Health from the Sea
If you are looking for one of Mother Nature’s most precious gifts, you will need to look to the oceans, rivers, and lakes of the world and not its gardens and farmland. Here you will find sea vegetables, wild ocean plants, and marine algae, which are enjoyed daily as staples and healing foods in many coastal parts of the world. Small amounts of sea veggies add a rich flavor and enhance the nutritional value of most dishes. Popular American sea vegetables are dulse, kelp, alaria, laver (from the East Coast), and sea palm (from the West Coast). Asian varieties include nori, hiziki, arame, kombu, and wakame. Maine Coast Sea Vegetables (www.seaveg.com) farms the pristine, clear, cold waters of the gulf of Maine for dulse, kelp, alaria, laver, nori, sea lettuce, and bladderwrack. According to the experts at Maine Coast, these tasty treats are fat free, low calorie, and one of the richest sources of minerals to be found in the entire vegetable kingdom because of their ready access to the abundance of minerals found in the ocean. The gentle wave action of the underwater currents ensures that the entire surface of the sea vegetable receives nourishment. It is also interesting to note that seawater and human blood contain many of the same minerals in very similar concentrations.
Sea vegetables are rich in minerals and trace elements, including calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, iodine, manganese, and chromium, at levels much greater than those found in land vegetables. They contain the B vitamin folate, riboflavin, and pantothenic acid, and like flax and pumpkin seeds, they are rich in lignans, phytochemicals with cancer-protective properties. Sea veggies also provide vitamins, fiber, enzymes, and high-quality protein. Marine phytochemicals found only in sea vegetables have been shown to absorb and eliminate radioactive elements and heavy metal contaminants from our bodies. Other recent research demonstrates that sea vegetables inhibit tumor formation, reduce cholesterol levels, and possess antiviral properties.
Certain sea vegetables exert anti-inflammatory actions, while their rich magnesium and B vitamin content promote stress relief. Other health benefits include
- Protection from cardiovascular disease
- Relief from symptoms of menopause
- Lower levels of the heart-threatening chemical homocysteine
- Protection against migraine headaches
- Less severe asthma symptoms
- Lower blood pressure
- Better thyroid health
- Lower stress level
It’s very easy to incorporate these superfoods into your diet. In Japanese restaurants, you will find that sheets of nori (dried black or dark purple seaweed, roasted over a flame until green) are wrapped around sushi or chopped and used as a topping. Other sea vegetables make tasty stocks for soups and sauces, refreshing salads, and add a delicate flavor to soups. But you can just as easily add small amounts of bite-sized pieces to your own favorite soups, salads, sandwiches, and stir-fries. Nori has a wonderful, almost salty flavor that can really put zing in a simple dish and can be added to recipes.
Remember that dried sea vegetables are an extremely vital, wild food and provide highly concentrated nutrition. A little goes a long way; most recipes use less than 1⁄4 ounce (7.5 g) per serving. The legendary health and longevity of the rural Japanese people who follow the traditional Japanese diet, rich in sea vegetables, is testimony to the unparalleled health benefits of these gifts from the sea.
