Frankly, with words like chia, flax, probiotics, goji, and more making the rounds, it’s understandable to become sick of the whole bandwagon of health food and stick to a normal diet instead. And frankly, a healthy balanced diet will always do you good, even if all these health foods do not find a way into your home and hearth. However, the wheatgrass obsessed folks are indeed on the right track. Why? Because the sheer benefits of wheatgrass outweigh its “grassy” taste and any trouble you need to go to consume it!
The Nutritional Benefits of Wheatgrass
Let’s talk basic nutrition. Even for the skeptic, wheatgrass proves to have rather impressive nutritional stats—brimming with chlorophyll, vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin E to name a few. To really top it all, wheatgrass contains an astounding 98 out of the 102 earth elements (minerals) found in the soil like phosphorus, calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium. It also has many essential enzymes and some 19 amino acids, plenty vitamins, and many liver enzymes as well. The star is definitely chlorophyll, which makes up some 70% of wheatgrass, for it’s an antioxidant par excellence that reverses aging, suppresses hunger, and cleanses the blood—and studies show that it can help prevent cancer as well.
How Can I Eat Wheatgrass?
Well, let’s be honest—there’s a reason why the bovines of the world eat grass—it’s kinda tasteless, or simply, grassy! The main way to eat wheatgrass is to integrate it slowly into your routine or too much health too suddenly can make you nauseated and fatigued. Plus, wheatgrass should be had on an empty stomach, not after a full meal, else nausea will be back!
You can get wheatgrass in its dried and powdered form; just make sure what you get is 100% organic. You can add a teaspoon of it to any health drink you have in the morning—a green smoothie, a probiotic shake, or even that honey and lemon water. You can grow wheatgrass by sowing wheatgrass seeds in small pots and harvesting the shoots when they are about 7-8 inches in length, as this is when it is at its nutritional peak. To harvest your wheatgrass, simply trim a centimeter or two above the soil surface with a pair of scissors, and rinse the crop thoroughly before putting it through your juicer.
The Long List of Benefits from Wheatgrass
- The selenium in wheatgrass can help you lose weight by regulating the thyroid in the body.
- Wheatgrass also tackles any and all nutritional deficiencies in your body, thus reducing those food cravings and helping you lose weight all the more.
- A wheatgrass paste applied to various skin irritations like eczema, allergies, and psoriasis is an effective home remedy.
- Wheatgrass is highly alkaline and this along with its high nutrient density make it an ideal food to add to your diet if you are looking for a detoxing tool that can help increase energy levels and throw out the accumulated (poor lifestyle) toxins from your body.
- Wheatgrass is rich in iron and helps increase the red blood cells in the body, thus making it good for those suffering from anemia as well as a low immunity.
- It increases the amount of oxygen in the blood so is ideal for anyone looking to up their fitness levels or embark on an exercise regime. This increased oxygen also helps fight fatigue and aids in cell renewal.
- Wheatgrass contains fiber and B complex vitamins which improve overall digestion and help prevent acidity as well. It also repairs any holes in the mucus lining of the digestive system.
- Studies show that chlorophyll helps fight inflammation, so wheatgrass can indeed be an effective tool for anyone suffering from chronic pains like migraines and arthritis.
- For many suffering from body odor, a poor gut health is to blame. Chlorophyll helps improve digestion and takes away any nutritional deficiencies—wheatgrass can help in both.
- Wheatgrass is a powerful antibacterial and antimicrobial, so much so that it can prevent tooth decay and also target any thriving candida colonies outside of the gut (thrush).
- Wheatgrass is probably best known for its positive effects on the liver. With its detoxifying properties, nutrients, and enzymes, wheatgrass is able to restore and revitalize the liver and protect it from the harmful effects of alcohol, too.
- Wheatgrass helps to balance the lipid levels in the body, thus becoming an effective tool in reducing cholesterol.
- Its antibacterial benefits along with its ability to reduce chronic inflammation make wheatgrass an excellent tool to reduce acne and occasional breakouts.
- Wheatgrass also has anti-cancer benefits that basically come from its blood oxygenating ability. Cancerous cells are known to thrive in a low-oxygen environment, so the influx of oxygen may actually prevent the spread of cancer. Wheatgrass also has enzymes that fight carcinogens and reduce the toxic load of radiation, pollution, and heavy metals from the body and especially the liver.
- Hungover? The alkalinity in wheatgrass can combat the acidity caused by alcohol consumption.
- The vitamin richness of wheatgrass helps in reducing anxiety and stress and may help you in achieving a better and happier mental balance. It also boosts the adrenal system, thereby helping you tackle stress better. The iron levels in wheatgrass can also help combat depression.
- Wheatgrass is rich in magnesium and niacin, the deficiency of which can cause painful periods, so wheatgrass can help you have regular and painless periods as well.
- Another great effect of wheatgrass is that the amino acid chains and antioxidants in wheatgrass can actually help repair the DNA damaged by the free radicals – which means the wheatgrass works on an elemental basis to prevent cancer as well.
- Wheatgrass can help combat the daily radiation we are exposed to, via cell phones, microwaves, and other electronics, making us stronger and healthier from the inside out.
- Wheatgrass is also a powerful anti-hyperglycemic agent in that it can help the body regulate sugar levels. This, in turn, could be beneficial for those suffering from diabetes or other hyperglycemic issues.
Basically, wheatgrass teems with health benefits. So while you may not be on the organic bandwagon, you can always just include wheatgrass into your daily diet for some awesome health quotient.
