64 The Complete Home Guide to Herbs, Natural Healing, and Nutrition
seeds and sprouting
Whole and sprouted seeds are a wonderful source of nutrition and can be
used in cooking in a number of ways. Choose pumpkin (rich in copper,
zinc, and phosphorus), alfalfa (rich in all vitamins, minerals, and trace
elements, along with fi ber), sunfl ower, or many others. If you combine
sprouted sesame, sun fl ower, and pumpkin seeds, you can arrive at a total
protein supplement. Sprouting is easy to do. If you have never tried it
before, start with alfalfa seeds, because they sprout very quickly.
Directions come with any sprouter box you buy from a health-food store.
grasses
Try growing organic wheat, rye, alfalfa, corn, millet, or barley in a tray
with a little soil exposed to the sunlight. Once it has reached a height of
one inch, cut it off and add to salads. It is incredibly rich in minerals,
vitamins, and enzymes. It is also tasty, cheap, and versatile. For in-depth
advice on this subject, read Light Eating for Survival by Marcia Madhuri
Acciardo. Wheat grass is often dried commercially and can be found in
good-quality organic nutritional drinks.
Cooked and Raw Foods
Seaweeds are rich in minerals and trace elements, especially when
harvested from the least-polluted waters. Seaweeds are vital to a vegan
diet and important to most others. It is in seaweed and algae that sunlight
is most easily accessible to us. The plant structures are simple, and the
sun’s energy is readily released with minimal digestion. Seaweeds such as
kelp, nori, dulse, and wakame are rich in iodine, calcium, and sodium,
which are vital for the proper functioning of the thyroid. Spirulina algae,
which are not quite the same as seaweed but are very similar, are rich in
protein, chromium, manganese, niacin, ribofl avin, thiamine, vitamin A,
and zinc. Both can be sprinkled over food for a salty fl avor and much-
needed nourishment. Many green foods have a high chlorophyll content
that is highly therapeutic. In fact, the chlorophyll content of any edible,
nonsprayed weed will provide more nourishment than the average
nonorganic store-bought vegetable. For instance, just four or fi ve
dandelion greens contain approximately 14,000 IU (International Units)
of vitamin A, compared to only 33 IU in the same amount of supermarket
iceberg lettuce. You need only a few dandelion leaves to gain a good daily
intake of vitamin A, compared to the pounds of iceberg lettuce you would
need to achieve the same result! Try drinking nettle tea daily, a cheap
green tonic that can be collected or bought.
food and nutrition 64