What Veg*ns Can Learn from Traditional Foods

While the traditional foods movement seems to focus heavily on the inclusion of high-quality, pasture-raised meat and dairy products and is, indeed, a large animal food-based diet, that doesn't mean that it offers no guidance or dietary wisdom for vegetarians.  Indeed, there's a lot that vegetarians can glean from the traditional foods movement and, in many ways, the practices advocated by traditional foods enthusiasts and organizations like the Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation might prove even more important for vegetarians and vegans who rely on grains and legumes for much of their foods.  From soaking and souring grains and legumes to fermenting veggies and eating healthy fats, here are five things that vegetarians can learn from the traditional foods movement.

1. To soak, sour or sprout grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and beans.

Grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and legumes often make up the foundation of a vegetarian or vegan diet.  For this reason, it's critical that vegans and vegetarians learn to prepare these foods to reap the greatest nutritional reward from them.  To prevent premature sprouting until conditions for plant growth are optimal, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, and beans are potent sources of antinutrients which include phytate and enzyme inhibitors.  These antinutrients cause reduced mineral absorption and reduced ability to properly digest foods.  Since vegans and vegetarians forgo mineral-rich meats and bone broths, deriving much of their mineral intake from plant-based sources, one of the most significant and beneficial actions an adherent to a plant-based diet can take to maximize nutrient intake would be to soak, sour, or sprout all their grains, nuts, beans, legumes, and seeds - a traditional practice that renders the nutrients in these foods more bioavailable¹.