled each morning with links to one diet or fitness website, discovery or trend or another.  It has become my passion.  I love reading about it, enjoy reading even all the contradictory information that's out there. Depending on what study you read, some alcohol is either good for you or bad for you.  Chocolate is either very good for you because of the polyphenols it contains, or bad for you because of it's high inherent fat and caffeine.  We all see this kind of thing on a regular basis.  One study says something and two years later another study contradicts it.  The "experts" can't seem to make up their minds so how can we? I've found that some experts have more expertise than others.  No, some have much more expertise than others.  Though I'm a fan of several different authors, the one author and "expert" that has helped me the most is a board-certified clinical nutritionist named Byron Richards.  His book "Mastering Leptin - Your Guide to Permanent Weight Loss and Optimum Health", now in its third printing, is one of the resources that I trust and rely on the most.  I don't agree with everything he writes or advocates, and would love to have the chance to argue with him about some of his perspective.  But, for the most part, when it comes to setting the framework for homeostasis, I'm convinced that Byron Richards is one of the rare voices that gets it right.

Byron talks a lot not only about what to eat but also when and how to eat it.  He explains the why's behind it in great detail in his books, but you don't have to read Byron's books before you get started. Trust me on this - When you eat is probably as important as what you eat.  So, a few principles or rules: 1) Never eat after dinner.  Allow eleven to twelve hours between dinner and breakfast.  Never go to bed on a full stomach.  Finish eating dinner at least three hours before going to bed. (Mastering Leptin: Chapter 15.) 2) Eat three meals a day.  Allow five hours or so between meals.  Do not snack.  (Mastering Leptin: Chapter 17.) 3) Do not eat large meals.  If you are overweight, always try to finish a meal when you are slightly less than full; the full signal will usually catch up in ten to twenty minutes.  Eating slowly is important.  (Mastering Leptin: Chapter 18.) 4) Eat a breakfast containing protein. Breakfast is by far the most important meal of the day.  (Mastering Leptin: Chapter 19.) 5) Reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat. (Mastering Leptin: Chapter 20.)   Some people have told me they can't make these life changes.
I have a firend who is obese like I used to be, and she tells me that she can't eat breakfast.  She "hates it", she says.  Eating breakfast makes her feel sick.  She also tells me that if she doesn't eat before bed she can't get to sleep, wakes up hungry, or gets a headache.  She's a good friend and terrific person, but I am very concerned about her health.  The plain and honest truth is that what she's really saying is this:  "My body is completely out of balance."  "My liver is clogged with fat and accumulated poisons."  "My pancreas doesn't know what it's supposed to do next."  "My insulin/glucagon fuel utilization hormonal balance is completely out of whack."  "My body is  insulin resistant."  "My thyroid hormone, growth hormone, adrenal hormones, sex hormones and melatonin levels are likely out of rhythm with my body's design."  Anyone who says that they can't eat breakfast and have to eat before they can sleep needs to fix that before they start worrying about what they're eating.  When and how comes first.  You build the foundation before you build the house. Establishing these sound eating habits along with sound goals and growing dietary awareness is half of the battle.  Master these concepts and you'll have the basic foundation for optimum health.  What follows from these foundations is more energy, feeling better mentally and physically, and natural gradual improvements in diet and exercise.

First Steps . . .

Though it took me decades of struggling, I finally did accept that there are no quick fixes.  Over the years I tried most every fad diet that came along.  Like many Americans who go this route, I rode the weight roller coaster, down one year and back up the next.
I used to joke that I had lost a thousand pounds in my lifetime.  Though that was an exaggeration, I joked about it because deep inside I knew I was on the wrong track.  I had indeed lost hundreds of pounds over the years, using diets that had one catchy name or another - The Atkins Diet, Protein Power, The Russian Air Force Diet, The Drinking Man's Diet, The Grapefruit Juice Diet, The Hollywood Diet, The One Good Meal Diet, etc.  I lost weight on all of these diets.  Unfortunately it came back as quickly as it left.  They didn't solve my weight problem, and probably did more harm than good.
Finally, I realized that what doctors and nutritionists had been saying all along about diet was worth listening to.  There are no quick fixes.  The only lasting approach is to take the longterm view, which means fundamental shifts in habits and thinking for most people.
My goal is natural balance - homeostasis.  God designed our bodies with the ability to establish physiological stability.  Our bodies were designed to bounce back, to recover, from all kinds of stresses and trauma.  Unfortunately, much of the common sense "natural balance" lifestyle that our recent agrarian ancestors embraced has given way to the view that disease somehow comes from outside ourselves.  We have come to think that every medical problem has a quick fix.  Have a problem?  Take a pill.
We have come to think, for example, that successful cancer treatment involves complete eradication of all cancer cells.  Thus cancer treatment involves myriad drugs, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, while paying little or no attention to why the cancer occurred in the first place.  We don't seem to ask how it got started, how a specific cancer is fueled, or how we might establish the kind of natural balance that would give us the best chance to fight it off, live through treatment, and prevent it from coming back in the future.
Don't get me wrong.  I'm not opposed to modern Western medicine.  I'm just a both-and guy who seems to live in an increasingly either-or world.  God designed our bodies to work, and we know that God doesn't make junk.  As a result, when talking about health goals we need to think first and foremost of natural balance - of getting our bodies and minds what they need: good whole foods, exercise, sunlight, meaningful relationships, community activities...
That may seem off the point of "First Steps", but in truth accepting homeostasis as your goal is the first step to health.  Achieving complete homeostasis is probably impossible in our culture, but we can begin the quest, figure out exactly what that means for us, and learn and grow in that pursuit.
Now, breaking that down further into workable steps, we come to tools.  It is impossible to begin any journey toward health without knowing where you've at.  I've found that we delude ourselves into thinking that we're eating better than we really are.
A few years ago I hit a lengthy plateau.  I had dropped from 315 to 270 but couldn't break through that barrier.  I was exercising almost daily at a health club and was "watching my diet", or so I thought.  Even though I was putting in at least an hour of aggressive aerobic exercise and doing some resistance training everyday, I wasn't losing a pound - or an inch.  My personal trainer at the time, Kelli Huston at 24HourFitness in Southlake, suggested that I try something called a BodyBugg.  The idea was that I'd wear a device that would monitor my calorie burn and that would interface with a computer program that would also track my diet.  The notion seemed daunting, especially logging everything I ate, but I was desperate so decided to give it a try.
First of all, I found out that tracking my diet and exercise wasn't all that difficult.  The BodyBugg program was easy to use and to adjust to the foods that I ate.  The second thing I found out was that I was eating nearly twice as many calories as I thought I was eating.  Keeping track in my head sounded reasonable to me, but in reality I was just fooling myself.  The 2500 calories a day I thought I was eating was really more like 4500 calories a day.  No surprise that I was stuck at 270 lbs.  With the aid of this BodyBugg tool I was able to make adjustments without starving myself.  It helped me make better choices, and once I did that the pounds started flowing off.
I'm a big believer in the BodyBugg, but I have since switched to a similar and less expensive approach known as FitDay.  I use the FitDay PC software, which for $29.95 provides detailed health planning, tracks all of my exercise, completely tracks my food intake and helps me stay on track.  http://www.fitday.com/Pc/PcHome.html?gcid=14
I've found that when I use FitDay I lose weight and feel better, and when I don't use it I gain weight and feel worse. Even after all these years I fool myself. This morning I had a shake for breakfast.  In my mind I added up what I put into the shake, and came up with 500 calories.  I then put the contents of the shake in FitDay and saw that my supposed 500 calories was actually 727 calories.
There is no way you can know what to change until you know where you're at.  If you can afford it, the best thing is to get a personal trainer (like Kelli) and buy a BodyBugg.  But, if you're on a strict budget like I am these days, invest $29.95 in FitDay2 PC software and resolve to give it an honest try.  You can input where your at with weight and fitness right now, can set goals, and can use it as a powerful tool to support you and monitor your progress.
It's easy to use!  It's a solid first step!  Give it a try - you'll never regret it.

Forever Young?

My quest for health began 12 years ago, New Year's 1998, when I was so huge I couldn't find decent clothes to wear to a party.  My efforts were renewed along the way, with various health wakeup calls...high arterial calcification, high LDL cholesterol, rising blood pressure...
In these years I've gone from 315 pounds to 190 pounds, from a size 56L jacket to a 42L jacket, from 18"  to 15 1/2" dress shirts, from 2XL or 3XL to M or L shirts and sweaters, and from a 48 inch to an honest 36 inch waist.  My LDL cholesterol has fallen to near 100, while my HDL cholesterol has risen to near 70.  My blood pressure which was as high on a daily basis as 140/85 now averages 110/65, and my waking heart rate has dropped from 65 to a consistent 40.
Getting to where I am and setting realistic and sound goals for the future has involved continual change and adjustment.  Many things I considered "health facts" a decade ago I now know to be false.  In fact, the only real constant has been change - learning how to best take care of my one and only body and brain.
There have been many fundamental paradigm shifts along the way.  Perhaps most fundamental has been my dietary changes, essentially switching from eating what I "liked" and was "hungry for" until I was "full", to eating what and how much I've determined that my body wants me to eat.
Much of the dietary transition could have been predicted, as I am now a vegetarian.  That is, from being a guy who was known by his friends for eating "slab-o-beef" on a daily basis, from 24 ounce bone-in cowboy rib-eye's cooked in butter to someone who now grows his own sprouts, wheatgrass and buckwheat lettuce and who grinds his own fresh organic grains.  I've been a raw food vegan for a period of time along the way, but have now settled into a comfortable balanced view.  Perhaps half of my calories still come from raw fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables, but I'm not religious about it.  I have even eaten some poultry from reliable sources, and also sometimes eat egg and dairy products.
It's not about being fanatical, just about being healthy.  We all have to figure out what works for us.
I've learned a lot these years, about diet, exercise, nutrition and natural cures, and I've decided that I'd like to share some of it with those who might like a similar pursuit.
In this blog I'll explain how and why to grow your own sprouts and wheatgrass, among other things.  I'll get into the what's and why's of supplementation too.  I'm convinced that there is a lot of misinformation out there.  And, I'll talk about exercise, and my passion - which is cycling.
No, we can't stay young forever, but that doesn't mean that we have to throw in the towel before our time.  One person I admire, pastor Erwin McManus of Mosaic in Los Angeles says that we may not be able to choose how or when we die, but we can choose how we live.  Health is just one aspect of "stewardship", but without health we have little time or energy for anything else.
I hope you'll participate in this blog.  Let me know your thoughts, comments, questions, and we can learn together.
"May you build a ladder to the stars, climb on every rung, and may you stay forever young..."