#1 Super Food: Sea Vegetables
This is our first installment of our “Super Foods” series.
- Sea vegetables (seaweed)
- Water
- Brazil nuts
- Bone broth
- Leafy green vegetables
- Freshly ground flax seeds
- Coconut oil
- Green tea
- Sauerkraut
- Eggs
Sea Vegetables – What ARE they?
Seaweeds: Kelp, dulse, kombu, wakame, arame, hijiki, etc.
Which do you most recommend and why?
I recommend the “seaweed snacks” that you can find in most grocery stores – Trader Joe’s even! 1 packet a day is a great start.
Sea veggetables are extremely mineral-rich – a rare and rich source of iodine, which is only found in them and crustaceans. Iodine is essential for thyroid function. It competes for absorption with other minerals in the Halogen family you might remember in the Periodic Table of Elements from Chemistry class.
Because our everyday food and water contain an abundance of chlorine, bromine, and fluoride, iodine has a hard time getting absorbed. This is why it’s a superfood in my eyes – we need it! Another way I help clients get more iodine is to use kombu just like you would a bay leaf. Add it to the pot when cooking grains, legumes or soup.
Just a note – the government also feels that iodine is a superfood – they started enriching our table salt with it. However, I still recommend rich mineral salt instead of iodized table salt. Salt is a great source of essential minerals as well, which refining strips out.
Recipe Idea:
Enjoy this Easy Sesame Coleslaw with Seaweed.
