HAVE YOU HAD YOUR “SEAWEED” TODAY???
fronds of the brown algae Ascophyllum nodosum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
HAVE YOU HAD YOUR “SEAWEED” TODAY?
by
Sanford Pinna, M.D.
Copyright 2012
Most Asians eat “Seaweed” daily.
Most Europeans and Americans do not know what “Seaweed” is!
It is amazing that a food so rich in nutrients is completely
ignored by half the population of the world!
Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that the people of the
West live far from the ocean. Or, they don’t see the value in
a vegetable that grows freely in the water, without being tended
to by farmers and not sold in their markets.
Most of the people of the West construe “Seaweed” as
a “Weed” and not a vegetable. Asians, since they live close
to the sea, on various islands, such as Japan and Indonesia,
have learned over the centuries, that seaweed can provide
them, not only with nutrition, but also with “medicine”
that helps them clear infections, arthritis and other diseases.
WHAT IS “SEAWEED”?
Seaweed is not a “weed” nor is it a plant.
It is a group of cells which are called “Algae.”
Here is the definition:
“Any of various chiefly aquatic, eukaryotic, photosynthetic organisms, ranging in size from single-celled forms to the giant kelp. Algae were once considered to be plants but are now classified separately because they lack true roots, stems, leaves, and embryos.”
We can see that “seaweed” is a group of cells that live in
saltwater and get their energy from the sun.
Their nutrition in turn comes from the sea water.
Sea water has minerals and micro-organisms that provide
the cells of Algae with abundant constituents to form new cells.
Whichever animal eats these algae (seaweed) gains a
concentration of these nutrients.
It is said that “seaweed” has a “hundred times” the
nutritional value of land based vegetables.
I am not sure that the term “A hundred times” is
accurate, but one thing is certain:
Seaweed has very few calories compared to its weight
or volume.
That is because it has almost no carbohydrate.
Coming from sea water, it manufactures protein for its
cellular structure and fiber to hold its cells together.
The carbohydrate found in land based vegetables serves
as a source of energy for the plant whenever its water supply
and the nutrition in the ground are deficient.
The nutrition in seawater is always constant. There
has never been a need for these algae to evolve into a
carbohydrate producing group of cells.
In essence, seaweed represents the beginning of life.
Before cells moved from the oceans to land, they
lived in seawater and obtained their energy from the sun.
Thus, when you eat seaweed, you are eating the
primitive beginnings of plant life.
And, you are getting the fundamental factors which
all living things need for survival.
Understanding this concept should make you want
to try a food source which half the world has used since the beginning
of mankind.
