Better than Wheatgrass: Raw Veggie Juice and Sprouts
May 20, 2013
Story at-a-glance
Wheatgrass contains high amounts of chlorophyll, and is thought
to have a wide variety of health promoting properties but its
benefits are related to the quality of how it is grown. Wheat
grass should not be used long term as it is not a food but a
highly detoxifying medicinal herb
Purported health benefits of wheatgrass include Increasing red
blood-cell count; cleansing your blood, organs and
gastrointestinal tract; stimulating metabolism and thyroid
function; reducing damaging effects of radiation, and more
It is important to be cautious when using wheatgrass and to
start slowly to avoid becoming nauseous and stimulating a
healing crisis
Sunflower seed and pea sprouts are other sprouts that are
actually foods, which are highly nutritious and can be consumed
on a regular basis. They can have up to 30X the nutrition of
even locally grown organic vegetables
By Dr. Mercola
If you want to improve your nutrition and are itching to grow
your own food, sprouts are an ideal choice.
Virtually all sprouted seeds and grains fall in the
“superfood” category, and they’re really easy to grow, even if
you don’t have a lot of space or an outdoor garden. But what
about green grasses like wheatgrass?
Wheatgrass is grown from wheat seeds, and contains high
amounts of chlorophyll. Most people juice it, but wheat grass is
also available in supplement form.
My main objection to wheatgrass is I believe vegetable
sprouts like sunflower, broccoli, and pea sprouts are far more
beneficial as a food if you want to improve your nutrition.
If you're going to grow sprouts, I wouldn't put wheatgrass at
the top of the list.
As reported in the featured article by the Chicago
Tribune:1
“Its health benefits and curative powers were
promoted in the 1940s by Ann Wigmore, a Lithuanian immigrant
to Boston and holistic health practitioner.
Wigmore believed humans could benefit by following
the practice of dogs and cats by eating grass and
regurgitating to feel better.
She developed the wheatgrass diet, a program which,
in addition to consuming wheat grass juice, avoids all
meats, dairy products and cooked foods, and focuses on
'live' foods such as sprouts, raw produce, nuts and seeds.
The diet and its many touted health and curative
claims -- detoxification of the body, controlling diabetes,
prevention of bacterial infections, the common cold and
fever; and protection against ailments like skin problems,
gout and even cancer -- took off and continues to be alive
and well today.”
Potential Benefits of Wheatgrass
As you can see, Wigmore’s inspiration for eating wheatgrass
is not really based on its nutritional content but rather the
idea that humans might benefit in the same manner as some
animals which, upon eating grass, vomit and thereby feel better.
Many alternative health practitioners believe in wheatgrass
as being highly beneficial. The Hippocrates Health Institute,2
for example, has a long list of purported benefits of
wheatgrass, including the following (for the full list, please
see the HHI web site):
Increases red blood-cell count; cleanses the blood,
organs and gastrointestinal tract; simulates metabolism
Stimulates your thyroid gland
Reduces over-acidity in your blood and relieve peptic
ulcers, ulcerative colitis, constipation, diarrhea, and
other gastrointestinal complaints
Detoxifies your liver and blood and chemically
neutralizes environmental pollutants
Its high chlorophyll content may help oxygenate your
blood. Keeping a tray of live wheatgrass near your bed may
also enhance the oxygen in the air and generate healthful
negative ions to help improve your sleep
May help reduce damaging effects of radiation, courtesy
of the enzyme SOD—an anti-inflammatory compound
They also claim there are a number of health benefits you can
reap simply from topical exposure, such as rubbing some juice
onto your skin or adding wheatgrass to your bath.
“[Wheatgrass] 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.”
Others, like Mother Nature Network,3
point out that there are no medical studies to support Dr.
Jensen’s findings. According to Dr. Chris Reynolds,4
who goes by the moniker “Dr. Wheatgrass,” the benefits of
wheatgrass are primarily biological, not nutritional.
“Reynolds argues that there is plenty of evidence to
support wheatgrass extract’s role in supporting biological
functions, including one preliminary study in the Journal of
Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research,5
which suggests that fermented wheatgrass extract 'exerts
significant antitumor activity.'
The study concludes that the extract requires further
evaluation as a candidate for clinical combination drug
regimens,” Mother Nature Network writes.
Important Details to Know BEFORE You Use Wheat Grass
Wheatgrass contains large amounts of chlorophyll, and is
thought to have a wide variety of health promoting properties;
however these benefits are largely related to the quality of how
it is grown. Like any food or supplement, quality is highly
variable and if you chose to use it, this is important to pay
attention to. It is far less expensive to grow your own, but
more importantly you can typically grow a much higher quality
grass.
Harvest time is crucial and that is typically around one week
after you germinate the seeds at what is called the “jointing
stage.” Some stores that sell wheat grass will harvest it
once and then let it grow again for a second harvest Some
also sell frozen wheat grass but this is far less effective than
freshly harvested wheat grass.
Most wheat grass tastes very bitter Many believe that they need
to grow it in direct sunlight but this actually contributes to
the bitterness. Expose the grass only to indirect
sunlight, and harvest it right at the jointing stage when it is
at its sweetest.
One of the complications of growing wheat grass is that it is
very easy to be contaminated with mold due to it's tightly bound
roots in moist soil. If this occurs, the mold can make you sick.
Mold typically grows at the bottom of the wheat grass near the
soil. Keeping a gentle breeze blowing, keeping the humidity low,
and reducing the quantity of seed so the growth is less dense
are three approaches to help limit this.
If you decide to use wheat grass you need to be very careful
though, as excessive amounts of wheat grass can cause you to
become very nauseous and catalyze a healing crisis that could
make you very sick. It is also not a food but a detoxifying
herb and should not be consumed every day for long periods of
time.
It is not uncommon for people who drink wheatgrass juice
daily for several months or years to develop an aversion to the
taste, or even become nauseated by it. Since it is such a highly
detoxifying medicinal herb that can cause cleanse or
“Herxheimer” reactions, it’s a good idea to use wheatgrass
juice judiciously. When first starting wheatgrass you should
only use one ounce once or twice a day, gradually working up to
two ounces.
The Benefits of Raw Juice
While I’m not convinced that wheatgrass is an ideal choice as
a food, there’s no doubt that sprouts and green juice play a
significant role in optimal nutrition. At the end of this
article, I’ll review growing your own sprouts, but first, let’s
look at
juicing.
Virtually every health authority recommends that we get 6-8
servings of vegetables and fruits per day and very few of us
actually get that. Juicing is an easy way to virtually guarantee
that you will reach your daily target for vegetables. There are
three main reasons why you will want to consider incorporating
vegetable juicing into your optimal health program:
Juicing helps you absorb all the nutrients from
the vegetables. This is important because most of
us have impaired digestion as a result of making
less-than-optimal food choices over many years. This limits
your body's ability to absorb all the nutrients from the
vegetables. Juicing will help to "pre-digest" them for you,
so you will receive most of the nutrition, rather than
having it go down the toilet.
Juicing allows you to consume a healthier amount
of vegetables in an efficient manner. If you are a
carb type, you should eat one pound of raw vegetables per 50
pounds of body weight per day. Some people may find eating
that many vegetables difficult, but it can be easily
accomplished with a quick glass of vegetable juice.
You can add a wider variety of vegetables in
your diet. Many people eat the same vegetable
salads every day. This violates the principle of regular
food rotation and increases your chance of developing an
allergy to a certain food. But with juicing, you can juice a
wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy
eating whole.
Drinking your juice first thing in the morning can give you a
natural energy boost without resorting to stimulants like
coffee. Since the juice is already in an easily digestible form,
it can help revitalize your energy levels within as little as 20
minutes. For more information about juicing, including detailed
recommendations for the types of vegetables to use; different
types of juicers, and other helpful tips, please see my
three-part interview with
Cherie Calbom, better known as The Juice Lady (Part
1,
part 2, and
part 3). Below, I give a quick overview of juicing, and how
to find a juicer that doesn’t cost a fortune.
Sprouts—A DIY Superfood
Wheatgrass is not to be viewed as a food; it is a potent
healing agent if used carefully and cautiously. There are other
sprouts that fill the role of food very well. Sprouts are
important to optimize your health, as they are an oft-ignored
powerhouse of nutrition. They can contain up to 30 times the
nutrition of organic vegetables grown in your own garden, and
allow your body to extract more vitamins, minerals, amino acids
and essential fats from the foods you eat.
During sprouting, minerals, such as calcium and magnesium,
bind to protein, making them more bioavailable. Furthermore,
both the quality of the protein and the fiber content of beans,
nuts, seeds and grains improves when sprouted. The content of
vitamins and essential fatty acids also increase dramatically
during the sprouting process. While you can sprout a variety of
different beans, nuts, seeds and grains, sprouts in general have
the following beneficial attributes:
Support for cell regeneration
Powerful sources of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and
enzymes that protect against free radical damage
Alkalinizing effect on your body, which is thought to
protect against disease, including cancer (as many tumors
are acidic)
Abundantly rich in oxygen, which can also help protect
against abnormal cell growth, viruses and bacteria that
cannot survive in an oxygen-rich environment
My two favorites are pea and sunflower sprouts. They provide
some of the highest quality protein you can eat. Sprouted
sunflower seeds also contain plenty of iron and chlorophyll, the
latter of which will help detoxify your blood and liver. Of the
seeds, sunflower seeds are among the best in terms of overall
nutritional value, and sprouting them will augment their
nutrient content by as much as 300 to 1,200 percent! Similarly,
sprouting peas will improve the bioavailability of zinc and
magnesium.
Planting and Harvesting Sprouts at Home
I used to grow sprouts in Ball jars over 10 years ago but
stopped doing that. I am strongly convinced that actually
growing them in soil is far easier and produces far more
nutritious and abundant food. It is also less time consuming.
With Ball jars you need to rinse them several times a day to
prevent mold growth. Trays also take up less space. I am now
consuming one whole tray you see below every 2-3 days and to
produce that much food with Ball jars I would need dozens of
jars.
I am in the process of compiling more specific detailed
videos for future articles but I thought I would whet your
appetite and give you a preview with the photos below. For now
you can get instructions on how to grow them by viewing a
step-by-step guide at
rawfoods-livingfoods.com.6
One of the important details that many fail to do is to cover
the sprouting tray with a cover that not only puts the sprouts
in darkness but has a heavy weight on it. The weight is
necessary to produce a high quality sprout. It needs the
exercise to simulate breaking through the soil.
About to plant wheat grass
and sunflower seeds - 2 days after soaking
Wheat grass and sunflower
seeds – 3 ½ days post germination
Sunflower seeds and pea
sprouts – 3 days until ready for harvest
Sunflower seed sprouts and
wheat Grass - ready to harvest
Sprouts are a perfect complement to
fermented vegetables. My current salad consists of about
half a pound of sunflower sprouts, four ounces of fermented
vegetables, half a large red pepper, several tablespoon of raw
organic butter, some red onion, a whole avocado and about three
ounces of salmon or chicken. It is my primary meal. In the late
afternoon, I typically only have macadamia nuts and home made coconut
candy in addition to drinking 16-32 ounces of green
vegetable juice. I break it up occasionally by going to a
restaurant with friends.