What Is Spirulina?

Spirulina is one of the most popular superfoods around, not only for its nutrients but also its versatility. Using spirulina powder in cooking is easy and fun, and it will help you compliment your diet with everything your body needs.

Spirulina powder is affordable as well, and you can add it to a wide variety of recipes with ease. Here’s what you need to know about spirulina powder. The ultimate superfood — 100% plant-based and incredibly nutritious.

What Is Spirulina Powder?

Unlike most other superfoods, spirulina is a unicellular alga, a type of seaweed that grows in fresh and saltwater, and it’s native to Mexico. Spirulina powder is the dried form of the seaweed or cyanobacteria. These unicellular plants collect energy from the sun and become incredibly nutrient rich. Just a tablespoon of spirulina contains 4 grams of proteins, 11% of your daily iron intake and 21% of the copper you need for the day. Spirulina powder also contains vitamins from the B complex.

Experts agree spirulina might be the most nutritious food on earth, gram for gram, and that’s saying something. There’s no doubt this super nutritional powder is a beautiful, all-natural supplement, and adding it to your diet is fairly easy.

You can use the green spirulina powder in cooking almost every day, and you won’t even notice it, and that’s the beauty of it. You need not change your lifestyle to benefit from spirulina.

The most exciting thing about spirulina powder is that it contains the necessary Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids, only available in some foods and oily fish. This is a game-changer, and you can make the most of it.

What Are The Benefits of Spirulina Powder?

Spirulina Powder is a Natural Anti-inflammatory. One of the most exciting benefits of consuming spirulina is its anti-inflammatory properties, and it’s thanks to the compound’s high amounts of antioxidants. Antioxidants protect from oxidative stress, diminishing chronic inflammation, a condition related to many diseases and conditions, including cancer.

Spirulina Powder can Lower Cholesterol Levels. Spirulina can lower the “bad” cholesterol or low-density cholesterol responsible for blocking arteries and causing hypertension. Reducing cholesterol markers is essential for people at risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Spirulina Powder Might Prevent Cancer. Some studies suggest spirulina can reduce the risk of oral cancer, as it is beneficial to oral health and can lower the risk of a precancerous condition called oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF).

Spirulina Can Keep Your Blood Pressure in Check. By allowing spirulina’s antioxidants to block free radicals floating in your bloodstream, you stop oxidative stress that damages your cells at a DNA level. By reducing oxidative stress, you reduce chronic inflammation, and your blood pressure diminishes, which is good for your heart and brain.

Spirulina Can Treat Anemia. You get anemia when you don’t consume enough iron, especially if you don’t eat red meat. Well, spirulina contains tremendous amounts of iron. Spirulina is a fantastic all-natural supplement for people eating vegan diets.

Spirulina Helps You Build Muscle. Spirulina is an excellent source of plant-based, high-quality proteins, triggering muscle synthesis. Consuming spirulina daily will boost your muscle building, primarily if you work out often.

How to Take Spirulina?

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Since spirulina is a unicellular cyanobacterium, it can be harvested to become powder naturally. That’s how you’ll find most spirulina on the market, and the powder has a long shelf-life.

You’ll also find spirulina tablets, which are nothing more than compressed spirulina. Tablets are okay if you just want the benefits of consuming spirulina, but the powder is much more versatile, as you can cook with it.

Spirulina has a vegetal, slightly bitter and salty flavor, and it’s not unappealing at all. Before we talk about using spirulina powder in cooking, let’s talk about one side effect of consuming the superfood.

Spirulina is high in antioxidants that sweep your blood, removing free radicals and other impurities, but antioxidants can also eliminate other nutrients in your bloodstream, so don’t abuse it. Some people have reported headaches and nausea when consuming spirulina powder too often and in large quantities.

How To Use Spirulina Powder in Cooking?

Now that you know all about spirulina and why it’s good for you, let’s talk about incorporating it into your diet. You can enjoy spirulina every other day without making radical changes to your diet or lifestyle.

Let’s start with drinks. Add a tablespoon of spirulina to a pitcher of iced tea and enjoy it throughout the day. You might need to blend the mixture to incorporate the spirulina completely.

Spirulina is also a colorful addition to salads and soups. Just sprinkle it and let it do its magic. Spirulina adds a slight herbal and salty taste to the food, so it’s much more than nutrition; it’s a condiment as well!

Perhaps the most common way of consuming spirulina is by adding it to a green juice or a smoothie. Along with other fruits and veggies, you can really create a nutrient-rich liquid meal to keep you nourished and energized all day. Smoothies are exceptionally compatible with spirulina, and you can’t even taste the nutritious seaweed.

What are your favorite ways of consuming spirulina? Let us know! There are endless ways of adding spirulina powder to your menu, from bakes to desserts. What a delight!

Add Spirulina to Your Diet.

Adding spirulina powder to your diet is easy, and it’s a smart way to complement your diet with nourishment and flavor. Gram for gram, there’s no better superfood in the world, especially for spirulina’s protein, iron and amino-acid levels — there’s nothing like it!

Let’s show some love to the green-blue spirulina and make it part of our lives. A little goes a long way with this superfood, and you’ll find great satisfaction in cooking with spirulina powder. The algae kingdom is still massively unexplored. Imagine all the new superfoods that we’ll discover in these water plants!

Check out our other posts:

• Best 10 Superfoods
• 50 Healthy Foods
• Healthy Eating Tips