Hearing the word wheatgrass, it probably doesn’t sound like something that you’d want to eat. People tend to get a bit nervous about eating grass (and for good reason), but wheatgrass is a bit different than you standard lawn grass. After wheatgrass grows for long enough, it is typically made into powder or juice, and can be either freeze dried or raw. Wheatgrass has been ingested as a food for thousands of years, and has become very trendy in the health industry.
Most people tend to drink wheatgrass as a juice, but there really isn’t a wrong way to get more wheatgrass into your diet. However, most people don’t know the exact benefits that you can get from wheatgrass. Now, we’ll clear up some of the questions that you might have had as we highlight some of the great proven benefits of drinking or eating wheatgrass.
Wheatgrass Nutrition
There are plenty of great vitamins and minerals to be found in wheatgrass, as one teaspoon will have a lot of ones that you need. The most abundant vitamin in wheatgrass is vitamin A, with more than 30 percent of your daily recommended value. The numbers will vary depending on the wheatgrass grower, but there is also a significant amount of vitamin C and vitamin E.
Many of the nutrients in wheatgrass are similar to the ones that you would find in broccoli and spinach. This means that wheatgrass also contains a solid amount of iron, potassium, calcium and phosphorus. Even nutrients that don’t normally appear on labels such as carotenoids and chlorophyll appear in wheatgrass, which does have benefits we will cover.
Cleaning Out
One of the main reasons that people are drinking wheatgrass so much more these days is because of what it can do for your digestive system. Many people that go on a “cleanse” diet will drink wheatgrass juice because of its ability to detoxify. Wheatgrass can help flush out many toxins in your body, stimulating your digestive system and helping your liver.
Wheatgrass is even being used in colonics since it allows you to help take in all of the nutrients. The biggest part of the digestive system, though, is the fact that wheatgrass contains so much chlorophyll. This can also help you prevent diseases that can originate in the liver or stomach, including cancer.
Weight Loss
Losing weight is tied strongly to your digestive system, as a more active and healthy one will boost your metabolism and allow you to burn more calories throughout the day. Thankfully, wheatgrass is also very low in calories with only about five calories in each one ounce serving. Normally people don’t take more than one shot at a time (mainly because of the taste), so you’re not adding many calories to your day while adding important vitamins.
If you are looking to add a little exercise to your weight loss plan, wheatgrass juice will come in handy there, as well. The chlorophyll will allow for better blood flow, allowing you to have a more efficient workout. You also won’t have that feeling of slugged down by your digestive system, which is another nice boost.
Cure For What Ails You
The most important thing you can do for yourself if you’ve come down with the cold or a flu is to increase your vitamin intake. It’s easy to take a shot or two per day of wheatgrass juice while you’re sick as opposed to trying to eat a bunch of oranges or carrots. The wheatgrass juice contains plenty of the vitamin C and vitamin A that you will need to get over your illness faster than if you don’t eat at all.
There is even some early evidence that wheatgrass juice has the same properties of a flu shot, and could also prevent many forms of cancer. However, these claims are still being tested through extensive studies. With all of the other great benefits of wheatgrass juice, it would be nice to see some major benefits like this be discovered.
Looking Good
We are seeing a rising trend in superfoods being blended into beauty products, and wheatgrass is no exception. That’s because many superfoods such as wheatgrass contain antioxidant properties and vitamins, which are very good for your skin. Wheatgrass is commonly being added into facial treatments that can help peel dirt and oil from your skin.
One spot that we see people with a lot of dead, dry or flaky skin is on the scalp. Washing your scalp with wheatgrass juice will allow you to shed the dead skin while also moisturizing. Improved scalp health will help you to grow thicker hair faster while getting rid of those annoying flakes on your shoulders.
Breathe Easy
The amount of chlorophyll found in wheatgrass juice can help you to breathe, breaking up the mucus that is plaguing your sinuses. One thing that people like to do is leave wheatgrass (or the juice) sitting around their desks or bed. The oxygen that chlorophyll creates can make even a stuffy office a little easier to breathe in. While it isn’t quite the same as wearing an oxygen mask, sometimes that little boost is all you need, and it will make you feel better in turn.
Summing it Up
Drinking just an ounce or two per day of wheatgrass juice will help bring you a lot of vitamins, prevent health problems and even make you look better. But what warnings, if any, do you need to know about wheatgrass? One thing that you don’t want to do is drink too much of the wheatgrass juice at a time. Drinking too much or mixing wheatgrass juice with food can cause discomfort in your digestive system, with nausea being the most common.
It can also make you feel uncomfortable if you are drinking wheatgrass juice to start cleansing your body. You might not be used to the increased vitamins and flushing out your system can make you feel fatigued or give you a headache. It should be minor, however, and won’t last for very long.
Other than that, it’s important to get your daily shot of wheatgrass juice for all of the great benefits. It does take a little prep work if you can’t find any wheatgrass juice available at the store, so make sure that you are growing it right and removing seeds if you are juicing at home. As long as you can get used to the taste, you’re going to love the benefits for your body.