Today we’re looking at the plant everybody’s raving about… wheatgrass, and everything you need to know about consuming wheatgrass daily.
What is wheatgrass?
Wheatgrass is produced from the wheat plant, Triticum Aestivum. It has been shown to have a number of benefits attached to it. These are benefits that have been commented on for years and years, by others who believe in the power it contains.
You’ll normally find it sold either as a concentrated powder or a juice, but it can also be purchased raw or in tablet form.
We’re out here in sunny Bali, Indonesia, at the moment where they have a lot of organic cafes, and it’s promoted heavily over here in the best of ways…
“I WAS SITTING IN ONE OF MY FAVORITE BREAKFAST SPOTS WHEN I SAW A LEAFLET SAYING 1 SHOT OF WHEATGRASS EQUALED 1KG OF FRUIT!”
Can you believe that?
Wheatgrass packs a punch, and includes high numbers of a lot of the top nutrients your body needs to be healthy. Just check out this list:
- Potassium
- Fiber
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
- Vitamin B6
- Zinc
- Iron
- Thiamin
- …and many more!
So what benefits does it have on your body? We can all see above just how many different vitamins and nutrients the plant contains, but what does this mean for your body? And are there any side effects concerning the daily use in your diet?
Let’s find out below where we go into the real details behind wheatgrass, and how it can radically improve your health, starting today!
10 Benefits of Consuming Wheatgrass Daily
Without further ado, here are the top 10 benefits of wheatgrass you should be aware of, that’ll help you to understand why you should be including it in your diet.
At the bottom of this article we’ll also explain the different ways you can add wheatgrass into your diet, and the possible side effects you might get from consuming it.
1. Wheatgrass Helps Boost Your Immunity
The reason why this plant helps boost your immunity, is because it contains the 9 essential amino acids that your body is unable to produce for itself. Not to mention another 12 amino acids and 13 different vitamins.
It packs a heap of nutrients; and these are all nutrients that help function and strengthen your immune system.
So it’s no secret that a shot of this everyday will improve your immunity and keep your chances of catching common infections, such as the common cold, low.
2. Wheatgrass Flushes Toxins Out of Your Body
Wheatgrass is a great aid to detoxifying your body. Due to all the nutrients it contains, including chlorophyll which is a natural detoxifying agent, it’s the perfect solution for flushing toxins out of your body.
It’s important to note though that if you plan on using it for this purpose, don’t rely solely on wheatgrass, and don’t overdo it. Consume a small amount of wheatgrass daily, and remember to include lots of other fruit and veg in your diet.
Including it in your smoothies with other antioxidant loaded fruits would be a great way to get the most out of it.
3. Wheatgrass is Gluten Free
There’s been a little controversy over the years as to whether wheatgrass and barley grass contain gluten or not.
We did a little digging, and here’s the answer we managed to find from celiacdisease.about.com:
“THE TYPE OF GLUTEN THAT CAUSES REACTIONS IN THOSE WITH CELIAC DISEASE AND GLUTEN SENSITIVITY OCCURS IN THE GRAINS, I.E., THE SEEDS. PURE WHEAT GRASS AND BARLEY GRASS (JUST THE GRASS, WITH ABSOLUTELY NO SEEDS) DO NOT CONTAIN GLUTEN.”
So this makes the plant perfect for anybody allergic to gluten or looking to be extra healthy, since your only consuming the raw plant and not the seeds or the grains.
4. Wheatgrass Encourages Kidney and Liver Function
There’s actually not a lot of proven evidence to support this claim.
However, a study has been performed on rats with compromised livers in the past. When given wheatgrass juice, the rats’ livers showed a big improvement and detoxification.
There’s not yet been any studies on human’s to help support this claim, however wheatgrass has always been thought to help improve kidney and liver function and health.
5. Wheatgrass Can Help Improve Your Blood Hemoglobin Level
Our hemoglobin levels are incredibly important for proper body function, since the red blood cells in our body have the job of carrying oxygen from our lungs to the rest of our body.
With a lack of hemoglobin, extra strain is put on the heart to pump blood around the body, which can lead to all kinds of problems.
To help strengthen and rebuild these cells, it’s a good idea to increase your vitamin B12 and iron intake. It just so happens wheatgrass contains high levels of these two nutrients, majorly because of it’s chlorophyll content, which is rich in iron.
6. Wheatgrass Contains Chlorophyll Which is Anti-Bacterial
Chlorophyll is the name used for various, closely-related green pigments that are found in cyanobacteria and the chloroplasts of algae and plants. It plays a critical part in the photosynthesis of plants, allowing them to draw absorb the sun’s energy.
As I mentioned above, wheatgrass contains chlorophyll which is an anti-bacterial property.
This can be used to remove toxins from your body, and improve your immune system since it’s destroying all the bad bacteria inside you.
7. Wheatgrass is Good For Your Digestion
Since wheatgrass has a very high fiber content, on top of all the nutrients it contains, digestion can be hugely improved by consuming it regularly.
It’s high fiber content is also one of the main reasons why consuming too much can cause stomach issues like diarrhea. It’s very easy to forget just how much fiber is in a small dosage.
8. Wheatgrass Strengthens Your Bones
Studies that date back over 40 or so years ago, have shown that people with a very acidic diet are often prone to loss of bone mass and related issues.
Consuming wheatgrass on a regular basis has an alkalizing effect on the body, and helps neutralize the body’s PH levels. This essentially prevents bone issues and helps strengthen your bones.
So for anybody with a highly acidic diet, which is quite often a problem in this day in age, consuming wheatgrass daily can actually resolve this problem.
9. Wheatgrass Can Help Prevent and Cure Cancer
Well, this one’s obviously widely debated, or is that what the pharmaceutical companies want you to think?
Wheatgrass may not be scientifically proven to cure cancer, it has been shown to be very helpful for cancer patients already undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
Chemotherapy often reduces the amount of blood cells in your body, therefore reducing the amount of oxygen that can be carried around your body.
A 2007 study that was published in Nutrition and Cancer, showed that when 60 breast cancer patients were given a daily serving of wheatgrass juice, they had less need for after-treatment prescription drugs.
These drugs are those that supposedly help your body boost white blood cell production after treatment.
10. Wheatgrass Boosts Your Metabolism and Helps You Lose Weight
The plant is incredibly popular among people who are looking to lose weight, since is promoted heavily as a dietary supplement.
So how does wheatgrass boost your metabolism and help you lose weight?
Firstly, the fact is that it’s a very nutrient-dense food. This means that from consuming just a small amount of the powder or tablets, with a little water, will make you feel fuller than you actually are.
This encourages weight loss, since you’re not as tempted to keep eating.
Secondly, these nutrients actually speed up your metabolism and digestion, which means you’re burning calories more quickly than normal.
The combination of these two things makes it perfect for losing weight.
It’s also important to mention that although consuming this superfood makes you feel fuller than normal, 1 serving or shot has 0g of fat and only 5 calories in it.
Not bad right?
This’ll also help you boost your energy levels too, which means 3 birds, 1 stone.
3 Great Ways to Consume Wheatgrass
So now that you have all the awesome benefits of wheatgrass at your disposal, how do you go about including it in your diet?
There’s several ways you can start consuming wheatgrass daily, but here are the 3 most common methods people like to take advantage of:
1. Consuming it raw
Consuming raw wheatgrass is obviously one method of being able to include it in your diet. In this case, most people tend to get their hands on a juicer and drink it raw in liquid form.
It might be harder to find the plant raw instead of just buying it in tablet or powder format.
2. Consuming the powder
Wheatgrass powder is very easily available around the world. At an inexpensive price as well. Normally sold in 250g packets, this is good for around 80 servings, which if you’re having one serving daily will last you almost 3 months.
You can mix the powder with water, milk, or just throw it into your smoothie or protein shakes. If you’d rather consume it with food, then you can always mix it into some yogurt.
Try and look for the organic powder if this is the route you choose to go down.
3. Consuming extract tablets
Last on the list are the tablets that contain 100% wheatgrass extract. You can take these once a day with water to reap all the benefits associated with wheatgrass.
Are There any Side Effects of Wheatgrass?
We’ve been through the benefits of wheatgrass and how you can start consuming it daily, but we’re yet to look at the question most people might be concerned with.
Are there any side effects involved?
Well, if you start consuming wheatgrass daily, there may well be a few side effects involved which you need to be aware of.
These side effects often occur when you consume too much within a short period of time, and not from the recommended level of daily consumption.
As I said before, this stuff packs a punch, so consume it in small amounts, otherwise you could end up with the following:
- Diarrhea/Constipation
- Nausea
- Stomach Ache
- Nasal Congestion
- Stained Teeth
It’s important to know that many of these are common symptoms of the body detoxifying itself. When your body detoxifies itself, you will often experience nausea, headaches or diarrhea for a short period of time. This is a natural process and nothing to be concerned with.
If these symptoms persist however, or if they’re unbearable, then it’s likely that you’ve either:
- Consumed too much
- Are allergic to the plant
If you have any concerns, always consult your doctor before consuming wheatgrass.
Summary
Now that we’ve had a look at the advantages and disadvantages in detail, let’s just quickly recap in short on the top 10 benefits of consuming wheatgrass daily, by briefly listing them again below.
Here they are again below:
- Helps boost your immunity
- Flushes toxins out of your body
- Gluten free
- Encourages kidney and liver function
- Can improve your blood hemoglobin level
- Contains chlorophyll, an anti-bacterial agent
- Improves digestion
- Strengthens your bones
- Aids the prevention and treatment of cancer
- Boosts your metabolism and helps you lose weight
How to include it in your diet:
- The raw plant, preferably juiced
- Powder, mixed with milk, water, or food
- Extract tablet, taken daily with water
Side effects to watch out for:
- Diarrhea/constipation
- Nausea
- Stomach ache
- Nasel congestion
- Stained teeth
Although many of the benefits you’ve read here today haven’t been 100% scientifically proven, there have been tonnes of reports over the years from people who have tried it of their own accord, and supposedly experience these.
After trying wheatgrass myself for a short period of time, I can definitely say that at least 3 of the side effects on this list are true. There’s no doubt there.
What’s the end conclusion?
We believe that after taking a close look at all the nutrients such a small amount of this stuff contains, and at the proven benefits of wheatgrass; it’s clearly worth adding a shot of this stuff a day to your diet.
Just remember to consult your doctor beforehand, and also remember that you might not experience all the benefits we’ve mentioned here today.
End Notes
Be on the lookout for a documentary we’ll be recording shortly; where I start having a shot of wheatgrass a day for 30 days, video the complete process, and analyze the results and effects at the end of the month.