Thread: WAKAME: How much should I eat daily?

I spent the better part 2 hours last night searching the internet trying to find the health benefits and the daily recommended amount of WAKAME. It's the seaweed you put in your miso soup.

All I could find was info on the capsule. I have dried wakame at home and want to add it in my daily rotation. I was talking with someone at my health food store and she said to eat sea vegetables. (think seaweeds and kelp). This sounded good to me but when I tried to read up on it, I couldn't get how much.

The serving on the package is 1/2 teaspoon. (it expands 10-20X when reconstituted) but the nutirional value for it on the package says "0" for everything but iodine (salt) for the 1/2 teaspoon (dried) serving.

I read that it's super high in calcuim, folate, and other goodies, but then I don't know how much to eat. It seems like an awful lot of sodim to ingest everyday, but sea veggies are a must have in macrobiotic eating.

So where are all the health benefits? Does anyone eat this and know anything about it? Should I be concerned that there is mercury and arsenic from the ocean's pollution in it? I mean they tell us to ease up on fish consumption because of that. But maybe since this is a plant it doesn't hold onto pollutants...???

It's also supposed to be great for your skin elasticity.
Thanks

i would say you should eat zero because it tastes like, well, seaweed. ^_~ hehehe, of all the thing i don't like to eat, when i lived in Japan the only thing i asked not to have were nuts (allergy) and seaweed. my host mom was so sweet she made my soup without ^_^
different plants hold different amounts of pollutants in different places. for example i remember reading that although carrots and spinach both absorb arsenic from the soil carrots store it in a part of the plant that we don't eat, whereas spinach stores it in the part we do. so make sure any info you find about how much pollution wakame holds is specific to it, and not just generic info about any kind of seaweed.
if you have any friends who speak& read Japanese you might try asking them to help you find some of the info, being such a staple i'd imagine there's more info on it published in Japanese.
good luck^_^

Originally Posted by raqFariha

i would say you should eat zero because it tastes like, well, seaweed. ^_~ hehehe, of all the thing i don't like to eat, when i lived in Japan the only thing i asked not to have were nuts (allergy) and seaweed. my host mom was so sweet she made my soup without ^_^
different plants hold different amounts of pollutants in different places. for example i remember reading that although carrots and spinach both absorb arsenic from the soil carrots store it in a part of the plant that we don't eat, whereas spinach stores it in the part we do. so make sure any info you find about how much pollution wakame holds is specific to it, and not just generic info about any kind of seaweed.
if you have any friends who speak& read Japanese you might try asking them to help you find some of the info, being such a staple i'd imagine there's more info on it published in Japanese.
good luck^_^

Actually, I'd consult English macrobiotic guides. The Japanese aren't really as "nutritional trend oriented" as Americans and there's not as much prescriptive "you should eat it this much because of x,y,and z" info (which, I am glad for). Wakame is part of the diet here, but it's not over-thought.

If someone is eating a macrobiotic diet for global-impact reasons, they should probably look into more locally grown sources of calcuim, folate, and other goodies.

Originally Posted by ozma

Actually, I'd consult English macrobiotic guides. The Japanese aren't really as "nutritional trend oriented" as Americans and there's not as much prescriptive "you should eat it this much because of x,y,and z" info (which, I am glad for). Wakame is part of the diet here, but it's not over-thought.

If someone is eating a macrobiotic diet for global-impact reasons, they should probably look into more locally grown sources of calcuim, folate, and other goodies.

I have "the Hip chick's guide to macrobiotic eating" on its way from the library. But I am not leaning towards eating a macrobiotic diet, (eating "clean" foods, yes) so I can get these nutritional sources elsewhere, but as my op stated, the person talking with me was extolling the virtues of sea vegetables, as if they were this rarely tapped resource of nutrition- a "miracle food."

I am aware of the other sources of nutrients, but if eating seaweed is great for the skin, given my current issues ..cr.: I am willling to give it a try.

Originally Posted by Bahtya

I have "the Hip chick's guide to macrobiotic eating" on its way from the library. But I am not leaning towards eating a macrobiotic diet, (eating "clean" foods, yes) so I can get these nutritional sources elsewhere, but as my op stated, the person talking with me was extolling the virtues of sea vegetables, as if they were this rarely tapped resource of nutrition- a "miracle food."

I am aware of the other sources of nutrients, but if eating seaweed is great for the skin, given my current issues ..cr.: I am willling to give it a try.

I understand, but do keep in mind that the woman who advised you is in the business of selling you food products.

I use wakame in soups and I boil it with beans to cut down on the gassiness of beans(tip from clean food)...depending on what seaweeds are near you, there are many tasty seaweed salads with a variety of seaweeds...but I also remember the price of seaweeds (when I was learning a bit about vegetarian cooking using Japanese staples before moving here) was HIGH in America.

Love Hip Chick! Once you have the book, you'll read the part where she says (paraphrasing) "Don't get all American on me and think 'it's a superfood, I'm going to eat it all day every day'." ..l;, Not that your post implies that but she did make me laugh out loud when I read that.

I'm of the mindset to eat what I am craving~ if I am craving seaweed, I eat it. When I don't want it anymore, I eat something else. I rehydrate a bit of wakame and add it to my salad. Like Ozma, I use it when cooking beans (though I use kombu). I buy all my seaweed dry~ I believe the kombu was my most expensive purchase, but it is used so sparingly it doesn't make a regular dent in my budget. I'm pretty sure my bag of wakame was about $5 at Whole Foods? I bought it months ago and I'm barely halfway through it. (But everyone's budget/wants/needs are different and this may not work for all.)

How do you proportion the seaweed/beans cooking deal?

I would recommend this site for some yummy Maine seaweed : )

https://www.seaveg.com/shop/index.ph...ebc96a2a945af0

Originally Posted by ozma

I understand, but do keep in mind that the woman who advised you is in the business of selling you food products.

Actually she was shopping at Whole Foods and we happened to be in the grains isle picking out oatmeal. She was just a fan of the book.

Sea vegetables are thought to have a detoxifying effect on the body, which can be great for your skin. Anecdotally speaking, I've noticed that my skin glows whenever I'm on a Japanese food kick and eating lots of nori and seaweed salad.

Also, a lot of skincare products from the health food store contain seaweed, if you're interested in going the topical route. Alba, for one, makes a beautiful sea mineral skincare line. (I wash my face with the cleansing gel religiously).

Like Ozma said, I wouldn't overthink sea vegetables - there's no silver bullet, and you can get a lot of beneficial minerals from any dark leafy green vegetable. Eat them when you want, but don't stress about having them at every meal.