Seaweed and Benefits!

I have recently discovered the wonderful world of seaweed! I went to my local Earthfare and found quite a few things there! I ended up leaving the store with a large package of dried seaweed and a shaker of seaweed and sesame seeds to sprinkle on salads and rice dishes! The benefits are out of this world and it is a secret to long life that we Americans need to embrance.

What are some of the benefits of eating seaweed? Seaweed is really a super food packed with essential vitamins and minerals and rare minerals as well. They have a variety of antioxidants that help prevent against a variety of diseases like cancer.

• Seaweed as well as seaweed extract help in detoxification of body.
• Seaweeds in any form are beneficial for skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.
• When added to your food, seaweed extract makes your food 'high fiber food', which helps improve your digestive health and also overall health.
• Alginate from seaweed helps increase metabolism and thus, can prevent weight gain from consumption of high-fat, high-calorie foods.
• Seaweed or seaweed extract can enhance the functioning of the immune system, helping the body fight viral infections such as herpes.
• Seanol, a powerful antioxidant from seaweeds helps boost energy and mental alertness. It inhibits the growth of free radicals which helps reduce the chances of cancer cells growth.
• Seaweed can relieve symptoms of osteoarthritis by around 15%. An increase in mobility and reduction in pain is noticed in patients of arthritis after regular use of seaweed extract.

I do like seaweed and believe in the health benefits. The challenge is now to get a teen to eat seaweed!? She eats the sprinkled variety because I do not tell her what it is and she thinks it is finely chopped spinach! She is going to be healthy even if it kills me!

You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder.~~Unknown~~