Finding the balance between eating healthily and sacrificing your favourite foods can be difficult to achieve for many of us. Having to cut out the food you love can sometimes lead to major cravings and falling off the food wagon.
With only 26% of adults eating the recommended portions of fruit and vegetables, finding a way to not only increase the amount of veg you eat but also find a way to replace some of the high fat foods, could be easier than you think.
Seamore foods have turned seaweed into our favourite go to foods, Pasta and Bacon. Founded in 2015 on the basis of a single product idea: a seaweed that looked exactly like a green tagliatelle, which was launched as “I sea pasta”. After swapping carbs for veggies, the company found another magical seaweed that tastes like crispy bacon after frying. “I sea bacon” offers the favourite flavour of the world without the saturated fats, the ecological nightmare or the killing of pigs.
Seaweed, food trend in 2018
While the humble seaweed has been around for 500 million years, this hidden gem is something not to be underestimated as an up and coming food trend for 2018. With the world’s population set to grow to 9 million by 2050, sustainable foods are the way forward.
Did you know… seaweed uses no fertilisers or pesticides?
The seaweed used for I Sea Pasta and I Sea Bacon is grown in the purest waters of the Irish coastline and is rumoured to be one of the most sustainable food sources on the planet. Seaweed uses no fertilisers or pesticides, all it needs is a little bit of sunshine to make it thrive to its full potential. As a sustainable alternative for the planet, harvesters only pick patches of seaweed up to a maxium of 15% so it will grow back.
5 health benefits seaweed can have for your body
1. Reduces the fat – Pasta has almost become an essential, we add it to a range of dishes and never think of the calories. 100 grams of tagliatelle pasta contains 288 calories, but why not substitute your regular pasta for a vegetable alternative that is good for both your taste buds and your health? The seaweed alternative “I Sea Pasta” from Seamore, is 178 calories for 100 grams, that’s over 100 calories less! Try switching pasta for seaweed in a range of evening meals 2-3 times a week and your loosing 300 calories a week, that’s 15,600 calories a year.
Saturated fats are the fats that get ‘stuck’ in your blood vessels and are very dangerous for us. I sea bacon contains almost only unsaturated fats (only 0,3g of saturated per 100g), where normal bacon contains 14 grams of saturated fats per 100g!
2. Seaweed makes you happy – There is tryptophan in seaweed which can induce the production of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a substance that can improve our mood!
3. Is preventing Diabetes – I sea pasta and I sea bacon are full of slow carbs and very low in saturated fats. Moreover, they contain a lot of fibres as well. The state of insulin insensitivity is induced by too much sugar or fast released carbohydrates, that have high sugar peaks. Saturated fats can decline glucose uptake by cells, and thereby induce insulin resistance. Luckily, if you’re in this state of insulin insensitivity, the damage can still be reversed by eating the right nutrients, like slow carbohydrates, fibres and unsaturated fats.
4. Slow carbs provide more energy to your body – I sea pasta contains 15 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams. These carbs are mainly very long chains of carbohydrates, called polysaccharides. Seaweed fits perfectly in a low carbohydrate diet. The main reason for this is that it contains ‘slow carbs’: carbohydrates that are broken down slowly by your body. This means that they release their energy in small pieces after each other.
5. Good fats “remove” bad cholesterol – Contrarily to normal pasta, I sea pasta contains a lot of good fats, which are the unsaturated fats. Partly, these are omega-3 fatty acids, that are very important for our body, because they lower the blood pressure. And more importantly, they ‘remove’ the bad cholesterol and deliver good cholesterol. Therefore, they can prevent against cardiovascular diseases and improve your cholesterol levels. Normally, omega 3 fats are obtained mainly from fatty fish and oils. So, for vegetarians and vegans, I sea bacon is perfect to supplement your diet if you don’t eat fish and still want some omega 3!
I Sea Bacon is £6.95 & I Sea Pasta is £4.95 – Available from Seamore
Due to arrive in January 2018, Seamore are launching tortilla wraps which are made from 50% Seaweed.
Photo credit: Pexels, PR.
