Benefits of Kelp
One of the most significant health benefits of kelp is its ability to remove environmental toxins, radioactive strontium and other heavy metals such as cadmium from your body, in a way no other food can do.
• Kelp is a type of seaweed or a sea vegetable that is actually not a weed but large marine algae and can be found on rocky shores of all world seas and oceans.
• It has been a common popular food and a staple item in countries like Japan, Korea, China and other coastal cultures for thousands of years.
• Many Japanese would give credit to seaweed or kelp for being able to live so long and overall great health. It is often called the miracle plant due to its variety of therapeutic properties.
• It is now a natural food source and a dietary supplement that can be found in many health stores in the form of tablets, powder or liquid.
• Getting the health benefits of kelp is quite easy as it can be added to drinks, used for flavoring or as a salt substitute in cooking, added to stir fries, soups and stews.
• Bongo, bladderwrack, rock weed and laminaria are the most common types of kelp- out of thirty other types- that are developed into supplements.
• Kelp can grow up to thirty meters and form kelp forests from the ocean floor up to the surface. Giant kelp may actually create entire forests of kelp and it is hard to differentiate the stems from the leaves.
• Nausea and diarrhea are potential kelp side effects and it is probably not a good idea to take kelp if you are sensitive to iodine.
• Alkali is the important component of kelp that helps the balance between alkaline and acid in your body. Benefits of kelp for your body and overall health is partly because of this alkali intake, that undos the effect of acid created by junk food eating habits.
Nutritional Value and Health Benefits of Kelp:
• Kelp or sea vegetables are fat free, low in glycemic index, high in digestible protein, low calorie and full of vitamins and (more than seventy) minerals including iron, iodine, calcium and potassium.
• Seaweeds are actually up to twenty times higher in vitamin and minerals than the plants grown on land: ten times more the calcium of milk and 25 times higher iron than beef. Human blood and sea water contain many of the same minerals in similar concentrations.
• Iron, potassium and calcium makes kelp a great aid for women during menstruation, pregnancy and nursing.
• Iodine is naturally found in kelp. It controls energy, metabolism and growth in your body and helps your thyroid function properly.
• Kelp regulates pituitary gland as well as normalizing and activating all glands and hormones in your body.
Other Kelp Benefits Include:
• Useful in hair loss and nail growth.
• Helps with poor digestion, constipation and flatulence.
• Controls appetite.
• Helps regulate your body temperature.
• May help prevent growth of tumors.
• Lowers your bad- LDL cholesterol.
• Acts as a diuretic.
• Kills the herpes virus.
• Helps alleviate arthritis pain.
• Helps prevent osteoporosis.
• Dissolves fatty wastes through the skin and may help control obesity.
• Helps the development of brain.
• Strengthens the immune system.
• Improves liver function.
• Helps fight against heart disease and cancer.
Please see Benefits of Kelp article for more information.
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