Add a little Seaweed to your diet!

Seaweeds are one of the most healthful foods to add to our diets and one which is sadly lacking in North America.  They are high in protein, vitamins and minerals, including iodine which is essential to thyroid health.   Seaweeds are also great detoxifiers and therefore beneficial to liver health.  There are a number of seaweeds available at your local health food store.  They include kombu, arame, hijiki, dulse and nori.

The easiest way to add seaweeds to your food is to shake dulse or kelp flakes directly on it.  Use them as you would a salt shaker at the table or in soups, stews etc.

Another fantastic addition is to add a strip (or ½ a strip) of kombu (kelp) to your pot of grains or beans while cooking and then remove it when they are done.  This way the grains or beans soak up lots of the beneficial trace minerals in the seaweed and you get the great salty flavour as well.  In addition, adding kombu to your pot of beans makes them much more digestible and reduces gassiness.  You can also chop it up and return it to the pot if you like.

Arame looks like small little noodles and is therefore a great addition to soups.  My family still thinks that I put little black noodles in soups. They have no idea it’s seaweed! You can also soak arame briefly in warm water and add it to salads. It’s especially nice in quinoa salad.

Nori is typically found wrapped around sushi rolls but can also be toasted and eaten as a snack. Be careful with the store bought ones though, they often have additives you do not want.

Remember to cut back on the sea salt if you add seaweeds to your food while cooking.  That way your food doesn’t turn out too salty☺

Happy cooking!