“I Tried Using Sea Moss in My Diet and On My Skin. Here’s What Happened”

You may have heard about sea moss as an amazingly nutritious ingredient that helps fight inflammation and also heal skin ailments like blemishes and red spots, but if you're like most people, the question is "How do I use sea moss?" And also, what does sea moss taste like? Plus, what's the best form to take it in?

I tried sea moss and can report back on what happened, whether sea moss works in your diet and on your skin, and exactly what it tastes like. Here is what I found. One thing's for certain, I will add it to my beauty routine!

Sea moss may be great for your skin and have anti-inflammatory compounds, along with 92 vital nutrients, but when it comes to adding it to your diet, there's one big problem. What sea moss tastes like? Made of seaweed (or technically, red algae) sea moss in gel form looks like a science fiction blob that could bubble up and eat you. Staring down a jar of sea moss gel, knowing that the proper daily dose of sea moss is two spoonfuls, I almost don't care that it has near-mythic health benefits.

Sure it's known to help promote weight loss and deliver vitamins and minerals I don't ordinarily get on a healthy plant-based diet, like vitamins D, C, A and iron, calcium, magnesium, and more. I get it. But I don't want to actually eat it. Here's how I solved this problem. I snuck sea moss into my diet for a full week, and here's how. I'll also share what happened when I slathered the gel on my skin (which at the start of the experiment was breaking out with several stubborn pimples along my chin and cheeks).

Want to know everything you need to about sea moss? Read on and I'll tell you.

Sea Moss is popular because of the fact that it's known to contain nutrients that can help your body function better in every area, including weight loss. The compounds in sea moss are proven to boost your metabolism, clear up your skin, strengthen your immunity, and add a jolt to your energy levels. All this is from one sea plant that grows in the Atlantic, and also goes by the name Irish Moss.

But if we can all benefit from daily dosing sea moss as part of an overall healthy plant-based diet, why are we not all doing it? And if it even helps in weight loss, according to experts, why aren't millions of Americans adding sea moss to their morning smoothies every single day? It's simple. Sea moss tastes like seaweed!

That's probably because sea moss is essentially seaweed. Harvested in large swaths of plants from the ocean, in its raw form sea moss tastes a bit like oysters and has a salty taste that is largely considered inedible, which is why it's mostly sold as gel or tablets, gummies or capsules, powder or supplement pills.

The benefits of sea moss are vast and according to health experts at The Cleveland Clinic, the list of reasons to add sea moss to your diet includes:

I decided to order my own fresh sea moss gel and see what would happen if I had it daily for a week or two and find out for myself if sea moss is a miracle food. Always in need of energy, I was also hoping for better results at the gym and perhaps even to drop a few pounds.

Sea moss has gained popularity as a natural remedy for its anti-inflammatory properties, and for someone like me who hates to take a daily vitamin, sea moss provides almost every vitamin you need but in a natural form.

Along with iodine, sea moss contains minerals such as carotene, potassium, calcium, selenium, magnesium, manganese, and iron. Sea moss also contains B vitamins, including folate and riboflavin, making it a veritable multivitamin of the sea.

You don't really eat sea moss so much as take it like cod liver oil in the old days, or like a pill. In gel form, it's thick and appears slimy and works best when added to a smoothie (or soup), and even adds a rich thickness to your dish.

But if you're like me and you just want to "get it over with" and not have to add more fructose to your morning (I've already eaten breakfast by the time I realized I had forgotten to take my daily dose of sea moss) I simply spooned a nearly full tablespoon straight out of the jar into my mouth. Guess what? It wasn't that bad. It was almost tasteless. Here's what happened next.

Okay, so I only took about half a small spoonful. But guess what? As gross as I thought it would be, it wasn't that bad. My biggest complaint was texture-wise, it didn't taste like much of anything. Still, I decided not to do that again. It was just kind of slimy and gross.

I added a heaping spoonful to my favorite homemade pea soup. The soup itself is thick and a little gelatinous until heated so after zapping it in the microwave, it was thinner and I couldn't taste the ocean-like undertone. In fact, sea moss is often added to soups to give them a thicker texture. I finished the pea soup and told myself this was a success. I would recommend this to anyone trying to fit sea moss into their daily diet.

This was a game changer. No amount of pimple cream or drying lotion was helping me get rid of my stubborn cheek pimple. So I kept touching it, which in many ways is exactly what I have been taught not to do. Still, as bad habits die hard, this pimple had stuck around long enough that I was worried it might be something more, like an early skin cancer growth.

Enter sea moss. I spooned out a dollop and put it on my cheek, and my chin, where two other pimples had decided to take up residents, one on either side, and then slathered on some extra around my nose, my cheekbones, and my "T zone" between and above my eyebrows. As an adult, I have lived with a constant state of two or three persistent pimples, which seem to remind me that no matter how happy my life is, I have an underlying stress level that sometimes makes it hard to sleep, harder still to stay away from simple carbs (like chips) and equally difficult to stop touching my face. I have never had full-blown acne, so these minor pimples are something I have learned to live with.

Sea moss is known to help clear skin. It zaps inflammation, allows pores to clear, gives your pimples a chance to calm down, and reduces the redness and swelling that constantly appears whenever I get a blemish (a word I love since it's kinder than pimple). After just a few hours of wearing my sea moss mask, I looked in the mirror. The skin felt tighter but also less swollen. I had no desire to touch my zits (a word I hate since it conjures teenagers and raging hormones, neither of which applies to me), and they were miraculously smaller, less red, almost gone. In just a few hours.

I repeated the experiment the next day, driving into the city from Long Island with a sea moss mask, which no one could see, and even if they could, no one would care since it's transparent and just a little bit shiny. Sea moss washes off a little slippery and slimy but once off your skin, what emerges is smooth, clear, and clean-looking skin that is virtually pimple free – in just a few applications.

I decided that if I ever leave my day job, I am starting a sea moss beauty company. Then I realized there is a whole industry of products using sea moss. On some level, knock yourself out since it can't hurt, but on another, just buy the gel for $27 for a large jar and use it as nature created it – plain, unadulterated, and full of antioxidants.

Meanwhile, Etsy is full of Sea Moss Beauty. Here is an example of one I found that is a line of sea moss facial products made from pure sea moss. Still, the jar of sea moss gel is cheaper!

Okay, so I did it all backward and added it to my smoothie on day four. I kept trying sea moss in different ways but ultimately came back to two easy and not-so-painful ways of taking it: Applying directly to my skin and spooning it down straight from the jar. The texture was still a little rough for me to swallow but the benefits far outweigh the sliminess, if nutrients are your goal.

On an obvious note. No amount of sea moss or any other nutrition-filled antioxidant-rich food can undo a terrible diet. When I eat a basket of chips and guacamole at dinner with my brother there isn't much "undoing" the inflammation that so many carbs can cause in the body. So whether sea moss is a miracle cure or a weight loss aid only makes sense when you also eat a diet of mostly vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds and stay away from unhealthy foods like processed flour, added sugar, animal fat, and junk food.

If you eat a mostly plant-based diet of whole foods and skip the junk or simple carbs, then the answer is that sea moss can't hurt, but in my experience, it is not a magic pill for weight loss. It is a magic pimple eraser, however, and you should feel good about using it for this purpose.

When facing an outbreak of pimples or any other skin rash or issue, I will turn to sea moss gel in my fridge and use it generously. For weight loss and nutrients, it can't hurt to add a spoonful of sea moss to your soup, smoothie, or just take it straight, but nothing beats a plant-based health diet of vegetables, fruits, and legumes while avoiding processed foods to be your all-around healthiest and reach your personal wellbeing goals.

For more plant-based recommendations, check out The Beet's Product Reviews.