Nutritional grasses, also known as cereal grasses, are tender young plants that grow into cereal grains. Note: they grow into grains, but are not grains!
This healthy grass family includes barley grass, wheatgrass, oat grass and alfalfa - and they're all completely gluten-free.
Since the 1930's, cereal grasses have been considered a food. Farmers took note of the lackluster nutrition in milk when cows weren't feeding on them, and the rest is history. Nutritional Sciences for Human Health confirms hens lay more eggs and cows produce more nutritious milk when fed nutritional grasses like wheatgrass and alfalfa.
Not only do cereal grasses offer top-notch nutrition, they have an alkalizing effect on body tissues and fluids and may help detoxify the blood and enhance metabolism.
These grasses must be harvested at the jointing stage, when the plant reaches its peak nutritional value. After this small window of time, vitamins, amino acids and chlorophyll decline dramatically. Juicing or milling the dried leaves into a powder are two popular methods for extracting their nutritional bounty; the human gastrointestinal system can't digest them merely by chewing and swallowing.
Let's take a closer look at each of these amazing grasses:
Barley Grass
- 11x more calcium than cow’s milk
- Nearly 5 times the iron of spinach
- 7 times the vitamin C oranges
- Packs 80mg of vitamin B12 per hundred grams
Wheat Grass
- Contains more vitamin C than oranges
- Twice the vitamin A of carrots
- Helps detoxify the blood
- Helps the liver's normal cleansing process
- Maintains healthy digestive function
Oat Grass
- Up to 30% protein by weight
- Loaded with lecithin, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and vitamin B5
- Saturated with chlorophyll - nature's blood cleanser
Alfalfa
- Rich in minerals and nutrients
- 8 essential amino acids
- Alkalizes and detoxifies the body (especially the liver!)
- A natural anti-fungal
Live Superfoods Offers Many Nutritional Grass Products, Including:
Body Ecology Vitality SuperGreen
Garden of Life Perfect Food RAW
Healthforce Greener Grasses Alkalizer
Live Superfoods Barley Grass Juice Powder
Live Superfoods Wheatgrass Juice Powder
Synergy Company Wheat Grass Juice Powder
Synergy Company Barley Grass Juice Powder
Sources
Body Ecology "Barley Grass, Alfalfa, and the Other Healthiest Grasses"
Healthy Eating SF Gate "Nutritional Grasses"
