Hi Carol and David,

Where are you from..if you don't mind me asking? I'm in
Bad Kreuznach in Germany.

> Alan wrote, in part:
> >
> > You should not be eating any seeds at all (and nuts only in season)
> > because they contain enzyme inhibitors...
>
> A few questions:
>
> (1) What is it that happens to nuts as they age (become out-of-season)
>     that makes them no longer acceptable?
>
Apparently (according to others in this list) nuts ARE acceptable
out of season if they are soaked for at least a day. The theory is
that water neutralises the enzyme inhibitors. Personally I believe
this to be true because the enzyme inhibitors are also no longer
present (neutralised) when the nut or seed sprouts (i.e. is exposed
to rain or damp soil). I myself have never eaten soaked nuts..but
intend to try it next year when my trees again produce the goods
(I don't trust nuts bought from the shops as one never knows if
they have been treated with agraricides or even irradiated). I
always eat my nuts from my trees (organically grown and not
sprayed with anything) shortly before or shortly after they fall
to the ground, i.e. when they are certainly still "alive", and
have had no digestive problems.

> (2) Don't the various things grouped under the common term "nuts"
>     actually come from different botanical groups?  Almonds, peanuts,
>     and cashews, for example, grow in such different ways.

It makes no difference as nuts are essentially seeds..and are
not meant to be eaten really (unless they use the "host" as
a means of propagating..and are thus indigestible if not chewed).

> (3) Could it be, since they are so different, that some nuts have
>     enzyme inhibitors as well, while some don't?

They might look different but their purpose in Nature is identical.
Thus they stand to gain nothing by being chewed and digested.
(some obviously use the digestive system of birds and apes etc.
to propagate but are not..or not all..chewed by these species and thus
leave their bodies in much the same state as they entered).

In other words, they produce the enzyme inhibitors to prevent themselves
from being digested..meaning unless we neutralise them..all seeds
are a useless burden on our digestive system and can even interefere
with the digestion of other similar foodstuffs (if the enzyme trypsin,
which the body uses to process protein is inhibited, for example, the
person would have a digestive problem with all other proteins eaten
in the same meal).

Alan