Wellness Wednesday: March 3
WHEATGRASS
Another Wednesday, another wellness food spotlight! Today, we’re highlighting a powerful and incredibly nutritious plant from our menu: Wheatgrass.
Wheatgrass is a very potent plant that produces incredible health benefits when consumed in either juiced or powdered form. It’s so powerful, that fresh wheatgrass juice is even considered to be a living food. Wheatgrass is typically grown throughout regions of the United States and Europe, and it can live either indoors or outdoors.
Wheatgrass is deemed a superfood because of its rich nutritional content, boasting a very high amount of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory properties. This plant contains iron, calcium, enzymes, magnesium, phytonutrients, 17 amino acids, vitamins A, C, E, K, and B complex, chlorophyll, and even proteins!
All of these properties work to better the body in different ways. For example, chlorophyll can help to rid the body of toxins and impurities that might have built up in your system, promoting healthy liver function and thus increasing your energy levels and overall wellness.
This also goes hand-in-hand with supporting a healthy digestive system. Because your body is ridding itself of toxins, wheatgrass can help clear your intestines and reduce gas, bloating, constipation and even help those with IBS and other digestive issues.
Further, wheatgrass has been observed to help lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure by increasing blood cell count, improve cognitive function and relieve anxiety, improve diabetes by lowering the glycemic index of foods, and ease pain, inflammation, and swelling (which are common symptoms for those with arthritis) with its anti-inflammatory effects.
Bar-Sela, G., Cohen, M., Ben-Arye, E., & Epelbaum, R. (2015). The Medical Use of Wheatgrass: Review of the Gap Between Basic and Clinical Applications. Mini reviews in medicinal chemistry, 15(12), 1002–1010. https://doi.org/10.2174/138955751512150731112836
Borah, M., Sarma, P., & Das, S. (2014). A Study of the Protective Effect of Triticum aestivum L. in an Experimental Animal Model of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Pharmacognosy research, 6(4), 285–291. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-8490.138251
Sethi, J., Yadav, M., Dahiya, K., Sood, S., Singh, V., & Bhattacharya, S. B. (2010). Antioxidant effect of Triticum aestivium (wheat grass) in high-fat diet-induced oxidative stress in rabbits. Methods and findings in experimental and clinical pharmacology, 32(4), 233–235. https://doi.org/10.1358/mf.2010.32.4.1423889