Increasing Your Energy With Raw and Living Foods

Including more raw and living foods in your diet is a great way to increase your energy level, lose unwanted weight, and cleanse your body. Wheatgrass is considered a raw, living food since it is still growing until the moment you put it into the juicer, and then into your body minutes later. In fact, there is a drug treatment center that gives its patients wheatgrass juice to help with the cleansing of their bodies.
As for other raw and living foods, most seeds like alfalfa and almonds are dormant and need to be activated. You can eat them in their raw state, but in order to turn them into a "live" food, you soak them in water to awaken them. Raw foods have a number of advantages including:

• Countless people including myself report a major boost in energy levels after switching to a mostly raw diet. I am absolutely convinced that a living, raw diet is far superior in nutrients and vitamins than eating processed, cooked food.
• Humans are the only animals that cook, and process our food. Thousands of other animals, including our close relatives (gorillas and chimpanzees) thrive on entirely raw food diets.
• Cooked and processed foods often lose a large percentage of their nutritional value when they are heated. Raw foods retain these nutrients until the moment you eat them. In fact, many studies have found that certain substances are carcinogenic when cooked.
• The human body evolved to consume a raw food diet. Before we figured out how to make fires (and for thousands of years after that as well), humans ate what they could find growing outside--fruits, plants, and nuts. It wasn't until very recently that humans started cooking nearly everything they eat. Evolution takes a long time to catch up!

If you want to learn more about raw food, this site is great, or get yourself a raw food book to show you the ropes.

Chlorophyll and Wheatgrass

A major component of wheatgrass juice is chlorophyll, and many people think this ingredient is the secret behind the healing powers of wheatgrass.
Here is a little information on chlorophyll:

• Plants don't have blood, but they have something called chlorophyll instead. Amazingly, chlorophyll resembles hemoglobin in human red blood cells very, very closely.
• Since chlorophyll resembles hemoglobin so much, your body can quickly absorb it and utilize it to nourish your blood.
• Chlorophyll has strong anti-bacterial properties, which help to fight off infections inside your body.
• Wheatgrass Juice is comprised of over 70% chlorophyll, so when you drink some of it, your body gets a super-dose of this green blood building stuff.

While it is true that plants use chlorophyll to live and thrive, is there any proof that humans can benefit from it? Just by taking a look at the animals that survive solely on diets of grass is proof enough for me that it is healthy for us too. Some of the strongest animals on earth--elephants, cows, horses, hippos all thrive on a diet of grasses alone. They get all the nutrients they need from grass. I don't think humans can survive on grass alone, since our stomachs can't break down the fibers, but we definitely can increase our performance by adding wheatgrass juice to a healthy plant-based diet.  By the way, if you are wondering if you can get chlorophyll from drinking green tea, I'm pretty sure it doesn't work.  Even if it did, the boiling water would surely kill it.You can get it by eating other green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach however.

Come On, Even A Kindergartener Can Grow Wheatgrass

That's right, I just read that a kindergarten class is growing, juicing, and drinking wheatgrass juice. There is a belief out there that growing wheatgrass is a daunting and complex task, but it is actually quite simple. I am pretty excited to hear this kind of stuff, since all I can remember eating at kindergarten was sloppy joes, pizza, and french fries--not exactly healthy stuff. In junior high school, our health & nutrition teacher actually taught us how to make fried donuts, ice cream sundaes, and spam sandwiches!!!

With a little direction from a local juice bar owner, 5 year olds are actually learning how to grow and juice wheatgrass. It is very important for kids to get a little lesson in eating healthy, since they are bombarded from all sides with junk food. I have been drinking wheatgrass juice pretty much every day for over 2 years now, and I haven't been to the doctor for that entire time. I also feel lucky to have been brought up by health-food crazy parents, and have grown into a healthy eater. If you haven't tried growing your own wheatgrass, give it a go! The worst thing that can happen is you screw up and try again!

Here is the article

News About Chlorophyll

The LA Chronicle just published an article about the benefits of wheatgrass. One part I found interesting is that it referred to studies of animals given chlorophyll. They found that when animals with very low red-blood cell counts or those that were extremely anemic were given chlorophyll, their red blood cell count returned to normal within 3-4 days.
Although many aspects of wheatgrass juice are vague and under-studied, one thing we DO know is that wheatgrass juice consists of approximately 70% chlorophyll. If more studies show the benefits of chlorophyll on humans, this might convince some of the cynics out there that wheatgrass juice is in fact a whole lot more than blended up lawn clippings!!!
Here is the link to the article: http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/55646

Battle Of The Hand-Crank Wheatgrass Juicers

When it comes to manual wheatgrass juicers, you generally have 2 main choices: Plastic or Stainless steel


Each has certain advantages and disadvantages, and since I have used both kinds, each for a long time, here are my thoughts.

The plastic one is light and easy to move around. It is also cheaper, so if you aren't sure if you will stick to growing wheatgrass, you can use this kind at first to try it out. The disadvantages of the plastic kind are that they aren't as durable, and won't last as long. I started out with the Healthy Juicer, a plastic one, and it worked fine for me. That said, I now use a stainless steel manual juicer and it is definately better.
Here are the advantages of using a stainless steel juicer like this one.

1. It is virtually indestructible, and will last a long, long time. I don't think I could break mine if I tried. I expect it to be around long after I am around! This makes the price worth it. It will however break your other dishes if you accidentally drop it in the sink!
2. It extracts the juice better than the plastic kind. I can put the pulp in 2 or 3 times to make sure I get most of the juice out. With the plastic kind, it gets stuck if you try to put the pulp in a second time. The amount of extra juice you can squeeze out with the metal juicer is quite a bit--about 20%-30% more. If you get 15 ounces out of a tray, this will give you 4 extra ounces--Sweet!
3. Stainless steel won't rust, and it stays very clean.
4. It builds up your amr muscles, since it takes some effort to crank it around. (If you can't crank it around, consider an electric wheatgrass juicer)

In my opinion, the stainless steel juicer wins hands-down. Happy Juicing!

1 shot o' wheatgrass = 2 kilos of vegetables

There are claims on many websites that 1 shot of wheatgrass juice gives you the same nutrients as 1 kilo (2.2 pounds) of fresh vegetables. The source of this claim seems to come from a guy named Charles F. Schnabel, who allegedly said that "Fifteen pounds of wheatgrass is equivalent to 350 pounds of the choicest vegetables". Many websites and juice bars claim this on their websites. I have pondered this for quite a while, and I think this statement is very misleading. First of all, they don't tell you which fresh vegetables they are comparing wheatgrass to. Secondly, they don't tell you which nutrients they are measuring. Different vegetables have different amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Here is the nutritional data of wheatgrass tablets and powder that I found on a website that sells wheatgrass stuff. It seems to me that wheatgrass juice does in fact contain a lot of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, although none in extraordinarily high concentrations. In addition, many vegetables contain a lot of these same vitamins and nutrients as well.

So what do we conclude from all of this? My feeling is that there is something else about it that makes wheatgrass healthy for us. Maybe it is the fact that 70% of wheatgrass juice is chlorophyll. Chlorophyll sure makes plants grow quickly, but can it work for people? Another idea to ponder is that cows and horses live almost entirely on grass. If you watch a horse graze, you will notice that they don't really like the old, tall grass. They prefer to eat the newly grown shoots because these contain the most nutrients and taste better. The fact that cows and horses can grow to be huge and full of muscles just from eating grass is in itself proof enough for me that wheatgrass juice works. Somehow grass contains enough vitamins and nutrients for them to grow big and strong, so I am willing to add it to my diet of other healthy foods.

Does wheatgrass juice make you want to barf?

There comes a time when every wheatgrass juice drinker has reached his/her limit for the day. You get this queezy feeling after you drink your juice, and there is nothing you can do about it. Some people feel this way when they first start to drink wheatgrass juice. I was fine for a while, and slowly increased the amount I drank, and then one day I felt like I wanted to puke. I guess that is your body's way of telling you how much you should be drinking. I am writing this post because it happened to me again this morning. While some people fell like this the first time they try wheatgrass juice and swear to never drink it again, I just take it as part of the process. Since it only happens to me once every few months, it is no big deal. Try taking small amounts when you first start on wheatgrass, and slowly increase your intake until you reach your limit again.

If you are taking lots and lots of wheatgrass juice to recover from sickness, my suggestion is to spread it out over the day. Take some in the morning, afternoon, and evening. This way you maximize absorbtion and minimize queeziness!

Which Type Of Juicer Do I Need To Make Wheatgrass Juice?

Since there are many, many juicers on the market, and I have read of people making wheatgrass juice all sorts of strange ways (including putting it in the blender and straining it), here is a brief guide of what you need to get you juicing your own wheatgrass.

The type of electric juicer that works great for fruit unfortunately doesn't work for wheatgrass. This type of juicer is called a centrifugal juicer. A centrifugal juicer has a shredder that spins very fast--3,000 to 6,000 RPM's (revolutions per minute), and this spinning forces the juice through a strainer. A juicer like the Magimix le duo juicer is NOT good for wheatgrass because 1) The super-fast speed produces heat from friction, and that damages the nutrients in wheatgrass. 2) The fast spinning churns lots of air into the juice, which decreases also its nutrient content from oxidation. 3) The shredder doesn't break down the cell walls of wheatgrass very well, and not much juice comes out.

The type of juicer that works great for wheatgrass is called a masticating juicer. The masticating juicer has a screw-like auger that spins at very slow speeds. A manual type of masticating juicer spins as fast as you can turn it by hand--not very fast at all! An electric masticating juicer also spins slowly--about 80 RPM's. This type of juicer crushes the wheatgrass to break down the cell walls of the plant, and mechanically pushes the juice through a strainer at the bottom. The juice falls from holes in the bottom, and the pulp gets pushed out the front hole.

Most manual wheatgrass juicers have similar designs, but vary according to the materials they are made from--stainless steel, plastic, or cast iron. There are a few different types of electric juicers, including ones that have two augers or screws.

While you might be upset to learn that you can't use the juicer you already have for wheatgrass, you can get a decent manual juicer for under $100, and an electric one for double that amount.