There are so many benefits to seaweed. This salad has a wide array of colors, which is key to a healthy diet. The more colors, the more vitamins and antioxidants.

I led a workshop recently and this is one of the recipes I taught. enjoy!

Seaweed Spectacular Salad! 

• 2 C fresh organic baby spinach leaves
• 1 T dried wakame flakes, soaked in water 10 min
• Sprouted/ raw sunflower seeds
• Orange and yellow mini bell peppers
• ½ Cucumber, diced
• Edible flowers for garnish
• Purple cabbage, shredded
• ½ Tomato, diced

Dressing:

• 1 T sesame oil
• 1 T dried arame , soaked in water 10 min
• 1 t liquid aminos or nama shoyu
• 1 t miso
• 1 T minced garlic

Blend in blender or by hand

Toss together in bowl!

More and more diseases–Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease–are being linked to what’s called “oxidant stress” in the body, which is the tissue damage wreaked by free radicals in our diet and environment.

To prevent these diseases we rely on the superheroes and heroines of the body, the antioxidants found predominantly in whole plant foods like fruits. Most studies measuring the antioxidant power in fruits, though, has only studied the pulp of the fruit.

In the most comprehensive study of it’s kind ever published, Nutrition Research released a recent study out of China that measured the antioxidant power of the pulp, peel and seed fractions of 28 different fruits.

DO YOU FEEL THE PEEL?

Researchers found that with a few exceptions, the peel and seeds of fruit has more antioxidants than the pulp. So for example, the peel of kiwi fruits, has about three times the antioxidants than the inside of the fruit and the peel of fruits like pomegranates have almost 30 times the antioxidant punch. Grape seeds have a hundred times more antioxidant power than the pulp! So grapes with seeds are healthier than seedless, but only of course if one actually chews the seeds up.

If you do choose to not to peel nutrition off your fruit, it’s particularly important to wash them under running water and to buy organic

Nutrition Research 23(2003):1719.