Konjac fiber has multiple benefits. Konjac is much more viscous than usual fibers, retaining up to 17 times its weight in water. Expanding in the stomach and the small and large intestine, it absorbs fat, accelerates elimination, reduces cholesterol, blunts sugar absorption and facilitates weight loss, in part by increasing feelings of satiety.

Arame is a marine brown algae or sea vegetable that can be added to soups or made into a sea vegetable salad. It is rich in minerals calcium, iron, zinc, manganese, folate, vitamins A and K and iodine. It also boosts immunity.

The earthy shitake or Chinese black mushrooms boost immunity through special polysaccharide molecules and can help prevent cancer. They are also full of minerals, especially iron, and they appear to decrease binding of immune cells to your arterial wall, preventing atherosclerosis. Aside from exposure to the sun and eating herring, mushrooms are one of the few ways you can get vitamin D.

It contains digestive enzymes that help you break down food, and they contain myrosinase that boosts detoxification of environmental chemicals. Daikon is high in vitamin C and folate. Like its relatives broccoli, cabbage and kale, daikon is a cruciferous vegetable that offers cancer-protecting potential. It can be grated and eaten raw in salads, or in stir-frys or soups.

These red little Japanese plums add a perky taste to stir-frys and soups. Japanese pickled plums have remarkable medicinal qualities. Their acidity has a paradoxical alkalinizing effect on the body, helping with fatigue, enhancing digestion and boosting the elimination of toxins.