Natalie Butler: Now, before we get started today, I want to ask you a question. What is the nastiest most unhealthy food you can possibly think of? Take a little time if you needed, pause the video and really try to come up with the most unhealthiest, the worst food that you could possibly eat, and then leave your comment, I'm really curious what you come up with because we're going to start doing some videos on those types of foods and really exploring you know all the negatives of those types of foods, but today, we're doing a video on one of the best foods you can eat, it's the super foods sprouts.
Now, you maybe asking the question, well, I don't even know what a sprout is, what is that? Well, a sprout is produced when a seed begins to grow into a vegetable. And you can actually get sprouts from the variety of food, so you can get sprouts from beans, from vegetables, from buckwheat, from grains. So, there is a lot of different ways to get sprouts and they're available at your grocery store in the produce section and the great thing about sprouts is they aren't held as long as vegetables and other produce are kept as far as like transportation and storage, so they're not kept as long so the nutrients are much more important in that sprout. They're more highly nutritious because they're not stored as long, so that's another good benefit of the sprouts. And some sprouts are spicy, some sprouts are blend or mild tasting, so there are a variety of different kinds and now we're going to talk about health benefits.
Number one, sprouts are important source of enzymes. I did some other videos about the importance of enzymes, but basically if we cook our food, if our food is not fresh and if we're stressed and as we age we need more enzymes and when we cook our foods, we loose the lot of those enzymes. And so, eating a food like sprouts that are so enzyme dense and eating it fresh really provides that living energy that we need.
Number two, sprouts can contain up to 35% protein, so if you're vegetarian, you really want to include sprouts in your diet, this is a great source of immuno acids, a great source of protein, but even if you're not a vegetarian, this is a really great way to meet your protein requirements on a daily basis and you don't have to over do it on meat protein.
Number three, sprouts, of course, are loaded with vitamins and minerals. So, let me just read you the list, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, so that's almost all the vitamins right there, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, carotene, which is an anti-oxidant, chlorophyll, we already mentioned the immuno acids and it even includes trace elements. So, what an awesome food to have in your diet because it's so inclusive of so many vitamins and minerals.
Number four, sprouts are very easy to digest because of the enzymes that they have in them and they're a lot easier to digest than a lot of times the vegetable that the sprout will grow into. So, for example, if you're eating mung-bean sprouts or you're eating a lot of the other types of sprouts because they're so dent with enzymes and because a lot of times you're going to eat the sprout uncooked and fresh, it's very easy to digest so if you do have any digestive disorders or you're prone to gas or you know bloating or anything when you eat certain vegetables, this might be a better alternative for you.
Number five, you can actually grow your own sprouts pretty easily and if you don't want to grow them, you can get them anytime at the grocery store because they're grown year around, but if you do grow them at home, it's a great way to save money and there is actually 17 different kinds of sprouts that you can grow, and then you can get these kits that are already kind of put together or in line or you can get them at your health food store, just make sure that you're buying organic seeds and that will ensure you that they are going to be very nutrient rich.
Number six, sprouts do not sit in warehouses and they're transported as long and stored as long as the typical fruits and vegetables and I've already mentioned this a little bit, but basically, the shelf life of sprouts is a lot shorter than the average fruit or vegetable and so, it pretty much goes from it's grown to the stores very quickly because it can deteriorate and get molding and of course go bad really quick. So you're going to actually be able to get more nutrients because the item is fresher.
Number seven, of course, sprouts are high in fiber, so you know the majority of Americans need to loose weight, so this is another great food, it's full of fiber and the awesome thing is they're so low in calories, yet they are so nutrient dense, so you would have to eat pounds of this to equal, you know what an actual meal so that's what is so great about it. It's going to help you feel full, it's going to help regulate bowel movements and it's just so full of nutrients without having all those calories.
So, there are a lot of different ways that you can include sprouts in your diet, you can put them on salads, you can make them as it's own salad by getting different types of sprouts and just combining them all, you can sauté them with some of the more fragile and delicate sprouts like alfalfa sprouts, you can add onto cereals or to hot oatmeal and mix them in, you can add sprouts to soups, you can add sprouts to if you're going to make an omelet, you can puree it with other vegetables, you can put it in a blender and mix with other vegetables and make like a greens or super foods drink.
So, there are a lot of different ways, I would hope that you would emphasize eating the sprouts raw because then you're getting all the nutrients and all the enzymes possible. Keep in mind, if you cook, you're losing some of that. So, but there are so many ways, there is no reason why you can't find at least one way to start eating sprouts.
And there are a lot of different kinds of sprouts that you can purchase. Some are more available in grocery stores and some aren't, but I want to just let you know what they're so that if you see them in a grocery store you will know what they're. So, they are alfalfa sprouts, cabbage sprouts, sprouts from clover, fenugreek, which is a vegetable, mustard, radish, and sunflower. I love sunflower sprouts. Bean sprouts, chickpea sprouts, lentil sprouts, mung-bean, which is more popular in Asian cooking, green pea sprouts, wheat sprouts, rice sprouts.
So, a lots of different kinds and it's really interesting because in a lot of other cultures, especially Asian cultures, they use sprouts a lot and you know you kind of think about how long they live, you know it just makes you think that it's because of what they have in their diet at least part of why they live so long as what they eat. So, we just think to start including sprouts in our diet more consistently.
So there you have it all the benefits of sprouts. Thank you so much for watching. If you have any questions or comments, please let us know. We're going to continue doing videos on super foods as well as we're going to start doing videos on specific foods that are the worst, you know most unhealthy foods you can eat, kind of like the super bad foods. So, if there is a particular food that you want us to research and to explain and reveal to everyone, let us know, leave your comment. Thank you so much for watching, rate the video. And I will see you next time. Bye.
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