Not my picture (stole off the interwebs)
There are 2 sides to eating
seaweed we must know. First it’s really good for us. One of the lacking
nutrients in our diet is iodine. Second it helps us get an essential trace
element often missing from in-landers diets, and considered to be nearing deficiency
epidemic in our population, since salt intake has been declining. Why salt is supplemented
with iodine.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE Iodine recommendations “were
first established as sufficient only to prevent goiter. Daily
doses for optimal health of 3,000-6,000 mcg have been used
without side effects in studies of people with other iodine deficiency-related
health conditions such as polycystic breast disease.18
By way
of comparison, the average daily Japanese consumption of iodine ranges from 5,280 to 13,800 mcg
of iodine, with no harmful effects and a host of benefits.18,25,26 The Japanese experience is shedding new
light on the importance of iodine, not only for thyroid health, but on other
body functions as well. In particular, compelling evidence is emerging about
the role of iodine in maintaining breast health, a major concern for millions
of American women.”
Other important elements to
seaweed in the diet, protein and lots of phytonutrients and small amounts of vitamins/minerals.
Yet, more than likely, most of us do not have the proper gut bacteria to digest
it, therefore eating it may be null for most of the benefit. So if you are
going to eat it, the best way is to find it raw and fresh first to establish
the proper gut bacteria. If you live inland, that may be hard. Do your
research (I did some for you at the end of where to buy from) and find a few
places, such as restaurants or buying online to start.
Below I pulled out some
interesting info I read that will further help you to make a choice on
including seaweed into your diet.
“The seashore is where all our stories
start. It’s understood that present-day humans evolved in littoral spaces,
where the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and shellfish, originally from
seaweed, were needed to evolve complex nervous systems and big brains. Which is
to say: eating seaweed — either directly or by proxy — was what made us us. And seaweeds sustain
life on earth, producing 70 to 80 percent of the world’s oxygen through
photosynthesis.
The word seaweed is about as
descriptive as “dog.” The “weed” part is especially misleading, because
seaweeds look like plants but aren’t. They’re neither plant nor animal, but
actually algae, which doesn’t narrow it down much, either. That term is also an
incredibly vast umbrella, encompassing ten million different species that come
in a multitude of shapes and sizes, from the tiniest microscopic phytoplankton
to the most gigantic of kelp forests."
http://luckypeach.com/a-little-kelp-from-my-friends/
BUT
“When people
in Japan began eating seaweed with their rice
and fish, they also ingested some bacteria from the ocean. And as these ocean
bacteria passed through the intestine, they exchanged bits of genetic code with
the gut bacteria. Bacteria actually do this sort of gene transfer all the time.
It provides them with a sort of evolutionary overdrive, Hehemann says.
"This
can happen really quickly," he says. So a bacterium that can't digest nori
one day, can the next. This sort of digestive evolution has probably helped
humans adapt to lots of new environments and lots of new foods.
Unsurprisingly,
bacteria in North American guts don't have the genes to break down seaweed,
which means the body can't get calories — energy — from it. And these bacteria
probably never will, even if sushi becomes a staple in North America, Hehemann says. That's
because these days, seaweed is roasted before it's used to wrap a maki roll, so
the bacteria are dead long before they reach your gut. And so are the bacteria
in most foods in industrialized countries, Sonnenburg says. "We're
undergoing a tremendous experiment right now," he says. "We're
consuming a lot of really highly processed calorie-dense food that's incredibly
sterile, so they lack the microbial reservoirs for these gene transfer
events." Sonnenburg says that could be a problem for humans because gut
bacteria help us digest new foods, modulate our immune systems, and even ward
off some diseases.”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125675700
So make your choice. Either way, I urge you to get more iodine in your
diet. For your overall health and well being.
Sources:
Recipes:
Fresh/raw – pretty much you can do anything you would do with spinach
here…..
-Do you like sauerkraut? Mix fresh/raw
seaweed to a plate full of sauerkraut. Double awesomeness!
-Add fresh/raw seaweed to any soup,
some are more ‘seaweedy’ in flavour so make sure you start small.
-Add fresh/raw seaweed to your
pasta or lasagne.
Dried/dehydrated – often saltier and stronger flavour. Use as a garnish
on any savoury dish you want to add salt to. Soups also.
