>>What is Spirulina powder? what is it made from, nutrients, etc?<<

 Since the site where I bought mine from can describe it much better than I can, I’m going to link to there so you can read what they write about it:  http://www.bulkherbstore.com/Spirulina-Powder.  There are some interesting letters from people about their experiences with spirulina, and one of them was new since I made my order.  She was the second person to write that it helped her with sciatica, and since sciatica is something I struggle with during pregnancy, if I had realized that might have helped me I would have been really purposeful about regularly including it in my diet!

I bought this months ago with the intent to use it daily, but I haven’t.  I just keep forgetting about it!  When I have taken it, it’s been sprinkled on top of food, not in significant amounts.  It would be easier to take in capsules, since 1 teaspoon really changes the look of your food!  Last week I made myself a banana milkshake (bananas, milk, spirulina), and it was a very strong green color – not the most appetizing to look at, but it tasted great!

Regarding putting it in capsules, which would be a very easy way to take it, I started researching kosher capsules when I got the herbs (to fill the capsules myself), and after doing some searching, decided to put it on the back burner.  Most of the capsules have gelatin and it was getting confusing to figure out what was what from different companies.  I could have pushed the checking out more, but it wasn’t important enough at the time to me.  There are always so many things to do and learn about, that it means I can’t do all the things that I’d like to do, so some things inevitably slide to the side.

As far as the kosher status of the spirulina itself, I called the company linked to above to inquire about it (they buy herbs in bulk and repackage them in smaller amounts).  They gave me the contact information for their supplier, who I called to ask about certification.  They told me the name of the rabbi who certified the product and where he was from.  If you’re more comfortable buying from somewhere that has the certification directly on the packaging, there are lots of other sources, both online and in health food stores.

Avivah