Healthy Foods: You won’t be sorry if you eat nori

If you’ve ever eaten sushi, you’ve eaten nori. Nori is a type of kelp that contains a myriad of health benefits. If you don’t currently enjoy sea vegetables in your diet, you are missing out on some amazing nutrition. As far as sea vegetables go, nori is a good starting point.

You can buy nori in thin sheets to use for sushi rolls or for snipping into soups and salads but you can also buy nori as small flakes or in powdered form.

Nori is chock full of minerals and vitamins including:

  • protein
  • sodium
  • iron
  • folic acid
  • calcium
  • magnesium
  • iodine
  • zinc
  • copper
  • selenium
  • dietary fiber

Two sheets of nori contain the equivalent amount of vitamin B1 and B2 as 50 grams of pork and double the vitamin C you’d get from an orange.

Adding nori to your diet reduces your risk of cancer by providing you with tons of antioxidants. In addition to nori’s antioxidants, the amino acids and iodine in nori can also reduce your risk of developing uterine fibroids and breast cancer.

Nori is easy to find in health food stores and in most grocery stores.

You can tell if nori is high quality because it’s dark black in color (that means it was toasted perfectly), almost brittle in texture, and thick enough that you can’t see through it. It should also smell faintly of the ocean.

A great way to enjoy nori is to wrap it around organic rice, veggies, and fish for simple and healthful sushi.

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8 Responses

  1. Hi leanne. i just read on dr joe mercolas website that glycosate (the main ingredient in roundup) prevents plants and animals from absorbing minerals like you mentioned here. nori sounds GREAT but i guess we’d have to give up all conventionally grown vegetables to get the benefit. just thought i’d pass it along. thanks

  2. What about the fallout from Fukishima in the waters surrounding Japan, the country that most produces nori? I love to snack on it – can buy packages from Trader Joe’s.

    1. HI Healthy1,
      Yes that is a concern, that is why fish from the area around Fukushima are no longer being exported. It is very important to know where your food is sourced from. Thanks!

  3. I’ve bought plenty of those packages of seaweed. They’re addictive, especially the ones from Costco. This is a good idea, Leanne, and healthier and probably cheaper to buy the sheets. Tons available on Amazon. Do you think organic is worth the extra price for this item?

    1. Hi Marge,
      Track the source of the seaweed. You don’t want seaweed from the Pacific Ocean due to the Japanese nuclear plant problems that leaked into the ocean. Make sure it’s from cold, northern waters as much as possible. Iceland for example. 🙂

      1. Thanks, Leanne. Bought 2 packages yesterday. Both “product of China.” Not good. There’s several organic brands on amazon but also China. There’s one Iceland brand I’ve found but it doesn’t come in 50-sheet packs. Alibaba is the brand. But they seem to deal with suppliers only. Any ideas?

          1. Oh, thank you so much, Leanne. Would never have found this. Ya know, your wonderful essay got me on a nori kick but I have a yellowed NYT article from 2009 actually sitting on my desk now that I can’t wait to try the recipe. Google “the crisp side of nori” for a great Mark Bittman article. Why have I not done this before 2013? Your guess is as good as mine! Ordering from Maine Coast tonight. You are such a treasure, Leanne!

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