Such a comprehensive balance of nutrients is found in no other natural food but seaweed. From the primordial ocean to the vegetation and animals which remain our food today, the roots of our nutritional composition go back to the earliest organisms, to the very chemistry of life itself - still the chemistry of the human body. In the course of time, life forms evolved their own diversity and therefore their specific diets, becoming increasingly specialised. This led them to 'select' out nutrients and protect against toxicity, each evolving different mechanisms of selectivity and metabolism, where previously, even the most toxic substances would have been tolerated by the organism. Each land grown food thus has a little of what we need and helps protect against what we don't, which is why a varied and non-toxic diet is essential. But unlike land grown foods, seaweed is almost as old as the ocean, a primordial whole food which incorporates the full spectrum of nutrients and perfectly complements and completes the more limited range of land food nutrients. The human body is one of nature's most complex achievements, its intricate design engineered over millenia to maintain the balance of nutrients required for its overall health. Seaweed, still transforming into nutrients the chemistry of our mutual beginnings, contains a little of everything still needed by our bodies. In particular it is a unique whole food source of all the micronutrints, including all the minerals and trace elements missing from the land and much of our diet. Hence the remarkable capacity of certain seaweed species to fill the many gaps in the very different diet we eat today, including land vegetables. | So abundant are our native wild seaweeds, that a small number of species can respond to the nutrient depletion in modern foods for millions of people. The balance of nutrients they contain does not return naturally to our soils, or to the foods we produce in them. In recent decades, egregioius agricultural practices have made matters worse. Yet we are still what we eat, and our nutritional composition remains paramount. Biodynamic and organic farming and composting, properly feeding our livestock, and the best forms of husbandry, should also include seaweed. More importantly than ever, seaweed is a distinctly sustainable food. Roughly 40% of our land surface is already used for food production. The oceans are 7 times larger, and seaweeds grow in all of them. They need no fresh water, no soil, no fertilisers, and (at least at Seagreens®) no fossil fuels are required in production. A nutritious food for our times, without parallel. |
Video: Seaweed - Europe's vegetable of the future (2013)
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