Wheatgrass wonder

Wheatgrass is the juice you’ve probably heard about but never tried, read on and we’ll try to explain why you should.

History

Wheatgrass, like barley grass and alfalfa have been studied by doctors and vets since the early part of the century, the results have shown an exceptional boost to the health and virility of both animals and people.

In 1931, a food scientist called Charles Schnabel was experimenting to find a mixture which would boost chicken health and egg production. Eventually, he found that a mixture of greens containing a large amount of wheatgrass boosted health in the chickens very significantly. He said that “even a child can see the bloom of health in the grass-fed hens”.

In addition, winter egg production went up by 150% per bird! Research continued, and further remarkable results were noted. For example, cereal grasses were found to improve reproductive ability, and milk production – two markers of good health.

Wheatgrass and other cereal grasses were used widely as a supplement, until the booming pharmaceutical industry, with its chemical vitamins, grabbed the public’s attention. Multi-vitamins became the products of choice – even though their results were not as good as from wheatgrass. Science was king!

In the 1960′s, Ann Wigmore ‘re-discovered’ wheatgrass, curing her own ‘untreatable’ colon cancer, she even went on to run a marathon after both her legs were badly injured in a car accident and nearly amputated after gangrene had set in.  Anne Wigmore gave wheatgrass to several sick neighbours – all of whom recovered and were rejuvenated! She went on to champion wheatgrass in her own ‘Hippocrates Health Institute’, treating and curing many people of serious health conditions.

Why Wheatgrass?

Wheatgrass helps to alkalize the body to make the body less acidic, which strengthens the immune system., bacteria and viruses thrive in an acidic body. Therefore, anything that produces an alkaline environment is going to fight illness and disease.

What’s in wheatgrass?

Wheatgrass has only about 10-15 calories per teaspoon. It has no fat or cholesterol. It has nearly a gram of protein per teaspoon and includes all eight of the essential amino acids, as well as 13 of the remaining 16. The amino acids it doesn’t contain are easily made within the body.

It contains Vitamins A, B1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 12; C, E and K. A teaspoon of wheatgrass contains around 15mg of Calcium, 8mcg Iodine, 3.5mcg Selenium, 870mcg Iron, 62mcg Zinc, and many other minerals.

There are four other special components of wheatgrass, which make it particularly valuable.

These – not in any particular order – are:

• Superoxide Dismutase (SOD)
• P4D1
• Mucopolysaccharides
• Chlorophyll

What can wheatgrass do for me?

Some of the superior qualities of wheatgrass and the juice that can be extracted from its blades include the following:

• Increases red blood-cell count and lowers blood pressure. It cleanses the blood, organs and gastrointestinal tract of debris. Wheatgrass also stimulates metabolism and the body’s enzyme systems by enriching the blood. It also aids in reducing blood pressure by dilating the blood pathways throughout the body.

• Stimulates the thyroid gland, correcting obesity, indigestion, and a host of other complaints.

• Restores alkalinity to the blood. The juice’s abundance of alkaline minerals helps reduce over-acidity in the blood. It can be used to relieve many internal pains and has been used successfully to treat peptic ulcers, ulcerative colitis, constipation, diarrhoea, and other complaints of the gastrointestinal tract.

• Is a powerful detoxifier, and liver and blood protector. The enzymes and amino acids found in wheatgrass can protect us from carcinogens like no other food or medicine. It strengthens our cells, detoxifies the liver and bloodstream, and chemically neutralizes environmental pollutants.

• Fights tumours and neutralizes toxins. Recent studies show that wheatgrass juice has a powerful ability to fight tumours without the usual toxicity of drugs that also inhibit cell-destroying agents. The many active compounds found in grass juice cleanse the blood and neutralize and digest toxins in our cells.

• Contains beneficial enzymes. Whether you have a cut finger you want to heal or you desire to lose five pounds…enzymes must do the actual work. The life and abilities of the enzymes found naturally in our bodies can be extended if we help them from the outside by adding exogenous enzymes, like the ones found in wheatgrass juice. Don’t cook it. We can only get the benefits of the many enzymes found in grass by eating it uncooked. Cooking destroys 100 percent of the enzymes in food.

• Has a remarkable similarity to our own blood. The second important nutritional aspect of chlorophyll is its remarkable similarity to haemoglobin, the compound that carries oxygen in the blood. Dr Yoshihide Hagiwara, president of the Hagiwara Institute of Health in Japan, is a leading advocate for the use of grass as food and medicine. He reasons that since chlorophyll is soluble in fat particles, and fat particles are absorbed directly into the blood via the lymphatic system, that chlorophyll can also be absorbed in this way. In other words, when the “blood” of plants is absorbed in humans it is transformed into human blood, which transports nutrients to every cell of the body.

• When used as a rectal implant, reverses damage from inside the lower bowel. An implant is a small amount of juice held in the lower bowel for about 20 minutes. In the case of illness, wheatgrass implants stimulate a rapid cleansing of the lower bowel and draw out accumulations of debris.

• Externally applied to the skin can help eliminate itching almost immediately.

• Will soothe sunburned skin and act as a disinfectant. Rubbed into the scalp before a shampoo, it will help mend damaged hair and alleviate itchy, scaly, scalp conditions.

• Is soothing and healing for cuts, burns, scrapes, rashes, poison ivy, athlete’s foot, insect bites, boils, sores, open ulcers, tumours, and so on. Use as a poultice and replace every two to four hours.

• Works as a sleep aid. Placing a tray of living wheatgrass near the head of your bed will enhance the oxygen in the air and generate healthful negative ions to help you sleep more soundly.

• Enhances your bath. Add some to your bath water and settle in for a nice, long soak.

• Sweetens the breath and firms up and tightens gums. Just gargle with the juice.

• Neutralizes toxic substances like cadmium, nicotine, strontium, mercury, and polyvinyl chloride.

• Offers the benefits of a liquid oxygen transfusion since the juice contains liquid oxygen. Oxygen is vital to many body processes: it stimulates digestion (the oxidation of food), promotes clearer thinking (the brain utilizes 25% of the body’s oxygen supply), and protects the blood against anaerobic bacteria. Cancer cells cannot exist in the presence of oxygen.

• Turns grey hair to its natural colour again and greatly increases energy levels when consumed daily.

• Is a beauty treatment that slows down the ageing process when the juice is consumed. Wheatgrass will cleanse your blood and help rejuvenate ageing cells, slowing the ageing process way down, making you feel more alive right away. It will help tighten loose and sagging skin.

• Lessens the effects of radiation. One enzyme found in wheatgrass, SOD, lessens the effects of radiation and acts as an anti-inflammatory compound that may prevent cellular damage following heart attacks or exposure to irritants.

• Restores fertility and promotes youthfulness.

• Can double your red blood cell count just by soaking in it. Renowned nutritionist Dr Bernard Jensen found that no other blood builders are superior to green juices and wheatgrass. In his book “Health Magic Through Chlorophyll” he mentions several cases where he was able to double the red blood cell count in a matter of days merely by having patients soak in a chlorophyll-water bath. Blood building results occur even more rapidly when patients drink green juices and wheatgrass regularly.

Wheatgrass preparation

Here’s the tricky bit….. Really you’re going to have to use a masticating juicer, there are loads of different juicers available but if you want to take the strain out of making juice your probably going to have to invest in something like the Oscar or the Angel juicer and they’re not cheap. The juicer will “chew” the grass for you so that it releases all the goodness.