Wheatgrass juice has many potent health benefits. What’s more wheatgrass is easy enough to grow at home, if you don’t get it at supermarkets, since wheat is easy enough to germinate and the grass is ready to be used seven days later.
The juice is green, full of chlorophyll and other nutrients, though it is an acquired taste.
Popularized in the 1940s, wheatgrass is also available in the form of supplements, powders and frozen wheatgrass, though the nutritious value of fresh wheatgrass juice cannot be replicated.
The health enhancing qualities of wheatgrass juice
Wheatgrass has many health benefits and you really don’t need to drink a lot of juke for this – the recommended dosage is two ounces a day. This grass enhances health and has disease fighting properties, being helpful in
- Reproductive health – wheatgrass juice is known to improve fertility and reproductive health.
- Blood pressure – dilates the circulatory system and helps the blood flow freely, thus reducing blood pressure.
- Weight loss – the juice is low in calories and has a very high satiety value apart from suppressing the appetite so it is very good for weight loss diets.
- Detoxification – a liver and blood purifier, the juice helps in removing toxins from the body.
- Anti-bacterial – this beneficial juice inhibits and combats bacterial and viral activity in the body, reducing the risk of infections.
- Diabetes – keeps the blood sugar levels stable and is helpful in diabetes management.
- Acne – the detoxification and blood purifying properties of wheatgrass juice clears the skin and even retards skin ageing.
- Digestion – it improves digestive powers of the body, removes waste material more effectively and even helps in digestive ailments like irritable bowel syndrome and ulcers.
- Arthritis – the juice has wonderful anti-inflammatory properties that reduce the incidence and severity of arthritis attacks.
- Fatigue – it has superior properties to give a boost to energy levels in the body without sugar spikes and so reduces energy dips and fatigue.
The nutrients in wheatgrass
Wheatgrass is very high in nutrients and it contains many vitamins and minerals including
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin K
- B vitamins
- Folate
- Choline
- Zinc
- Copper
- Manganese
- Selenium
- Beta carotene
- Calcium
- Phosphorous
- Magnesium
- Iron
- Potassium
Apart from all these essential nutrients, wheatgrass also contains a great deal of chlorophyll, amino acids and enzymes all of which imbue wheatgrass juice with its nutritional values.
Wheatgrass juice recipes
Wheatgrass can be juiced in a juicer or even a blender, though you will have to add water to the wheatgrass to get the juice out and then strain it.
You should also cut the wheatgrass into one or two inch lengths. When you start drinking wheatgrass juice, start with an ounce at a time or less so that your body gets accustomed to it and then you can go up to two shot glasses in a day.
Wheatgrass juice may or may not be palatable, but you can make it easier on your system and your taste buds when you mix wheatgrass juice with other plants.
Wheatgrass and watermelon juice
- 2 cups chopped watermelon
- 1 shot glass of wheatgrass juice
Juice the chopped melon, add the wheatgrass juice so that it blends together and have.
Carrot, apple and wheatgrass juice
- 3 carrots
- 1 apple
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 shot glass wheatgrass juice
Scrape and cut the carrots and apples. Deseed the apples. Put carrots and apple through juicer and mix in lemon juice and wheatgrass juice.
Wheatgrass juice is nutritious and can also be had by those who cannot have wheat if they have celiac disease or are gluten sensitive.
