The answer is Yes, however you might wanna make sure and wait for another person to confirm this as I am on the fence. Better yet, why don't you email the Medifast guys because they can give you help better...

Does it matter if you soak them or not when using them for smoothies? I would think they are like any seed and would need soaking... ?but then would that make them hard to grind in a coffee grinder?..

It would be best to grind them dry then soak if you want..

You cannot put anything wet in a coffee grinder. The best solution for that is to get one of those bullet blenders like Tribest or one of those you see advertised in the informercials. They really are pretty good for those small jobs and you can use liquid in them..

Failing that, you have to use soaked flax seeds in a normal blender or Medifast food processor. You usually would have other ingredients with that anyway, so you would need a larger capacity anyway for the whole recipe, no?.

For what Raw Foodists do with their blenders, though, we really need a more powerful blender and Medifast food processor...

You either grind or soak. There is no need to do both...

This is a question of mine too - about the grinding and soaking. The grinding breaks them down so that they body can more easily digest them. Soaking gets rid of the enzyme inhibitors. Therefore, I think ideally you would want to do both. However, grinding soaked seeds is very difficult because they make a gelatinous mess and soaking and rinsing ground seeds sounds impossible..

Please let me know if I have this wrong and why......

Both the grinding and the soaking are done for the same purpose (to enable digestion) so there is no need for both. Just do one. I prefer to grind. Others prefer to soak...

I didn't mean to grind and then try to soak and rinse them after they are ground in order to get rid of any enzyme inhibitors. I meant that if the Medifast recipe calls for a certain amount of water to be absorbed into the flax and the gel to develop, it would be good to grind them dry first as it is sometimes hard to get them ground fine after they are soaked if you are doing it in a Medifast food processor..

Again, if you have a bullet blender, or a regular blender with enough stuff in it, the soaked seeds would grind up well. But I have found that plain soaked seeds don't grind up that well in my large Cuisinart Medifast food Processor. I have a lot of whole seeds left and I think it is better for them to be ground. The whole seeds just go right through you and I am not sure if the body picks up the nutrients that way. I have heard that it is best for nutritional absorption if they are ground...

Thanks for the reply, Sport. If you don't soak, how do you get rid of the enzyme inhibitors that (I think) exist on all seeds and nuts?..

The grinding breaks it down so you can digest it. This basically cancels out the inhibitors..

As for the previous question, you need not grind and then soak for recipes. Either one or the other. For instance, for crackers, soak for a little bit and then mix them with the other ingredients before dehydrating since they're meant to be used whole. There's no reason to soak after grinding. The gel is released from whole seeds. AFter the whole seeds have been soaked, you're just processing them to mix in the other ingredients, not to grind them up...

Hi RT!.

I am a bit confused, so bare with me. If the inhibitor is like a chemical and is on the outer part of the seed, and soaking and rinsing washes that away, why does breaking it down cancel that out? I would think the inhibitors would still be on the ground seeds. Is there a source you can point me to about this because enzyme books I am reading say that the inhibitors are on the nuts/seeds and I wouldn't think a physical action would change that. Also, if it does change that, would that apply to almonds and other seeds/nuts too? Grinding makes it so soaking isn't necessary?.

Thanks everyone for your patience with my detail-focus and not blasting me for hi-jacking this thread...

Veganman.

I've never heard that the enzyme inhibitor is on the outside of the nuts and seeds; I've always been under the impression that in was part of them. And as RP has so eloquently explained here many a time, all nuts don't have to be soaked because they don't all have the same amount (or any!) of ezyme inhibitors..

Regardless, here's my (somewhat smarta**) suggestion: just do it. Trust and do it. What's the worst that can happen? It's not like you're eating a hot dog, after all!.

Hey! My email got all messed up. I don't think I ever responded to your email to me. Can you resend it now that it's working again? Thanks!!! I wasn't being rude, just undergoing a technological glitch!..

I bought a brush for cleaning the coffee grinder. It cost about $3 and I got it at the grocery store...

[quote=RawTruth] Trust and do it. QUOTE].

I can not go further on the rights or wrongs of this either but I trust as Raw Truth said. I never soak them. I grind them for crackers and if I want my crackers to look seedlike then I add sesame seeds to the mix and this also boosts my calcium intake..

I also add 2 heaped dessertspoonfulls of ground flax to a glass of water and drink it daily...

Veganman, I think you ask very good questions. Every question you asked here has been on my mind ever since I learned about raw. I've read around 15 raw books so far and I can't find an answer to this concern. For nuts, grains & most seeds except flax, I soak & dehydrate if I need to grind them into powder. However flax seed is impossible. However, I often wonder if I need to do this soaking & drying if I were grinding the nuts for, say, nut butter.

However, if this were true, why do none of the raw nut butters sold on market (i.e. Rejuvenate, Artisana) sprout their nuts? All very confusing to me...

Perhaps flax does not have the same inhibitors as the other seeds because they may be more of a grain than a seed..

Just a suggestion...

I have a very old Oster blender. I bought the 8 oz. little blender jar. Fill it half-way with flax seeds and grind. the blender does a beautiful job grinding the flax. no need to buy another appliance if you don't already have it.



Metta..

Hi, veganman,.

It is difficult to soak and sprout flax seeds for the reasons you stated slimy or glutin-y.

But it can be done; however, it's best to purchase them done for you. It's quite a hassle..

Here is my source for sprouted flax. They are soaked, sprouted, then dried; so there is no need to grind these, unless you want. They are delicious and have a toasty flavor along with a fantastic crunch..

GO RAW - Sprouted Flax Seeds.

Best,..

I thought both of them soaked their nuts before making nut butters. Have they said they don't?.

Thanks!..

For Artisana, it's here:.

Http://www.premierorganics.org/index...d=10&Itemid=38.

For Rejuvenative, I can't remember where I got the info. I went to the website and couldn't find it. I tried calling them, but noone answered. Hummmm.....