Sea Herbs and Vegetables

If you have no experience of sea herbs and vegetables, you are missing out on one of nature’s greatest sources of health and nutrition. Many people are unaware of the value of sea herbs and vegetables, but herbalists value them for their nutritional value as well as their ability to detoxify the body of heavy metals.

The sea is a great source of nutrition and health. If all the crops in the world failed, people could live and make medicine just from the sea’s resources. Cultures that have sea-based diets tend to be very healthy and long lived such as the Inuit of the Bering Strait or the Japanese. Excluding sea herbs or sea vegetables from your diet leaves out a great source of nutrition, medicine, and detoxification.

Seaweed is the generic term given to thousands of types of marine plants that range from microscopic algae to kelp which can be several hundred feet in size. There are many kinds of edible and nutritious seaweed.

Seaweed has the unique ability to remove radioactivity from the body. At both Nagasaki and Chernobyl, seaweed (kelp) was used extensively to remove radiation from people and the environment. Seaweed contains a natural salt–sodium alginate–that binds with toxins such as radiation, mercury, or pharmaceuticals, and transforms them so the body can eliminate them as harmless salts in the urine.

Nori is well known because of its use in sushi. Nori is a red sea plant with a sweet, meaty taste when dried. It contains almost 50 percent more digestible protein than any other sea plant. Nori’s high fiber content makes it a perfect sushi wrapper. Nori is also rich in all the carotenes, calcium, iodine, iron, and phosphorus.

Arame is one of the ocean’s richest sources of iodine. Herbalists use Arame to help reduce breast and uterine fibroids, and through its fat soluble vitamins and phytohormones, to normalize menopausal symptoms. Arame promotes soft, wrinkle free skin, enhances glossy hair and prevents hair loss.

Sea Palm, or American Arame, grows only on the Pacific Coast of North America. It has a sweet salty taste that goes especially well with vegetables and rice.

Kelp contains vitamins A, B, E, D and K, is an excellent source of vitamin C, and rich in minerals and proteins. A brown marine plant, kelp contains sodium alginate (algin), an element that helps remove radioactive particles and heavy metals from the body.

Kelp aids digestion, works as a blood purifier, relieves arthritis stiffness, and promotes adrenal, pituitary and thyroid health. It’s natural iodine can normalize thyroid-related disorders like overweight and lymph system congestions. It is a demulcent that helps eliminate herpes outbreaks.

Kombu (a brown kelp) has a long tradition in Japanese cuisine. It is a decongestant for excess mucous, and helps lower blood pressure. Kombu has abundant iodine, carotenes, vitamins B, C, D, and E, minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, silica, iron, zinc, and the skin healing nutrient germanium. Kombu is a meaty high protein seaweed. It is higher in natural mineral salts than most other seaweeds. A strip of Kombu added to a pot of beans will reduce gas.

Hijiki is a mineral rich, high fiber, high protein seaweed that contains vitamin A, carotenes, and calcium. Hijiki has the most calcium of any sea green.

Wakame (a brown kelp) is high in protein, calcium seaweed, as well as carotenes, iron and vitamin C. Widely used in Asia for hair growth and skin tone.

Dulse, a red seaweed, is rich in iron, protein, and vitamin A. It is a balanced nutrient, with 300 times more iodine and 50 times more iron than wheat. Tests on Dulse show activity against the herpes virus. It has a purifying effect on the body, yet its doesn’t induce thirst.

Irish moss is full of electrolyte minerals, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium. Its mucilaginous compounds help detoxify, boost metabolism, and strengthen hair, skin, and nails. Its traditional use is for low sex drive.

Sea greens are tasty. Crush, chop, snip, or crumble any mix of dry sea greens you like into soups and sauces, pizzas, casseroles, rice, and salads. Roast them into anything you cook. If you add sea vegetables, no other salt is necessary. Sun dried, they are convenient to buy and store in a moisture proof container–keep them indefinitely.

Medicine Soup

• Fill up a pot with as much water as you want soup
• Soak your preferred seaweed(s) in the pot
• After they are soft, cut them up to bite size
• Add garlic, Shitake mushrooms, vegetables (carrots, onions, red onions, celery)
• Cook until carrots are as you like
• Take the pot off the stove and add fresh herbs to your taste (marjoram, cilantro, basil, etc.)
• Add nettle leaves
• Cover and let steep for 5 minutes. This allows the herbs to infuse instead of cook.
• Enjoy!

Please note that because seaweed is high in iodine, people with hyperthyroid (overactive thyroid glands) should not digest it. Also, if you are undergoing radiation therapy, you’ll want to wait two months after treatment before adding seaweed to your diet.