Hi Judy Genova!

Sea o not vegetables contain considerable levels of fat.

Very few charts list the fat content or fatty acid breakdown for foods that
contain a gram or less of fat per realistic serving and therefore do not
make a significant contribution to one's daily fat and caloric intake.
For most sea vegetables, a realistic serving is far less than a cup.   Most
sea vegetables swell when soaked, as you know.  It's easy to eat 1/2 cup of
raw or dry dulse or wild nori in a meal, but not so easy for many of the
other varieties.

From a chart from Maine Coast Sea Vegetables.
Fat grams per 100 gram/3.5 ounces (DRY weight) portions.  Bear in mind that
this is almost 1/4 pound...a loosely packed CUP!!)

Alaria 3.6 grams (includes 4.92 I.U. Vitamin E)
Dulse 1.7 grams (includes 1.71 I.U. vitamin E)
Kelp 2.4 grams (includes .71 I.U. vitamin E)
Nori 4.5 grams (includes 5.09 I.U. vitamin E)

I got this chart directly from Larch Hansen, who runs Maine Seaweed Co.--a
totally different, small scale company that sells directly to consumers.
His sea veggies are far more economical than those sold in stores,
particularly when compared to Japanese sea vegetables, which come from so
far away.  Larch gives a free sea vegetable book with each family pack
ordered.
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NOTE:  Raw seaweed is 80 to 85% water by weight!  A 100 gram portion of raw
seaweed (undried) contains 80 grams of water.  So it's not very calorie
dense, although it takes up a lot of space (looks voluminous... I don't have
the wet measure in volume, it varies a lot from one kind to the next).

To put this in perspective, a 100 gram portion (3 1/2 ounces of RAW
weight/almost 1/4 pound!) of seaweed contains the following:

Wakame (alaria's American cousin) 45 calories, 3 grams protein, 9.1 grams
carbs, 0.6 grams fat, 0.2 grams PUFAs, 0.1 grams SFAs
Kelp 43 calories, 1.7 grams protein, 9.6 grams carbs, 0.6 grams fat, 0.0
grams PUFAs, 0.2 grams SFAs
Laver (nori) 35 calories, 5.8 grams protein, 5.1 grams carbs, 0.3 grams fat,
0.1 grams PUFAs, 0.1 grams SFAs

Source: Jean A. Pennington's FOOD VALUES, a 100

NOTE:  The chart above does not list fiber grams to give us the amount of
undigestible carbohydrate.  Sea veggies are neither calorie nor fat dense.
Their major contribution to the diet is in the form of minerals, flavor, and
fiber, and their ability to chelate and bind with heavy metals, radioactive
isotopes, and other toxins, allowing for their excretion through the bowels.

If you want American grown/harvested sea veggies, contact Larch Hansen, PO
Box 57, Stueben, Maine 04680.  If his phone # has not changed, it is (207)
546-2875.  We get a family pack each year, and usuallybuy extra dulse and
dulse flakes from the health food store or Frontier Herb Co. (by the pound).

Btw:  Don harvested sea vegetables with Larch one season, many moons ago, so
he saw first hand who this small scale, old fashioned operation is run.  He
uses no chemicals on his drying fields nor in or on his rustic,
hand-crafted wooden boats.

Cheers,

Rachel