Ever gone out to eat at a restaurant and received a small mound of flower-like objects on your plate? Then you’ve seen or eaten sprouts. Most people will pick the sprouts off the top of their food and move on with their dish, but you shouldn’t do that.
While sprouts may not look appetizing to you, they are actually very healthy to eat. A great side dish when it comes to your diet , sprouts go well with many different soups, sandwiches, even as a snack on their own.
There are many different types of sprouts, but the most popular sprout that is used as a topping for different dishes are mung bean sprouts. These bean sprouts deliver a large amount of vitamins and nutrients that our bodies need, which is why they are becoming more and more popular.
You will also notice an increase in the places that are using bean sprouts to top sandwiches or that use them as a small side dish for your main course. Asian bean sprouts are the most popular of these and can be used in raw form as well as in a cooked form, though if you want the most nutrients from the bean sprouts it is better to eat them raw.
There are a few things to consider before you eat your raw bean sprouts. If you are getting them from a grocery store or a local farmer’s market, you will want to make sure that it is a reputable place and that their produce is in excellent condition.
Once you are home, give the sprouts a thorough washing before consuming them. This is to help ensure that you have gotten rid of any dirt or other contaminates that might be on the bean sprout that could make you sick.
You will more than likely find bean sprouts in any supermarket or farmer’s market . Often found in small bunches, the sprouts look a little bit like light colored grass, but don’t worry, you are not actually eating grass. There are many recipes for how to use your bean sprouts, but it is important to remember that the longer you cook the sprouts, the more nutrients will cook out of them. You want them to be completely raw, or cooked very little in order to be able to reap the benefits from the sprouts.
Sprouts have a large amount of protein in them, so they are great for people who need to be on a high protein diet. The longer a sprout is left to grow, the more nutrients and minerals that it will have, which means that not only will they be a tasty side to your dish, but also be a healthy one.
Storing sprouts is actually a very simple procedure: put them in the fridge in the original container or in a plastic bag. Once you have opened the sprouts you will want to use them within a week to make sure that you are getting all of the nutrients and that they do not go bad before you get a chance to use them.
If you are not going to use the sprouts right away, keep them in their original packaging and do not open them. If you are like most people, you will forget that they are in there and then you will be disappointed when your sprouts are no longer good to eat.
These little sprouts have enzymes in them that help keep our bodies healthy; they also have folate and thiamin in them, along with many other vitamins and minerals that we want and need in our bodies. In addition to being super healthy, sprouts are also amazingly delicious when paired with Asian dishes.
In fact, if you use bean sprouts in place of scallions or green onions to top your Asian noodle dish, or also cook the sprouts just a few minutes to make them crispy, this will add another flavor and health level to your dish and make you want to come back for more.
Benefits Of Eating Sprouts
Now you may be wondering what exactly bean sprouts can do for your health, what type of nutrients or health benefits can you expect to see once you have added bean sprouts to your diet. There are numerous health benefits when it comes to eating bean sprouts and you can see them from babies to the elderly, and while you should not give bean sprouts to infants who have no teeth, getting pureed bean sprouts should be just fine.
Or if the mother is breastfeeding and consumes large amounts of sprouts, they ma be passed to the baby by her milk and the baby will still be able to reap the benefits of the sprouts. You should be extra careful when giving bean sprouts to children under the age of three as they may be a choking hazard, so it is recommended those children receive bean sprouts in a pureed form mixed with other baby foods.
Even though you would be pureeing the bean sprouts, it is important to make sure that you are giving them a thorough washing to help prevent any macrobiotic illnesses from remaining on the sprouts before serving them.
Let’s take a look at some of the top health benefits received when we eat sprouts on a regular basis.
Digestion
At some point in our lives, we will all have issues with digestion. Whether it is all of the time or only some of the time, what we eat, or what we are excluding from our diets, we will all have some type of digestion issue.
But there is some great news, we don’t have to take supplements or laxatives to help with our digestion issues anymore. Sprouts contain large amounts of enzymes that help to boost our metabolic processes; they can also help our digestive tract to be able to absorb more nutrients.
Sprouts also contain lot of fiber, which means it can act as a natural laxative and make it easier for us to go. Sprouts are an amazing way to help boost and clean out our digestive systems and prevent us from becoming backed up. Even consuming sprouts on a weekly basis can do wonders for your digestive system, though you want to be careful not to consume large amounts of sprouts on a daily basis as this can cause your system to become out of balance and not work properly.
Metabolic Booster
If your metabolic function needs a swift kick to get it started, add sprouts to your diet and watch the magic happen.
Sprouts contain a large amount of protein and we not only need protein as a part of our regular diet, but we need protein to help with most of our bodily processes. Sprouts are great for jump starting certain functions, such as the maintenance of cells, organ repair, skin regeneration and bone growth.
So, if you find that you are not getting all of the help you need from any supplements that you might be taking, you should consider adding sprouts to your diet. Sprouts are also a great substitute for people who cannot eat regular protein, such as vegans, vegetarians, and people who have certain allergies.
Blood Circulation
Sprouts contain iron and copper minerals that are important and vital to keeping our red blood cell counts where they are supposed to be. People who are anemic and suffer from low iron in their bloods can benefit greatly from sprouts. Eating sprouts can also improve the circulation of your blood in your body and can help to send more oxygen through your blood and into your organs. Having more oxygen in your blood stream makes your organs work better and also improves your mental clarity.
Weight Loss
Sprouts may contain a large number of vitamins and nutrients, but they are also very low in calories which means that they are a great product to consume if you are looking to lose a little weight. Because sprouts have a lot of fiber in them, they will give you that full feeling without having to eat a large number of them at one time.
They are also great for a quick snack in between meals, but you shouldn’t consume them in large amounts if you are using them as a snack. Even though they are a healthy food, if you consume large quantities of them all of the time, you are still putting yourself at risk of gaining weight instead of losing it.
Infant Health
Children who cannot chew or have no teeth should not consume sprouts in their natural state, but can still have sprouts pureed. They can also derive the benefits of sprouts if they are breastfeeding and their mothers consume sprouts on a regular basis.
Infants can have a deficiency in regards to folate which causes a condition known as Neural Tube defect. By adding sprouts into your infant’s diet, you can help to prevent this defect from forming since sprouts have a good source of folate in them.
Heart Health
As we age, we are always being told that we need to take care of our hearts and now there is a new way to help improve the overall health of your heart. Sprouts contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are a good cholesterol, and can help to reduce the amount of bad cholesterol that is in your body.
The omega-3 fatty acids are also able to reduce inflammation in and around your heart, which will help in the prevention of heart disease. Sprouts can also help to reduce blood pressure, increase oxygen circulation, reduce blood clots, and lower your risk of heart related health issues.
Immune System
Sprouts have large amounts of Vitamin A and Vitamin C that serve many different purposes in your body. Vitamin A has antioxidants that can help to improve your immune system and also continue to support it and help you to reduce your risk of autoimmune diseases.
Vitamin C works directly with your white blood cells to prevent the weakening of your immune system. Research studies show that Vitamin C helps build and repair white blood cells to help fight off any infections that might come your way.
Cancer Prevention
Almost everyone knows someone who has or has had a form of cancer, which makes it all the more important to keep yourself healthy and do what you can to prevent cancer cells from forming inside your body. The Vitamin A and Vitamin C inside of sprouts do an amazing job at not only keeping your immune system healthy, but to also prevent free radicals from becoming cancerous cells.
Sprouts also have the ability to reverse the effects that free radicals have on our bodies, such as brain fog, premature aging, and even heart diseases. By reducing or eliminating some of these effects, you can greatly reduce your likelihood that you would develop cancerous cells.
Vision And Overall Eye Health
Our eyes are one of the most important parts of our bodies, we rely on our eyes and vision to help us see in our everyday lives.
But there are diseases out there that are trying to take away our eye sight and prevent us from being able to live our lives the way we are used to. The Vitamin A in sprouts has been well known to help treat and prevent eye diseases and reduce the likelihood that our vision will decrease over time.
Vitamin A works to prevent free radicals from attacking our eyes and causing us to have debilitating eye problems such as glaucoma, macular degeneration (wet macular included), and cataracts. And while it is essential that you see your eye doctor on a yearly basis, adding sprouts into your diet can also give you that added boost that you need to help keep your eyes healthy all year long.
Cold Sores
Sprouts have large amounts of enzymes, as well as vitamins and minerals, but there is one enzyme that is perfect to treat any kind of cold sore that you may have: lysine. Lysine can actually prevent a cold sore from forming by attacking what creates them.
In the event that you do develop a cold sore, the lysine in sprouts can help to make it disappear a little easier and a lot faster than using over the counter medications. And while cold sores are ugly and annoying to deal with, they can be very dangerous to your health if you let them get infected, so get on a daily dose of sprouts and prevent them from starting!
Allergy and Asthma
Millions of people deal with either allergies or asthma or even both on a daily basis. Most people are on prescription or over the counter medications to help control their symptoms, but you often hear people saying the prescriptions are not doing much good.
Eating sprouts on a regular basis can reduce the inflammation that comes with an allergic reaction. It can also help to keep the inflammation in your body to a minimum which can help to prevent allergic reactions and asthma attacks all together.
Though this part has been proven in research studies, there are still more tests that need to be run on this particular subject before anymore suggestions can be made to people who are suffering from allergies and asthma. Though for now it can be used in addition to any other medications that people might be taking to help with those two conditions.
Eating Sprouts Review Summary
Sprouts are not only a tasty little addition to your sandwich, they are actually really good for you too. If you haven’t tried any sprouts, you need to give it a go at least one time; you might be surprised at how much you like sprouts.
And because of their fibrous content, you should probably keep the amount you consume to once a day at the maximum as you do not want to upset the balance of your stomach.
You want to make sure that you are getting all of the nutrients that come with eating sprouts, but even a low-calorie food like sprouts can cause you problems if you eat too much of it at one time. If you are new to sprouts try starting out with once a week or once every two weeks and work your way up from there.
Since it would be a new food, you don’t want to give your body a shock with the amount of fiber and vitamins that can be found in sprouts. Make sure to look up tasty recipes for how to incorporate sprouts into your diet as this will help you to find something that you like and that you’ll be able to stick with.
