Health Benefits of Sea Vegetables
We’ve all been told to eat our veggies, but did you know how nutritious sea veggies are? Well you’re about to learn!
It is my passion to work with people like you whose health symptoms are getting in the way of you living life fully and with a sense of freedom in your body. Nutrition is one of the ways I can help you to be your healthiest so you can feel great and free to enjoy life fully.
Today we’ll explore some common types of sea vegetables, the health benefits of including them in your diet, and some examples of how to do that.
What are sea vegetables?
Sea vegetables are edible plant life that grows in oceans and seas. Examples are seaweed and algae. The most common ones are:
Nori: this is a red algae (even though its green in color) and is used to wrap sushi or sold as sheets for snacks.
Kelp: this is your typical seaweed and is delicious seasoned as a salad.
Spirulina: blue-green algae and considered to be one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet and a good source of plant protein. Usually comes in powdered form to easily add to smoothies, soups, or to drink on its own with water.
Chlorella: loaded with nutrients and helps absorb/detoxify heavy metals such as mercury. Also usually comes in powder or capsules.
Wakame: brown seaweed, used in miso soup, also great in/as cold salads.
Dulse: usually found dried, looks like red leafy lettuce, also loaded with nutrients.
Kombu: this is great to add to beans to improve digestibility since the enzymes in kombu help break down the gas producing sugars in beans and legumes.
Health benefits of sea veggies
Sea veggies have 6 main health benefits:
- Support detoxification: We are all exposed to heavy metals in the air, soil, food and water supply, and dentistry (i.e. metal fillings). Eating foods such as spirulina and chlorella support your body to detoxify heavy and harmful metals such as mercury, cadmium and lead.
- Nutrient dense: sea veggies supply iron, copper, manganese, folate, zinc, sodium, calcium, and magnesium.
- Supply Omega 3’s which are important for healthy brain and cardiovascular function.
- Supplies iodine: Iodine is critical for proper thyroid function (your thyroid controls your overall metabolism). Kombu provides the most iodine of all the sea veggies.
- Support microbiome: rich in fiber and prebiotics (the food your healthy gut bugs eat).
- Rich in antioxidants (vitamins A, C, E, and flavonoids and carotenoids) that help protect your cells from free radical damage and aging.
Adding Sea Veggies to Your Diet
Some very easy ways to add sea veggies to your routine are seaweed snacks (check the label for what oil is used–I recommend olive oil or avocado oil such as SeaSnax or gimMe Sea snacks); kelp granules, miso soup, seaweed salad, powders to add to shakes/soups/smoothies/water, or trying some fermented or pickled sea vegetables that you can serve aside your meal a couple times per week.
If you have thyroid issues or an existing health condition, talk with your practitioner about the benefits and possible risks of increasing your dietary iodine intake.
As with ANY food or drink, quality matters. Choosing organic makes a difference when it comes to purity of products and reduces your risk that what you are eating or drinking is contaminated with something harmful. With sea vegetables, organic will often mean that it was grown in protected waters and tested for contamination.
I hope this information helps you take your health and wellness to the next level!
If you’re ready to discover where your best health has been hiding, I’d love to connect with you!
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Until next time, I’m wishing you unstoppable health!
~Rebecca
P.S.
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