We’ve identified the different antinutrient culprits and how we can eliminate their potential to drain your power in my last blog. Let’s dive deeper into these which will help us defend the nutrients for immune system.
Tannins
First on the list of antinutrients are tannins, a class of antioxidant polyphenols that may impair the digestion of various nutrients, in particular, iron.
While tannins can be found in various plants, they are most common in coffee and tea and can bind with iron present in plant-based foods, rendering it unavailable for absorption.
While research indicates that this effect is not likely to cause significant harm in people with healthy iron levels, if you have an iron deficiency it could cause anemia and some other not so fun diseases.
How can I limit this power drain of tannins?
Personally, when I wake up in the morning after I’ve had my alkaline water, I drink a variety of green teas like matcha, yerba mate and once in a while, coffee. What I noticed was that each time I drank any of these from a low-grade source I felt nauseous. Later on, I found out this was one of the side effects of too much tannin and when I switched to a higher-grade organic brand I didn’t have this problem.
As for the compromised iron absorption, just make sure you drink your tea between meals so the tannins don’t bind to the iron in your food (assuming there’s iron in your food). And if you feel nauseous make sure you dump that tea or coffee in the trash and buy an organic high-grade source instead.
Lastly, it’s important to limit your consumption of these beverages as too many tannins can not only disrupt the absorption of key nutrients but overconsumption of caffeine can jack up your cortisol, put you in fight or flight mode and create all kinds of power drains like anxiety, insulin insensitivity, insomnia, digestive issues, muscle breakdown, addiction, high blood pressure, and fatigue.
Yep, that’s right, instead of a boost, too much caffeine will eventually drain you, create fatigue and lead to adrenal burnout.
If you feel the need for constant caffeine, you’re either addicted, lacking in sleep, metabolic inflexibility or a combination of these. If this seems like a challenge for you, dial it down by sticking to 1 cup of caffeinated beverages per day maximum and instead of relying on caffeine for your energy, make sure you stick to The Power Diet foods, which will balance your hormones and bring you back your natural internal power.
Limit caffeinated beverages to 1 per day!
Oxalates
Oxalates are organic compounds found in leafy greens like spinach, beets, kale and Swiss chard, which can bind to minerals like calcium and inhibit absorption as well as create kidney stones.
If you’ve ever had a kidney stone you know this is a serious problem and if you haven’t all you need to know is this: The pain from a kidney stone can be equated to the pain a female goes through when giving birth. Believe me, it’s no fun, I’ve been there and you want nothing to do with it.
Unless you’re eating a 100% animal based diet you will be ingesting some oxalates so instead of trying to get rid of all oxalates, our goal here is to simply limit them. To do this we’ll only eat them raw on occasion and for the most part, we’ll steam, boil, lightly sauté or pressure-cook them, which can eliminate up to 87% of the oxalates.
Lastly, you also want to make sure you’re drinking ample alkaline fluids throughout the day as lack of hydration has also been linked to Kidney Stones. (See The Power Diet Master Guide for recommendations).
Steam, boil, lightly sauté or pressure cook high oxalate veggies and limit eating them raw!
Protease Inhibitors
Protease inhibitors are found in a variety of plants especially seeds, grains, and legumes and can disrupt the digestion of protein by inhibiting digestive enzymes.
While some studies have found that soaking legumes like peas for 6-18 hours decreased lectins by 38-50%, tannins by 13-25% and protease inhibitors by 28-30%, this effect is much less pronounced in other legumes like kidney beans, soybeans, and fava beans.
Phytates & Phytic Acid
Similar to protease inhibitors, phytate is also found primarily in seeds, grains, and legumes and can reduce the absorption of minerals like iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium.
One of the major challenges of soy-based products is their high level of phytic acid. Fortunately, fermented soy (AKA tempeh), removes most of the harmful phytic acid. In fact, studies show sprouting can reduce phytate by 37-81% in various types of grains and legumes and by combining this with fermentation both phytate and lectins can be significantly degraded.
To learn more about how you can strengthen your immune system, check out the most comprehensive and easy to use guide: “The Power Diet” by Chad Scott.
