Kelp (Bladder Wrack)
Fucus versiculosus

Much of our sickness is caused from a lack of minerals and nutrients in our bodies. Kelp supplies many of these minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, chlorine and the chemical element iodine. The iodine is necessary for the thyroid gland that secretes enzymes and is the body's thermostat to regulate the body's heat. If your cold, try taking more kelp. It will also speed up the metabolism. Sometimes this will help the body to lose weight. The lack of iodine in the thyroid will usually result in a goiter. In Japan, thyroid disease is almost unknown. Their diet is about twenty-five percent kelp. Those who eat more kelp have less disease, or those Japenese, who are more "westernized," have more sickness.

In a Canadian study, the researchers found that kelp and algin will protect the body against radioactive elements like mercury, strontium-90 and toxic wastes.

It's readily available in the Puget Sound Region. I use to see some driveways with the Kelp stretched out for drying during the summer but I haven't seen it in years. Amazingly, my state restricts the harvest of something you can't deplete-it grows a foot a day at times, and it requires a license for harvest.