Mung Bean Monologues, by Pat Delair: Wheatgrass, the Green Miracle

As a Hippocrates Health Educator, trained at the Hippocrates Health Institute (HHI) in all things green and healing, I lecture and consult on the HHI’s Life Change Program. Over the next few columns I will share with you the various components of this program. We will start with the cornerstone of HHI, wheatgrass juice; a now widely recognized health and red blood cell builder and restorative.

Ann Wigmore founded Hippocrates Health Institute in Boston in 1958 based on the success she had with healing herself and her desire to share this valuable information with others. At the age of 16, Ann was involved in a terrible accident which shattered her legs. When gangrene set in, the Boston doctors recommended amputation. Ann refused and resolved to cure herself. Her Lithuanian grandmother had taught her how to use wild weeds and greens to heal wounds, so Ann started to apply the greens to her legs, while nibbling on grass and sucking its juice. With winter approaching and with it the end of the grass, Ann began to grow grass in her family’s kitchen. Much to the chagrin of her doctors who never inquired as to how she did it, she recovered, kept her legs, (running in the Boston Marathon years later) and attempted to recreate her healing methods in a manner that would have widespread appeal. Ann picked up an old cast iron meat grinder at a yard sale and concocted the first wheatgrass juicer.

Our bodies are self healing. If given the proper nourishment, rest, and exercise our bodies mend our bones, remove cancerous cells, keep all our organs running smoothly, balance our blood pH, and constantly work to maintain or restore balance. We put our bodies out of balance through our not so wise choices such as processed foods, fast foods, over consumption of animal protein, smoking, abusing drugs or alcohol, exhaustion, and not having a suitable outlet for our stress. Our daily exposure to environmental toxins in our air and water, chemicals in our personal hygiene products and cleaning solutions, and food toxins, such as msg, aspartame, antibiotics, growth hormones and the myriad of other food additives, only serve to weaken and impair our body’s ability to heal itself. By strengthening our immune system, wheatgrass juice, along with other Living Foods, can be a real benefit in helping our body to get back into balance.

The Wonder of Chlorophyll

Stay with me here as I review a little 2nd grade science. Chlorophyll is the “blood” of the plant, with a molecular structure that is almost identical to the hemoglobin molecule in our blood. Chlorophyll and the grasses that contain it are essential to life on Earth. Only green plant cells can absorb energy directly from the sun (the exception being Breatharians, but that is a subject for another column, in another city, written by another person). Chlorophyll is produced through photosynthesis, the process of converting light into energy. Since chlorophyll is found in all grass, any can be juiced, but Ann Wigmore picked wheatgrass based on her pet’s preferences for this sweet grass. (Although most of my cats tolerate their daily dose of wheatgrass juice, one of my cats, Emma, is addicted. She knows when I am getting ready to juice and mushes around- a cat owner term- quite intensely until I finally fill the dropper with juice and satisfy her craving.)

The chlorophyll extract in grass juices is an excellent phytonutrient healing agent. Chlorophyll is a great blood and organ purifier. It helps remove drug and heavy metal deposits that have been stored in our tissues and helps balance blood sugar. Wheatgrass is a great source of vitamins A, C, D, E, and K and the complete B-complex, including B-17, laetrile. It also contains 103 vitamins and minerals in a natural, raw, highly absorbable form. Just 1.5 oz. of wheatgrass juice is nutritionally comparable to 2.5 pounds of fresh vegetables.
Wheatgrass is rich in calcium, phosphorus, iron, sulphur, sodium, and zinc. Wheatgrass contains 18 of 22 amino acids, and all 8 essential amino acids making it a great protein food. There are other green superfoods that are higher in protein, such as blue-green algae, chlorella, and spirulina, but they are more expensive to cultivate, so their cost per nutrient is higher than wheatgrass. According to “Sproutman” Steve Meyorwitz, “Fresh squeezed wheatgrass juice is a veritable enzyme soup, its cells dancing with metabolic activity…a brew of water, oxygen, enzymes, protein, phytochemicals, chlorophyll, carotenoids, fatty acids, and trace minerals rushing to revitalize you.”

Wheatgrass: what, where, when, how…

Wheatgrass is consumed in juice form. You must drink it within 15 minutes of juicing as the health benefits diminish as the juice oxidizes. Since it is quite strong, no more than 2 oz. twice a day is recommended. If you are going through a healing crisis, you can take 3 oz. twice a day. It should be taken on an empty stomach. The least expensive way to get your daily wheatgrass is to grow your own. You can buy a kit at Progressive Gardens, or you can pull all the pieces together very inexpensively at any garden store. You can buy seed at Progressive Gardens (910-395-1156) or Grass for Life (910-200-6884).
If you don’t fancy yourself a gardener, you can buy it already grown and cut at Progressive Gardens or Grass for Life. Either growing your own or buying it cut requires a juicer that will handle grass and sprouts. Most centrifugal juicers (Jack LaLaine, Juiceman) will not juice grass. You need a juicer that is either a single auger (best) or dual auger juicer. You do not need an electric juicer. A manual juicer works quite well and may even squeeze more juice per pound of wheatgrass than an electric model. The Lexen Healthy Juicer is a relatively inexpensive manual juicer and it works great. You can buy juicers online or at Tidal Creek or Lovey’s.

If this still seems to be too much work, you can buy shots of fresh wheatgrass at Tidal Creek or Lovey’s. Evergreen Juices makes a frozen wheatgrass juice which you can buy at both Tidal Creek and Lovey’s. Although buying it frozen diminishes the beneficial effects of the wheatgrass it is a convenient way to get your daily dose of healthy chlorophyll.

This is just a brief overview of the Green Miracle. Have you had your shot of wheatgrass juice today? (If you’re not certain how to get started on your journey to better health, call or email me for an appointment. Better yet, come to my free lecture series starting on November 4. Visit www.consciousintegration.net for additional information!)

In Good Health and Gratitude,

Pat Delair
Hippocrates Health Educator
Conscious Integration
411 Chestnut Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
910-200-6884
www.delair1@bellsouth.net
www.consciousintegration.net

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