Wheat Grass Therapy: Let the Sun Shine In!
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This article is from the Health Articles series.
Wheat Grass Therapy: Let the Sun Shine In!
Alternative health practitioners have long preached the benefits of wheatgrass, due largely to its chlorophyll content (chlorophyll is converted energy from the sun, hence the term "liquid sunshine"). But how, exactly, is wheatgrass beneficial?
The little tufts of wheatgrass we see in health food stores or juice bars are typically young sprouts of wheat or barley seeds. According to author Steve Meyerowitz in his book Wheatgrass Nature's Finest Medicine: The Complete Guide to Using Grasses to Revitalize Your Health, wheat grass must be cut, or harvested, during the brief few days after the sprout has reached maturity, but before it makes the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth to yield maximum nutrients.
And "maximum nutrients" they are. Wheatgrass contains all amino acids (except tryptophan), minerals and trace minerals, essential fatty acids, vitamins A and C, is high in iron as well as the B vitamins, vitamin K and, of course, chlorophyll.
Green plant cells are the only ones capable of absorbing energy directly from the sun and storing it as the chemical chlorophyll. Chlorophyll has regenerative properties and numerous studies have supported its power as an immune booster and free radical fighter.
Wheatgrass juice boasts 60% of the body's recommended daily allowance for vitamin K in a one-ounce shot and 120% in a two-ounce shot (other sources include broccoli, soy beans, brussel sprouts and cabbage). Vitamin K is necessary for blood clotting and bone formation and may help prevent osteoporosis.
According to James and Phyllis Balches' Prescription for Nutritional Healing, the molecular structure of wheatgrass closely resembles human hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein of red blood cells. In experiments with anemic animals, their blood count returned to normal after four to five days of receiving chlorophyll.
It is said a shot of wheatgrass juice can help cleanse the blood and other tissues, but just how much of the green stuff do we need? Meyerowitz suggests 1-2 ounces of fresh squeezed wheatgrass juice daily, although therapeutic doses can be up to 4 ounces. For the more dedicated enthusiast, wheat grass can be taken as an enema!
What about wheatgrass powders or "green superfood" tablets? While they are certainly simpler and more convenient, fresh wheatgrass proponent Piter U. Caizer, known as the "wheat grass messiah," argues that there is literally an energy, a life force eastern healers call "chi," present in fresh-squeezed wheatgrass that is not present in powders. Try both and decide for yourself.
However you take it, wheatgrass advocates are sure that, once you try it, you'll see the grass is always greener when you're a wheat grass lover!
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