Today
I felt I wanted to write about nutrition. What I am going to write
about is perhaps rather exotic. And for many, unheard of even. And to
some, redundant and superfluous, in view of our daily life tussles and
the areas of grave concern that the world has.. So, surely these are not
things people want to know about? Well. This is not a view that I have
held. I always felt that we need to tackle issues at a ‘sub-atomic’
level, at the grass-root. We have problems in the world today. And some
of these problems could be addressed using good information. As we know,
knowledge is power; good information could be handy anywhere and
anytime. Also, we need to learn and make available the very basics of
life and living to all people. We have to be more aware of our
environment and our bounty. We need to learn. While educational
institutes do provide us with the basic education, often what appears to
be more streamlined understanding of some hitertho unknown areas could
remain an unventured field in them. Leaving us rather ignorant. And this
is where now and then, I feel, we must make it is our duty to utilize
beaconlights and sentinels and spheres of expression like our writing
assignments, to make known some greats when we can.
I
have a passion for nutrition. Writing about health and nutrition in a
website that seeks to discuss the agendas of the world, may seem
unusual. But I feel everyone should know about some things that we are
available in the world, which are invaluable to people. And now and
again, every area dedicated to every other issue, should devote the few
minutes at times to something that is invaluable. Deltawomen reaches out
to millions. And I felt Deltawomen could help educate everyone, not
just women, about health and nutrition. But today we will not discuss
about illnesses and we will not discuss about ways to manage them. We
are going to talk about ways to improve our health. We will not talk
about exercise and fresh air. We will talk about good nutrition and good
food. If we could make healthy food and nutrition available to
everyone, life would improve tremendously. A majority of life’s maladies
would be averted. What prevents us from distributing nature’s bounty
and goodness? Is it ignorance and entrenched lifestyles? Perhaps.
Healthful and salubrious, these types of food should form major parts of
our diets and should be made readily available to everyone. Let us
remember, health is wealth . A large part of our human sufferings would
disappear if health could be insured against all odds. Good food is an
insurance. So, today I want to discuss about a type of food and spread
the knowledge of its amazing goodness . The food item does sound rather
exotic …………….hopefully not for long……It is called the seaweed/algae.
Algae
or seaweed has been known to people since time immemorial! Yet, this
little plant which is so nutrient dense rarely catches our attention and
is often overlooked as people in supermarkets readily steal their
glance away, looking at it curiously and then filling their baskets with
the more well known options. Lack of popular knowledge and availability
has made it a very exotic food ( and yet it is not that expensive!
Though we are limited often by the varieties that are available)
decorating the Japanese and Oriental food sections only perhaps.
Historically, the seaweed was a part of people’s stable diets for those
living in coastal areas. Today, people in Japan, Korea, China, Ireland
and Scotland still consume this traditional food item.
The
seaweed is very nutrient dense. It is especially rich in iodine which
is required for the proper functioning of the thyroid gland and for
other metabolic functions in the human body. It is also high in protein,
vitamins and other mineral content. It grows in water and can be marine
or freshwater. The freshwater varieties are toxic. Edible seaweed are
the marine varieties. Some marine varieties can still cause
gastrointestinal disturbance.
The seaweed is commercially marketed as thin dried sheets or in its dried form and as powder.
There
are about 15 edible seaweed available in the market today. Here is a
quick look at the most popular ones amongst them, their nutrient
contents and their use, so that you can look for them in a supermarket
or can prescribe them to an ill person who needs good nutrition but will
not have any other food!
Kelp : Kelp
contains phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and potassium in high
quantities and is a source of vitamins A, B1, B2, C, D and E and several
amino acids. Kelp is the saltiest of all sea vegetables and this makes
it a popular salt substitute. It is low in sodium and so is a very
healthy choice. Kelp is dried after harvesting and either cut into
strips or powdered.
Nori: Nori
has twice as much Vitamin C as oranges, is packed with beta-carotenes
like carrots and is rich in iron and calcium. The sheets of seaweed sold
in the supermarkets are usually made of Nori.
Arame: Arame is laden with minerals like magnesium, potassium, calcium and sodium.
Wakame
: Wakame is iron-rich, has fucoxanthin that helps lose weight and has
10 times more calcium than a glass of milk! It is also rich in thiamine,
niacin and omega 3 fatty acids. It is sold either fresh or dried. It
takes upto an hour to rehydrate it and requires around 1 litre of water
per 10g.
Kombu : It is a rich source of glutamic acid, a natural substitute for monosodium glutamate and hence a flavour-enhancer. Some kinds are used in making an infusion similar to tea.
Spirulina : Spirulina
contains about 60% protein, is a complete protein containing all the
essential amino acids though with reduced amounts of methionine,
cysteine and lysine when compared to meat, eggs and milk though in far
greater quantity when compared to legumes. Available as powder or
tablets, it is usually taken as supplements. However one should be
cautious with Spirulina intake. Due to very high Vitamin K content,
patients undergoing anticoagulant treatments should seek medical advice
as their medication level might need to be adjusted accordingly. People
with the rare condition Phenylketonuria should avoid having Spirulina as
it contains high amounts of phenylalanine.Studies on spirulina have not
shown any toxic or teratogenic effects when taken as a supplement
regularly.
Dulce: Dulce can be eaten directly off the rocks! Or it can be dried and powdered. In Iceland there is a tradition to eat Dulce with butter. Dulce can also be pan fried.
Hijiki: Hijiki
is a black seaweed which is bought dried and needs to be reconstituted
in water for about an hour. It develops a very strong flavour and aroma
when cooked in oil.
These
seaweeds are very versatile and can be eaten anyhow, providing abundant
nutrition to our body, without the need for any supplements if taken
regularly. Perhaps we can think of incorporating this humble little gift
from nature in our daily diets: we would be doing ourselves good. And
if we could make it available to people all across the world, we could
perhaps alleviate unnecessary poor health in a lot of people.
Anusmita Baruah
No comments:
Post a Comment