If I told you I’ve been drinking green algae every day I wouldn’t be surprised if you looked at me a bit funny and checked my skin for scales. Well, I have been, in the form of spirulina and chlorella powders, added to smoothies, and so far so good, no scales growing, just rude health and energy.
Spirulina and Chlorella are both blue-green algaes, and touted as superfoods, being the most complete foods available and bursting with nutrients, in an easily accessible form. There is tons of nutritional information about them on the web, scientifically demonstrating their credentials, but here’s my simple (home-spun) way of thinking about why they may be so good for you:
Fish are a good healthy food, yes? Well what do fish eat? They eat algae (and other fish of course, who have eaten algae). And they don’t have to do any chewing or complex digestion of the algae. So if we eat algae, we are returning to the source of what makes fish so healthy, and using it to make ourselves as healthy as fish! Ok, so I don’t want to grow scales, but I would like my skin, nails and hair to be as glowing and as healthy those scales. They are made of the same stuff after all.
Spirulina and Chlorella have slightly different nutritional profiles, so the best recommendation is to use them in conjunction with each other. Both are particularly high in B vitamins, including vitamin B12, and so good regulating homones in women. This high B12 content also makes chorella and spirulina an extremely valuable food for vegans, as you only find this kind of abundance of vitamin B12 in foods from animal sources. They are also a great source of protein, for example chlorella contains 58g of protein per 100g of weight.
So what are these spirulina and chorella powders like? Well, I won’t lie, they are not for the faint-hearted. The last time I tried spirulina was in the 80s when I used to occasionally do a fast outlined by Leslie Kenton, which just allowed drinks of bouillon or spirulina. That was back in the days before smoothies and juicing was popular, so I remember just mixing the spirulina powder with water, holding my nose, and gulping it down. But I haven’t let this me memory put me off trying again, and this time round it’s a much more pleasant experience.
My advice? Small doses! If you add a teaspoon into a fruit-rich smoothie, you will hardly notice the taste of the powder. Add too much, and it will taste (and look) like swamp juice. Of course both these powders are ink-green, like a strong paint pigment, and will turn everything they are added to green! So my other tip is to add them to a food or drink that is green anyway, like a green smoothie, or one that could well be, like an omelette (green powder instead of spinach).
You might still be thinking, why? Well, there is just too much evidence of their health benefits to ignore:
Supporting healing, delaying aging, and significantly lowering cancer risk, microalgae gently detoxify, quiet inflammation, and activate cell renewal. In addition, these superfoods contain a powerhouse of essential nutrients: trace minerals, iron, vitamins, essential fatty acids, and highly absorbable amino acids.
Spirulina & Chlorella, Nature’s super algae, by Nicole Duelli, CCH, RSHom(NA)
A final word: be sure to buy your spirulina and chlorella powders from a reputable source. Mine are by Geco Supplements, whose products are organically grown ensuring absolutely no fertilisers, pesticides or chemicals get into the product. They also invest heavily in research, in the pursuit of health. And I love the reasoning behind their name!:
WHY ARE WE CALLED GECO?
The word ‘Geco’ is derived from the lizard ‘gecko’, but we are not a company founded by cold-blooded reptiles. One of the founding beliefs of Geco Supplements was not to lose track of our aim. We know too many companies get side-tracked on profit and lose sight of what they originally set out to do in the ‘blink of an eye’, and we don’t want to do this. Geckos cannot blink, and their eyes can stay completely focused on their target – and so like a gecko, we will not lose sight, not for one moment.
I’m sticking with these powders and hope you give them a go too. You can buy from Amazon by clicking on the (affiliate) links below:
And to end with a gag:
Why did the two algae not sleep together? … Because they had a planktonic relationship. Boom Boom 🙂
Disclaimer: Thanks to Geco Supplements for sending me these powders to review. No payment was received and all opinions are my own and honest.
