Fall in love with seaweed
If you haven't already then it's certainly something to explore or revisit this year if you've previously dipped your toes and haven't found the one. There are so many different flavours and textures of seaweed that there is guaranteed to be one out there that you fall in love with.
Why?
Quite simply, seaweed is one of the most nutritious food groups on the planet and a very sensible decision to include in our diet. Traditionally, seaweed has been used to help reduce cysts, remove heavy metals, reduce water retention & cellulite, reduce inflammation and may help with weight loss and healthy blood glucose regulation. Seaweed helps to cleanse our blood and remove unwanted waste. It is also a great source of calcium (there's 10 times more calcium in seaweed than found in milk) and iodine (a mineral required for healthy thyroid function).
On top of all these benefits, it can taste delicious. I love good food and I'm a firm believer that as well as being amazing for our health, food must taste delicious.
Top Tips
Nori is a fantastic alternative to use when making a wrap.
Dulse can be rinsed for a few minutes then thrown into a salad.
Arame is very strong, only a little is needed. Soak in a bowl for 10 minutes, rinse then add to salad (works well with carrot & beetroot with tamari & apple cider vinegar
Sea Spaghetti is an amazing replacement for pasta, soak it for up to an hour, rinse several times then cover in favourite sauce (eg creamy tahini lemon sauce, tomato marinara or a pesto)
Kelp Noodles are like glass noodles, they don't really taste of much which is perfect if you're not a big seaweed fan! They can be thrown into cooked stir fries or use them to make raw pad thai or noodle dishes.
IODINE
Iodine is important to include in our diets to support healthy thyroid function. A common question asked is whether we can have too much iodine - the answer is possibly, only if we're taking iodine supplements but iodine is safe when sourced from our diet. It is very unlikely we will consume too much iodine in the diet from food,
even if we eat seaweed every day.
Where to source it from?
It depends where you live! To be honest, it makes sense to find out what seaweed you can find locally and how clean it is. You may find that you can forage for local seaweeds or join a coastal foraging course.
There are some great brands out there, Clearspring have a very good reputation and there are some wonderful companies closer to home (if you are UK based). Algamar is a company based in Spain and even closer to home we have the Cornish Seaweed Company, both provide organic high quality products.
My go-to shop for seaweed is Raw Living
Popular varieties are: Nori / Dulse / Arame / Wakame / Sea Spaghetti & Kelp Noodles
