From Craving Sweets to Seaweed and Breaking Through Addiction
Yesterday I had an intense craving for seaweed. I was thinking about it all day! My mouth was watering thinking about seaweed. Damn, that stuff is good!
I am just loving the fact that my cravings have turned towards hyper-healthy, Superfood items. I wanted to investigate more about why I might be craving seaweed so I looked up some things online (librarian power activated!). Apparently, not many people crave sea vegetables (go figure), so it's not like there is an abundant amount of info out there.
I have heard before that if you crave coffee, tea, or alcohol you could be lacking iron and potassium. I have cut coffee out of my diet completely these past few days and it's been extremely difficult. Not because I want it, in fact, I don't crave coffee at all. My body has become so addicted to caffeine over the years that cutting it out of my diet has caused debilitating physical side-effects. Basically, I am experiencing caffeine withdrawal to the max. It's terrible. My head feels like it's in a fog, I have had minor headaches (very infrequently) and had a hard time concentrating. I basically feel like I am in a state of perpetual hang-over. I had no idea that an addiction to caffeine could have such an enormous effect on a person physically. It's kind of scary actually. The physical discomfort of cutting caffeine out of my life is enough to keep it out of my life permanently. I never want to have to go through this again. I tapered off coffee gradually, so it's not like I went cold turkey. I just cannot wait for these withdrawal symptoms to be over for good!
So back to the seaweed...
Since I wasn't able to pinpoint causes for seaweed cravings I figured the next best solution was to find out what the nutritional value of seaweed is. Perhaps, this way I might be able to pin-point if there is something my diet may be lacking. Off to the National Library of Medicine I go...
I simply typed "seaweed" into Pubmed.gov and got a direct hit! "Nutritional Value of Edible Seaweed" (PMID: 18236692), published in Nutrition Reviews, Dec. 2007 (v. 65, no. 12, Pt 1), pages 535-43.
This article is ten pages on how awesome seaweed is. There is so much going on with this food.
Fiber! The guideline amount for dietary fiber intake is 24 grams per day. 8 grams of seaweed can provide up to 12.5% of a persons daily fiber needs! This is a remarkably large amount on a weight-by-weight basis when compared to other vegetables. Brown rice and other grains don't even come close to matching seaweed in the fiber department.
Calcium! Seaweed is jam-packed with minerals due to their marine habitat. 8 grams of seaweed can provide up to 260 mg of calcium. That much calcium takes care of 37% of the recommended daily allowance of calcium for an adult male! Compare that to one portion of cheddar cheese that provides a lowly 5%.
But wait! There's more! Seaweed is also an excellent source for magnesium, copper, iron and iodine. It's also a very good source of potassium, vitamins A, B (1-3, 6, 8, 9 and 12), C and E. I feel like if I were to write down all the benefits of seaweed, I would be here for much longer than I intended. Basically, seaweed is awesome! It is also delicious mixed with a little oil, Nama Shoyu and sesame seeds.
So what could I have been missing that caused these seaweed cravings? I don't know, take your pick. Apparently seaweed has everything! Cravings or no cravings, I am definitely going to make this Superfood a frequent part of my diet. Yum!
I am just loving the fact that my cravings have turned towards hyper-healthy, Superfood items. I wanted to investigate more about why I might be craving seaweed so I looked up some things online (librarian power activated!). Apparently, not many people crave sea vegetables (go figure), so it's not like there is an abundant amount of info out there.
I have heard before that if you crave coffee, tea, or alcohol you could be lacking iron and potassium. I have cut coffee out of my diet completely these past few days and it's been extremely difficult. Not because I want it, in fact, I don't crave coffee at all. My body has become so addicted to caffeine over the years that cutting it out of my diet has caused debilitating physical side-effects. Basically, I am experiencing caffeine withdrawal to the max. It's terrible. My head feels like it's in a fog, I have had minor headaches (very infrequently) and had a hard time concentrating. I basically feel like I am in a state of perpetual hang-over. I had no idea that an addiction to caffeine could have such an enormous effect on a person physically. It's kind of scary actually. The physical discomfort of cutting caffeine out of my life is enough to keep it out of my life permanently. I never want to have to go through this again. I tapered off coffee gradually, so it's not like I went cold turkey. I just cannot wait for these withdrawal symptoms to be over for good!
So back to the seaweed...
Since I wasn't able to pinpoint causes for seaweed cravings I figured the next best solution was to find out what the nutritional value of seaweed is. Perhaps, this way I might be able to pin-point if there is something my diet may be lacking. Off to the National Library of Medicine I go...
I simply typed "seaweed" into Pubmed.gov and got a direct hit! "Nutritional Value of Edible Seaweed" (PMID: 18236692), published in Nutrition Reviews, Dec. 2007 (v. 65, no. 12, Pt 1), pages 535-43.
This article is ten pages on how awesome seaweed is. There is so much going on with this food.
Fiber! The guideline amount for dietary fiber intake is 24 grams per day. 8 grams of seaweed can provide up to 12.5% of a persons daily fiber needs! This is a remarkably large amount on a weight-by-weight basis when compared to other vegetables. Brown rice and other grains don't even come close to matching seaweed in the fiber department.
Calcium! Seaweed is jam-packed with minerals due to their marine habitat. 8 grams of seaweed can provide up to 260 mg of calcium. That much calcium takes care of 37% of the recommended daily allowance of calcium for an adult male! Compare that to one portion of cheddar cheese that provides a lowly 5%.
But wait! There's more! Seaweed is also an excellent source for magnesium, copper, iron and iodine. It's also a very good source of potassium, vitamins A, B (1-3, 6, 8, 9 and 12), C and E. I feel like if I were to write down all the benefits of seaweed, I would be here for much longer than I intended. Basically, seaweed is awesome! It is also delicious mixed with a little oil, Nama Shoyu and sesame seeds.
So what could I have been missing that caused these seaweed cravings? I don't know, take your pick. Apparently seaweed has everything! Cravings or no cravings, I am definitely going to make this Superfood a frequent part of my diet. Yum!
I thought I was the only one who craved sea vegetables, haha! I just had an attack of the wasabi toasted nori cravings- for B vitamins and iron I think since I was exhausted until I ate a few sheets. Thanks for getting the news on seaweed out there, I love the stuff too!
ReplyDeleteI've been craving sushi. I wake up in the middle of the night craving sweets quite often. I was really surprised when I woke one night and had a horrible desire to eat sushi. I couldn't stop thinking about sushi all the next day. Even now, I'm craving sushi... I'm fairly certain it's the seaweed I'm craving. But that's alright because sushi is really good for you and so is seaweed. :)
ReplyDeleteseaweed will help the body detox, maybe you want it because you are in withdrawals from caffeine and other bad foods. just keep eating it!
ReplyDeleteEven though this article is old it was very useful. My husband and I both crave seaweed. I'll eat tons of seaweed salad and he'll eat packages of nori. We're both very healthy eaters and for the most part don't drink caffeine anymore so it's interesting still why we crave it but it's good to not hear of too many negative effects. We moderate everything anyway and try not to indulge in anything - healthy or not too much so carrying on with my seaweed (I'm having it right now)! Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteI am craving seaweed this morning and I can't make it go away! I can't do my homework now. I want some vinegar on my seaweed. But all I have are bananas.
ReplyDeleteI am at school.
DeleteSeaweed cravings can also indicate an iodine deficiency which in turn can be a direct link to your thyroid being underactive. So if youre feeling lethargic , gaining weight, thinning eyebrows,mood swings ,and have an odd inability to regulate your body temps , it's likely the reason why we crave it .
ReplyDeleteOur body absorbs all iodine and sitting in hottubs,drinking/bathing/being in contact with city water depletes iodine due to the fluoride, bromine etc. There are two types of iodine , the good (iodine 127) and the bad (iodine 131 which is the radio active type that we breathe every day due to nuclear testing..etc) the good iodine actually blocks the absorption or radioactive iodine , so Someone who is sufficient in iodine levels will absorb far less radioactive iodine... which in turn helps your thyroid , because your iodine levels can stabilize and block iodine 131.
Then there are all the vitimans and minerals that you crave . I've found that I crave sushi, seaweed salad, the kim nori snacks when my thyroid (I have a rare malabsorption issue with my hasimotothyroiditis ) is not properly absorbing my medication.
I work in healthcare and have gone down the rabbit hole of research since I've had two of the rarest forms of cancer and literally had nothing better to do while I recovered .
I have Diabetes, eating fish and nori and drinking barley tea, helps me regulate the sugar levels in my body.
ReplyDeleteNori is a miracle food. A Super Food. My body craves desperately.