Sea Greens are Amazing Healers

Sea greens have superior nutritional content

They transmit the energies of the sea to your body as a rich source of nutrients.  Ounce for ounce, along with herbs, they are higher in vitamins and minerals tan any other food.  Sea greens are on of nature's richest sources of vegetable protein, and they provide full-spectrum concentrations of beta carotene, chlorophyll, enzymes, amino acids and fiber.  The distinctive salty taste is not just "salt" but a balanced, chelated combination of sodium potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron and trace minerals.

Sea Greens help re-mineralize us

They convert inorganic ocean minerals into organic mineral salts that combine with amino acids.  Our bodies use this combination as an ideal way to get usable nutrients for structural building blocks. In fact, sea greens contain all the necessary trace elements for life, many of which are depleted in the earth's soil.

Sea plants can rebalance our body chemistry

Our body fluids have the same chemical composition as sea water.  The same 56 elements course through our veins that circulate in the ocean.  Sea greens are the ocean's purifiers.  Their rich antioxidant qualities neutralize toxins for detoxification and they perform many of the same functions for our bodies, also largely made up of salt water.  Sea plant chemical composition is so close to human plasma that perhaps the greatest benefit from sea greens is that they can normalize our bodies from the effects of a modern diet.  They strengthen us against disease and reduce excess stores of fluid and fat.

Sea Greens are the most nutrition dense plants on the planet.

They have access to all the nutrients in the ocean, acquiring their nourishment across its entire surface through wave action and underwater currents.  Sea greens are rich in fiber and packed with vitamins, with measurable amounts of vitamins K, A, D, B, E and C and a broad range of carotenes.  Sea greens are almost the only non-animal source of Vitamin B-12 necessary for cell development and nerve function.  They are full of amino acids, contain up to 20% protein and have enzymes and essential fatty acids to rejuvenate us.  The contain 10-20x the minerals of land plants, and beyond their mineral quantities, their mineral balance is a natural stabilizer for building sound nerve structure and good metabolism.

Nutrition studies show that sea plants effectively lower blood pressure and cholesterol, help deter arteriosclerosis and reduce tumors.  Immune-compromised diseases like chronic fatigue, HIV infection, arthritis and allergies respond to sea plant treatment.  Se plant iodine is a key to controlling and preventing gland disorders like breast and uterine fibroids, prostate inflammation, adrenal exhaustion, and toxic liver and kidney states.

More things Sea greens can do for you:

1. Sea greens protect us in a destructive environment:  Sea plants can protect us from a wide range of toxic elements in the environment, including heavy metals (most dental fillings still contain them) and radiation by-products, converting them into harmless salts that we can eliminate.  The natural iodine in sea greens can reduce by almost 80% the radioactive iodine-131 absorbed by the thyroid.  Still, although seaweeds contain the compounds that directly counteract carcinogens, most researchers believe that their success is in boosting the body's immune system so it can combat the carcinogens itself. 

Sea greens contain powerful antioxidant and anti-canter properties, working to stop the proliferation of cancer cells.  Some experts consider them more potent than drugs used to treat breast and prostate cancer, especially as interceptive measures.  Japanese studies show that a diet with as little as 5% sea greens inhibits cancer growth, even causing remission of active tumors.

2. Sea greens protect us against breast cancer:  Iodine deficiency and hypothyroidism are clearly involved with a higher incidence of breast cancer.  Japanese women have less than 1/6th the breast cancer rate of American women of similar age.  Japanese women who live in rural areas have a much lower breast cancer rate than Japanese women in urban areas.  The determining facto seems to be diet.  The rural Japanese women routinely eat sea plants - a food uncommon in the diets of American and urban Japanese women who eat many processed foods.  In animal studies, rats exposed to chemicals know to cause breast cancer were fed sea greens and were protected against getting cancer.

Women with low iodine levels often have cervical dysplasia and breast fibroids, too.  In clinical trials, dysplasia lesions have been corrected by sea plant supplements.  My own experience with sea plant iodine shows that it reduces both breast and uterine fibroids, with a significant anti-inflammatory and anti-scarring effects.

3. Sea greens and bone health:  Sea greens have high magnesium, essential for the absorption of calcium.  Magnesium stimulates production of calcitonin, the hormone which increases calcium in the bones.   Sea greens are a good source of natural vitamin D, also essential for calcium absorption, bone health and muscle function.  Many people don't store vitamin D very well; our indoor lives don't let us get into the sun as much as in times past.  40% of Americans (especially women) are deficient in this nutrient.  Even many who take vitamin D supplements show a deficiency.

4. Sea greens and your thyroid:  In our era of processed foods and iodine-poor soils, sea greens and sea foods stand alone as potent sources of natural, balanced iodine.  Iodine is essential to life; the thyroid gland cannot make thyrozin, the enzyme that regulates metabolism, without it.  Iodine is important for alertness and rapid brain activity, and a prime deterrent to arterial plaque. 

Thyroid hormones are made from iodine and the amino acid tyrosine.  Thyroglobulin, the mixture of tyrosine and iodine stored in the thyroid gland, is transformed into hormones that regulate our protein, carbohydrate and carotene use, and cholesterol distribution (sea greens help lower cholesterol).  The amount of thyroid hormone released into the bloodstream determines our basic energy level and along with the adrenal glands, the rate at which sex hormones are made.  Sea plants nourish an under active thyroid and normalize adrenal functions to trigger increased libido.

Goiter, a thyroid disorder, develops when the pituitary gland stimulates the thyroid to make more hormones but the thyroid can't do it because it doesn't have enough iodine. It enlarges in the attempt and goiter develops.  The rate of goiter in the U.S. is still relatively high - 6% of the population in some areas.  It's a strange situation, because few people in the U.S. are iodine deficient (the average American intake of iodine is estimated at over 600 micrograms daily from iodized salt).  Since the recommended adult allowance for iodine is quite small, 150 micrograms, experts believe that at least some of the high rates of goiter are really connected to too much sugar, alcohol, fats and caffeine, or to eating a lot of goitrogen foods, which block iodine absorption.

Goitrogens are cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage, legumes like beans, and peas, beets and nuts like almonds and peanuts, which may cause a mild hypothyroid state when eaten raw.  Cooking neutralizes the thyroid-blocking components.  If you have a tendency to goiter or hypothyroidism, cook these healthy foods lightly.

5. Sea greens guard against birth defects:  Low iodine has a profound effect on the health of a fetus early in conception.  I recommend that a woman who wants to become pregnant consider adding sea greens to her diet while she is trying to conceive, rather than waiting until she realizes she is pregnant.  Most American women get enough iodine, but in landlocked countries where iodine is not plentiful in food, infants are often born with cretinism which results in stunted growth, mental defects, puffy facial features and poor muscle coordination, all signs of low iodine.

6. Sea greens are a valuable treatment for Candida Albicans yeast infections.  Their high mineral, especially selenium content, build up immunity against Candida.  Enzymes use the rich iodine in seaweeds to produce iodine-charged free radicals, which deactivate yeasts.

7. Sea greens help to stop vaginal infections:  Iodine-rich sea plants are effective against a wide range of organisms like trichomonas, candida and Chlamydia.  A douche solution with 1 tbsp dried sea plants to 1 qt water, used 2x daily for 7-14 days, is effective against most of these pathogens.

8. Sea greens boost weight loss and deter cellulite build up.  Very low calorie and virtually fat-free (but with plenty of skin-nourishing EFA's), sea plants normalize thyroid metabolism, especially as you age.  The detoxifying quality of sea plant algin stimulates lymphatic drainage to discourage cellulite, and reduces bowel transit time to aid weight loss.  Rich antioxidant nutrients in sea plants increase your body's stamina and fat-burning ability during exercise.

Both eating sea greens and bathing in them helps reduce the look of cellulite.  Seaweed encourages absorption of minerals into skin tissue and fat cells.  The minerals act like electrolytes to break the chemical bond that seals the fat cells.  So seaweed temporarily opens the cells to allow trapped wastes to escape, releasing toxins into the lymph system and eliminating them through he kidneys and bladder.  The best spas apply a sea plant solution as par of a body wrap or bath to do this very thing.  It's called thalassotherapy, and it's been used for centuries to speed up metabolism and increase circulation to cellulitic areas.

9. Sea greens are a beauty treatment:  Seaweeds add amazing luster to the skin.  The sea-loving ancient Greeks said that Aphrodite, the goddess of love who rose out of the foaming sea, owed her supple skin, shiny hair and sparkling eyes to the plants of the sea.  A seaweed face mask increases circulation, stimulates lymphatic drainage and dilates capillaries to tone your skin.  Seaweed returns mineral salts to your skin that stress and pollution deplete.  Skin cells hold moisture better when they absorb the mineral salts, making the skin more supple and elastic.  By retaining moisture, the skin plumps, removing the look of dry skin, lines and wrinkles.  Many women report smoother skin texture after a seaweed treatment.  Amino acid, mineral and vitamin content help nourish the skin, too.  Certain types of seaweeds possess molecules similar to collagen.

A seaweed bath is a great way to get the benefits of sea plants all over your body.

Seaweed baths are Nature's perfect body-psyche balancer and they're an excellent way to get your natural iodine.  Remember how good you feel after a walk in the ocean?  Seaweeds purify and balance the ocean; they can do the same for your body.

Noticeable rejuvenating effects occur when toxins are released from our tissues.  A hot seaweed bath is like a wet-steam sauna, only better, because the sea greens balance body chemistry instead of dehydrating it. The electrolytic magnetic action of the sea plants releases excess body fluids from congested cells and dissolves fatty wastes through the skin, replacing them with depleted minerals - particularly potassium and iodine.  As the natural iodine boosts thyroid activity, food fuels are used before they can turn into fat deposits.  Vitamin K , a fat-soluble vitamin in seaweeds , aids adrenal regulation, so a seaweed bath also helps maintain hormone balance for more youthful body.  I find bathing in sea greens is great way to reduce cellulite and prevent it from recurring.

If an ocean near you has unpolluted waters, collect your own sea greens. Gather them from the water, not the shoreline, in buckets or clean trash cans, and carry them home to your tub.  If you don't live near the ocean, dried sea greens are available in health food stores.  Whichever form you choose, run very hot water over the seaweed in the tub, filling it to the point that you will be covered when you recline.  The leaves will turn a beautiful bright green.  The water will turn rich brown as the plants release their minerals.  As you soak, the gel from the seaweed transfers onto your skin. This coating increases perspiration to release toxins from your system, and replaces them by osmosis with minerals.  Rub your skin, especially cellulite areas with the sea leaves during the bath to stimulate circulation, smooth  and tone the body and remove wastes coming out on the skin surface.  When the sea greens have done their work, the gel coating dissolves and floats off the skin, and the leaves shrivel - a sign that your seaweed bath is over.

Each bath varies with the individual, the seaweeds used and water temperature, but the gel coating release is a natural timekeeper for the bath's benefits.  45 minutes is usually about right to balance the body's acid-alkaline system, encourage liver activity, cellulite release and fat metabolism.  Skin tone, color, and better circulation are almost immediately noticeable.  To get the most from a seaweed treatment, dry brush cellulitic skin before your seaweed bath or wrap to exfoliate dead skin and open up pores for waste elimination and blood flow to the affected area.

Note:  A hot seaweed bath is one of the most effective treatments in natural healing  It should be used with care.  If you are under a doctor's care for heart disease or high blood pressure, check with your physician to see if a seaweed bath is okay for you.

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