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Sea Vegetables
Started
by Bunny2976
on November 9, 2009
I know Alicia swears by Sea Vegetables...but I dont seem to have a taste for them. Does anyone else find them yucky? Should I try to aquire the taste?
I was thinking about this last night. I don't like most sea veggies and don't see the need to eat them in order to reap the benefits of this diet. I know they are healthy and all that, but so are other greens. IMO the important thing is to eat simple fresh whole food products (vegan of course) and that is close enough to "macrobiotics." I just don't see the need to eat the Japanese version of macrobiotics when a person could eat the Greek version or any other version of a whole foods vegan diet. My .02
I'm curious about this too. I am very interested in nutrition and optimum health and if seaweed is the way to go, I will go there. Can I be just as healthy if I scratch the wakami, nori, kombu, umeboshi etc? And stick with my whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, fruit, pickles and vegetable diet...I don't know. I am waiting for 2 books on macrobiotics that I ordered and I need to learn more about this before I can decide. I am not dieting or trying to lose weight but I am intrigued by the healing claims of macrobiotics because I know so little about it. I have read that spinach, tomatoes and certain fruits that aren't macrobiotic are actually not acidic because when they enter the body they are alkalizing. This is because they contain the alkalizing minerals calcium and potassium. Is this true? This alkalizing quality is sea vegetables claim to fame. Should I really eat LESS spinach? I don't know? I have the personality that I can't just take some one's word for it. I need to understand why, and figure things out for myself. What's the deal? Are they acidic or not? Is there a definitive answer yet or just opposing opinions? I guess that's what led us all to veganism in the first place. Not just accepting what we are told. However you can't argue with how many people have been healed and cured from macrobiotics. I hear you though - why the Japaneseversion of health? There are a slew of people hyping the raw diet, the mediterranean diet, etc as the cure-all as well. Right now gluten is public enemy #1, it used to be carbs and before that fat. In the book Alicia says that our bodies shouldn't be eating foods from tropical locations in the dead of winter. Does that mean that people who aren't near the sea shouldn't eat sea vegetables? I have soo many questions, and that's why it's worth researching! There's gotta be something to this. So I guess our job is to figure it out for ourselves.
Sea vegetables are most definitely an acquired taste. I started really liking them about 9 years ago when I started eating sushi (you can also get veggie sushi, it doesn't have to contain fish) I've found that a good way to eat them at home is to buy the dried nori sheets and cut them up into little strips. You can then put them on a salad or one of my favorites is to mix them in with a rice dish.
The good thing about sea veggies and what makes them different is that they are offer the largest range of minerals of any food and are full of healthy nutrients like B vitamins, iron, vitamin K, calcium, chlorophyll and they are also a good source of fiber. They also contain lingans (cancer-protective plant compounds).But be aware that not every sea vegetable tastes alike, toasted nori is rather mild. I recently tried to choke down a "macrobiotic seaweed salad" from Whole Foods and I just couldn't do it. To me it tasted like someone had scraped the bottom of one of the nearby lakes and plopped it on my plate. The event that sealed the deal was when after I threw it in my compost pile my dogs tried to roll in it. Yep...Gonna stay away from that one for awhile.
~j
I bought a bag of mixed sea veggies that are packed in salt and meant to be rinsed before use. They were in the fridge section at my health food store... but I don't know what to do with them. After reading this post- i'm a little scared! :) But I do like nori, so maybe I'll like the other kinds.
Red bird- When you cook your beans- you put kombu in the pot? How much? For the whole time?
I was told that you put it in with the beans wile you are soaking them the night before.
Thank you red bird! I'm definitely going to try this! I just got The Macrobiotic Way and The Hip Chicks Guide to Macrobiotics so hopefully I won't be so clueless soon!
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