Does anyone take this stuff on the regular?

I've been wanting to try it and see if it actually has cleansing properties. What are the advantages those of you who have taken it have noticed? Where do you buy it and in what quantity? How often do you take it?

Any other thoughts, ideas, suggestions are welcome.

8/26/2006 11:50:27 AM

no one know anything at all about wheatgrass?

8/26/2006 4:02:26 PM

There's a whole fucking internet out there. Search google.

8/26/2006 4:15:41 PM

i always see hippies at carolina smoothie ordering some

8/26/2006 8:06:40 PM

"cleansing properties"

what a crock of motherfucking shit

cleanse your wallet maybe

[Edited on August 26, 2006 at 9:32 PM. Reason : s]

8/26/2006 9:31:46 PM

Does anyone here try Wheat Grass juice on a regular basis?

[Edited on March 11, 2009 at 3:26 PM. Reason : ]

3/11/2009 3:20:46 PM

my cat likes it. it makes her puke.

3/11/2009 3:24:02 PM

its all a scam, to be honest. i have a friend who works at a smoothie/health/well-being store. they get tons of marketing material. don't waste your time with it.

3/11/2009 3:35:43 PM

my god, people. Quit falling for this shit.

Read http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=559515
Pretty much everything in that thread applies to wheatgrass.

3/11/2009 3:37:43 PM

you want a natural cleanser?

take some bran, baby spinach, water, salt...make a smoothie out of it

be next to a toilet for the next few hours & drink plenty of water, that'll blast away anything in your colon

3/11/2009 3:38:04 PM

I drink Green Vibrance on a regular basis which includes wheat grass.

http://www.vibranthealth.org/gvingredients.html

3/11/2009 3:39:35 PM

Wheatgrass being green leaves, is just as nutritionally beneficial as any other green leafy vegetable.

If it does have any special benefits, they haven't been verified yet. You would get the same benefits from eating spinach, kale, broccoli, asparagus, etc. If you are not able to get green vegetables into your diet frequently, then it is a good idea to supplement with wheatgrass powder. Gram for gram, it IS more beneficial than, say, spinach, but that's because it is dehydrated.

However, this is interesting from Wikipedia:

Quote :

"The consumption of wheatgrass in the Western world began in the 1930s as a result of experiments by Charles F. Schnabel and his attempts to popularize the plant.[1] Schnabel, an agricultural chemist, conducted his first experiments with young grasses in 1930, when he used fresh cut grass in an attempt to nurse dying hens back to health. The hens not only recovered, but they produced eggs at a higher rate than healthy hens. Encouraged by his results, he began drying and powdering grass for his family and neighbors to supplement their diets. The following year, Schnabel reproduced his experiment and achieved the same results. Hens consuming rations supplemented with grass doubled their egg production. Schnabel started promoting his discovery to feed mills, chemist and the food industry. Two large corporations, Quaker Oats and American Dairies Inc., invested millions of dollars in further research, development and production of products for animals and humans. By 1940, cans of Schnabel's powdered grass were on sale in major drug stores throughout the United States and Canada.[2]"

[Edited on March 11, 2009 at 3:54 PM. Reason : ]

3/11/2009 3:53:45 PM

Quote :

"its all a scam"

Quote :

"my god, people. Quit falling for this shit."

Falling for what? What people?
You know, someone actually has to make a claim before you can say it's bullshit...
arog20012001 merely asked about wheatgrass, and never claimed anything about it. Wheatgrass is a food, right? If you want to eat it, what's the problem? Just because someone may sell something as snake oil doesn't mean that it's bad for you.

Quote :

"Wheatgrass being green leaves, is just as nutritionally beneficial as any other green leafy vegetable. If it does have any special benefits, they haven't been verified yet. You would get the same benefits from eating spinach, kale, broccoli, asparagus, etc. If you are not able to get green vegetables into your diet frequently, then it is a good idea to supplement with wheatgrass powder."

Exactly.

[Edited on March 11, 2009 at 3:57 PM. Reason : ]

3/11/2009 3:56:31 PM

Quote :

"You know, someone actually has to make a claim before you can say it's bullshit..."

Wheatgrass is traditionally marketed and sold as nothing less than a wonder-food. That is what my response was to.

No, there is nothing wrong with wheat-grass.
Yes, it is a healthy green vegetable.

That's fine - but if only that is true, then why is Whole Foods and Planet Smoothie chock-full of "wheat grass supplemented" foods or powders? Because the claim is that wheat grass is more than "just another green leafy vegetable".

If you don't believe me, just google "wheatgrass" and see what comes up - "therapys", jucies, "benefits of wheatgrass", lots of people trying to sell wheatgrass products at wildly inflated prices.

Now do a search for "kale" or "spinach". What do you get? A lot of good, healthy recipes, but nobody trying to make a business out of selling "kale shakes" or "spinach therapy"

3/11/2009 4:14:12 PM

A lot of people probably would benefit from more greens. There might be cheaper ways to get it, but at least they're getting it.

3/11/2009 4:19:56 PM

well, doesn't even appear to be that great of a vegetable anyway. Here's what you'll get in a Wheatgrass shot in a Jamba Juice drink






great, hope that makes your $6 smoothie worth it

maybe they should just offer "spinach shots" instead. Would probably taste the same, and would actually give you some worthwhile nutrients



[Edited on March 11, 2009 at 4:31 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2009 4:29:34 PM

I love spinach. (I've actually made a "spinach shot"....)
...and as for wheatgrass, the unproven claims aside, it seems like a perfectly reasonable and healthy nutritional supplement that may or may not have other, special and unique nutritional benefits. Although, I've heard it tastes more like grass than wheat.

Quote :

"A lot of people probably would benefit from more greens. There might be cheaper ways to get it, but at least they're getting it."

Agreed.

3/11/2009 4:51:38 PM

Quote :

"the unproven claims aside, it seems like a perfectly reasonable and healthy nutritional supplement that may or may not have other, special and unique nutritional benefits."

could make the same claim for dirt, but I don't see people putting that in their smoothies

3/11/2009 5:08:13 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geophagy

3/11/2009 5:11:25 PM

Quote :

"could make the same claim for dirt, but I don't see people putting that in their smoothies"

Dirt has some minerals, but almost no other nutritional value. I would have expected a more thoughtful response from the person who posted pretty comprehensive nutritional information about wheatgrass.

Quote :

"Wheatgrass Juice vs. Common Vegetables One of the most popular claims about wheatgrass, and one that is frequently made by both supporters and retailers, is that 1 ounce of wheatgrass juice is as nutritionally valuable as 1 kg (2.2 lb) of green vegetables, a ratio of 1:35. The available vitamin and mineral data of wheatgrass juice, broccoli and spinach do not support this claim (see table 1). In fact, the vitamin and mineral content of 1 ounce of wheatgrass juice is roughly equivalent to the vitamin and mineral content of 1 ounce of fresh vegetables. This conclusion does not include phyto-nutrient comparisons of these foods.[original research?] Another commonly repeated claim, originally made by Schnabel in the 1940s, is that "fifteen pounds of wheatgrass is equal in overall nutritional value to 350 pounds of ordinary garden vegetables",[2] a ratio of 1:23. Schnabel statement doesn't specify the form of wheatgrass, however, Schnabel used dried wheatgrass for his own consumption, in his research and later in his nutritional supplements;[2] One area in which wheatgrass is thought to be superior to other vegetables is in its content of Vitamin B12, a vital nutrient. B12, it turns out, is not a vitamin contained within wheatgrass or any plant but rather a byproduct of the microorganisms living on the plant. [7] Because of this there are no reliable plant sources of Vitamin B12."

This pretty much says it all IMO. The B12 probably contributes to the energetic feeling that people claim to have after drinking wheatgrass. If you're already getting plenty of B12 you probably won't notice the effects though. You can see the chart they're referring to on the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatgrass

3/11/2009 9:12:05 PM

Quote :

"Dirt has some minerals, but almost no other nutritional value. I would have expected a more thoughtful response from the person who posted pretty comprehensive nutritional information about wheatgrass."

well, it was an off-the-cuff response without any real thought behind it. But the point stands - people/companies could reasonably make any number of claims about any number of plants/animals/rocks/whatever because they "seem" perfectly reasonable. But that does not mean those people/companies deserve any of our money because their claim "seems reasonable".

3/11/2009 9:51:43 PM

well, i did notice that wheat grass has double the iron of spinach per weight. iron is a very important mineral for reproductive-aged women for obvious reasons.

3/12/2009 1:48:46 AM

You most likely are not going to have trouble getting iron into your diet

3/12/2009 2:09:34 AM

youd be surprised at how many women are anemic. not everyone eats lots of meat and iron pills taste and smell terrible.

3/12/2009 2:26:03 AM

^ True. That's part of the reason some pregnant women crave dirt

3/12/2009 2:30:28 AM

Quote :

"my god, people. Quit falling for this shit. "

Quote :

"you want a natural cleanser?"

sJesus, where did I say I want a natural cleanser??? No where, some sources claim that Wheatgrass is shown to have a lot minerals and amino acids which can be good for your diet.

[Edited on March 12, 2009 at 7:45 AM. Reason : ]

3/12/2009 7:40:02 AM

^ those sources are wrong. Look at the nutritional chart above.
There's no reason anyone should go out of their way or spend any additional money to eat/drink wheatgrass, when there are countless alternatives that are more nutritious, much, much cheaper, and not to mention more tasty.

The wheatgrass industry is built around making absurd profits for an inferior product by claiming outlandish benefits. That's all. If you want the benefits that are claimed, but not delivered, by the wheatgrass people, go eat a salad.

3/12/2009 8:48:38 AM

Quote :

"There's no reason anyone should go out of their way or spend any additional money to eat/drink wheatgrass"

Sorry, but blanket statements like that are nearly always wrong. Unless wheatgrass is 100% identical to some other food or supplement, it may offer at least something you can't get elsewhere or in the same way. Many of the non-essential nutrients aren't studied enough to know conclusively one way or the other if they're helpful in any situations. Plus, everyone is different.

You are so sold on the idea that you know what's good for others, that your attempts to preach about it do more harm than good. Your claims are the exact opposite, and therefore no more credible. Saying, "This will cure your diabetes, cancer and aids." is just as dismissible as, "This has absolutely no value for human consumption and no one should ever consume it because there no justifiable reasons to do so." If you really want to help people, don't speak in absolutes that you can't fully support.

Quote :

"some sources claim that Wheatgrass is shown to have a lot minerals and amino acids which can be good for your diet"

Quote :

"those sources are wrong"

He didn't even say what the sources were, so how the fuck can you glibly say that they're all wrong??!?! You are hurting your case by saying these clearly unsupportable things. And where's the amino acid details?

Quote :

"Look at the nutritional chart above"

Now we're supposed to trust some chart? So I guess I can assume that every nutritionist and scientist on the planet all completely agree to those numbers? Besides, why the discrepancy with vitamin K in the two wheatgrass vitamin lists? Vitamin C and iron were both the same or about the same, but one says K is 60% and the other says 0%.... Care to explain? And where is the phytonutrient analysis? Oh wait, I forgot... IT'S NOT NUTRITIOUS UNTIL WE PROVE THAT IT IS.

Quote :

"The wheatgrass industry"

This is your problem. You are very correct to criticize these snake oil pushers, but you throw the nutritional supplement baby out with the snake-oil-show water. They are not the same, and just because a product is sold with unproven, or indeed false, claims, doesn't mean that the product is worthless in and of itself. It may or may not be.

[Edited on March 12, 2009 at 10:22 AM. Reason : ]

3/12/2009 10:04:43 AM

this is what happens when an industry (yes, that's right, wheatgrass is an "industry") is built up around a product with no shown medicinal or extra-ordinary nutritional value: people start pumping pumping it into their asses, and probably paying heftily for the experience
http://skepticblog.org/2009/03/20/how-to-ruin-someones-spa-experience/

3/21/2009 8:17:27 AM

Quote :

"wheatgrass is an "industry"

Wheatgrass is plant.

Quote :

"wheat-grass colonic"

ahaha... No thanks.

3/21/2009 8:35:12 AM

I think I'm going to grow some wheatgrass now. I'll post pictures of how it goes and shit. Step 1 will be building a sweet tray to grow it in.

3/21/2009 2:24:39 PM

baby spinach > all

3/21/2009 3:30:45 PM

just an FYI.... Men should not seek out iron supplements. In fact, most men should seek to LOWER their iron intake.

[Edited on March 21, 2009 at 6:05 PM. Reason : s]

3/21/2009 6:05:17 PM

I don't eat wheatgrass stuff. However, I've found it's easy to include kale, collards, mustard greens, or other leafy greens into my diet by steaming them and eating with some vinegar and salt. Also goes well with red pepper, garlic and lentils. I also really enjoy them for breakfast. (Prepare to fart if you don't cook it well enough!)

Bonus in NC, kale, mustards, broccoli and collards are pretty easy to grow in the late fall and throughout the winter here if you're into gardening. Dandelion leaves also have tonic properties and are pretty nutritious in early spring (like now).

If you are super-pressed for time, spinach comes pre-cut and frozen, and many of the leafy greens come frozen or canned. This way it is also easy to toss leafy greens into something you are cooking- rice with chicken, or on top of a sandwich.

3/21/2009 6:55:58 PM

^^ generally, people don't need to take any supplements (including multi-vitamins and the like) unless they are shown to have an actual deficiency in a certain mineral or protein or whatever. The large studies of regular vitamin and supplement taking show that they generally don't make any difference in overall health, sickness, cancer rates, life expectancy, etc.

3/21/2009 10:20:34 PM