(09-01-2010, 03:49 PM)thefool Wrote: I would be interesting in getting some information on 'Spirulina'. Have you personally used it before? What was your experience, good, bad or indifferent? What form do you normally take it? And what brand, company to be considered?
I have been guided to 'spirulina' a few times now and would love to know more about it from your personal experiences... Any other relate comments are really welcome from anyone...
Hi thefool! Your guidance must be pretty smart, because spirulina is great stuff!
I have a lot of personal experience with spirulina, as well as other green 'superfoods.'
Fairy is correct that they don't have a huge amount of any one particular nutrient, and you'd have to eat huge amounts to get, say, your calcium or iron needs met.
However, that isn't where their value lies. Superfoods are valuable because of their micronutrients.
Macronutrients are those like calcium, magnesium, etc. which are needed in large amounts by the body.
Micronutrients, in contrast, are needed in only trace amounts, but they are highly significant. In particular, the trace minerals act as 'spark plugs' of the body, without which vitamins cannot work.
The average person is very deficient in trace minerals, because of chemical farming and erosion of topsoil. The soil no longer has the beneficial microorganisms that break down the nutrients into micronutrients. Thus, Americans tend to over fed but under nourished.
Superfoods are a great way to help compensate for the shortcomings of the modern diet.
Common superfoods are amaranth, quinoa, any sprouts, chia seeds, etc.
Common 'super' superfoods are spirulina, chlorella, flower pollen, and wild bluegreen algae (aphanizomenon flos aqua, or AFA). I would also include various herbs from the Amazon Rainforest, which still have a rich, fertile environment to grow in.
All of these are great! You really can't go wrong with any of them.
I've tried them all. I got excellent results from spirulina. I used to take it by the tablespoonful 30 years ago. I definitely felt an increase in energy.
Later, I discovered AFA and the results far exceeded what I had ever experienced from spirulina or chlorella. A single teaspoon of AFA gave me more mental clarity, focus, and physical energy than 3 tablespoons of spirulina! It also cleared up some health issues that had not responded to the others.
The difference is in how they are grown. AFA and spirulina are close cousins, but spirulina is cultivated, whereas AFA grows wild in Klamath Lake, which has 35 feet of volcanic ash at the bottom.
Wild foods tend to be much, much stronger than cultivated foods, and they impart their vitality to us when we consume them. Have you ever noticed how the bugs don't bother dandelions, but your lettuce must be pampered? It's because dandelions are much stronger, and this shows in their nutritional profile. Dandelion greens are at least 12 times more nutritious than lettuce!
Klamath Lake is an amazing ecosystem. If you removed half the algae in the morning, the lake would be full again by the end of the afternoon. There is enough algae in that lake to feed every person on the planet a gram a day! (which is all you need, since it is so potent.)
The reason I know a lot about AFA is that, after I experienced it, I became a distributor and attended a lot of trainings from alternative health professionals who were doing research on microalgae and other superfoods. I no longer do the business, but I still love the algae and still recommend it (along with other superfoods as well). If anyone wants more info, please pm me! I have lots of info I can share with you.
Any green superfood would be beneficial, but, just as with anything else, there are variations in quality. Not all brands are enzymatically active, which is important to preserve the delicate essential fatty acids and neuropeptides that feed the brain. Wild bluegreen algae (and wild spirulina if you can find it) have trace amounts of virtually all the nutrients needed by the human body, so it tends to 'fill in the gaps' in our diet. But not all the nutrients are necessarily available, depending on processing methods, growing medium, etc.
Bluegreen algae (spirulina and AFA are both bluegreen algae) is the most primitive lifeform. It has elements of plant, animal, and bacteria. An evolutionist would say that all life evolved from bluegreen algae. So it's very, very primal! It communicates with other algae (and with our cells!) the way bacteria do. It's amazing stuff!
The brand I use also has a brain food version which has a concentration of the neuropeptides. I use them together. The brain food has profound effects mentally, emotionally and even spiritually.
Edit: You don't need to worry about toxins in microalgae, if you get it from a reputable company. These companies have proprietary methods for separating the bluegreen algae from other species of algae. Also, blue green algae is known to chelate heavy metals out of the body and purify the blood, so I would be much more concerned about not consuming bluegreen algae than I would about consuming it. Supermarket foods are far more toxic than the wild superfoods. The brand I use isn't the only good company, but I stick with it because I know how stringent their standards are. Whichever superfood you choose, it will help offset the other toxins in your diet and environment.