Not many of us are aware of the health benefits of wheat grass… also how many of us know what wheat grass actually is?? In simple terms wheat grass is a food prepared / grown from the wheat plant. Wheat grass is commercially available in two forms: juice and powder. One can also grow wheat grass at home and is pretty easy to sow and plant wheat grass. All you would need is wheat grains, water, kitchen garden and your little time. People living in flats or with limited housing area where a kitchen garden would be difficult, plastic bin, clay pots or trays can also be used to sow and plant wheat grass. Trays about 6 – 8 inches in diameters and 3 inches high are perfect for growing wheat grass.
For planting wheat grass, clean wash and soak the wheat grains in water overnight. Next day, spread the grains in the pot (with the above mentioned dimensions) filled with soil. Sprinkle a thin layer of soil to cover the grains. Grains sprout best in darkness. So it is desirable to cover the pot with a newspaper or cloth. Make sure you keep watering the grains till green leaves sprout up. Then on wards stop covering the pots. In a week’s time, the grass will be 8 inches tall. Cut it with clean scissors leaving ½ inch of grass above the soil surface. This grass is ready for extracting juice. The grass will grow back in a week’s time. After the second harvest crush all the roots and mix with the soil. Avoid using mixer grinder, blenders for extracting the juice, as these electrical devices damage the chlorophyll and make the wheat grass useless. It is always better to manually mince the grass using pestle mortal or a stone grinder.
Wheat grass contains many nutrients such as chlorophyll, amino acids, minerals, vitamins as well as enzymes. Wheat grass has several healing properties and can also serve as a nutritional supplement. On an average an individual consumes of about 3.5 grams of wheat grass powder many prefer to take wheat grass juice at one shot. The raw wheat grass juice can be taken in empty stomach, before meals. However, one must be careful that individuals with poor dietary intake may experience nausea on drinking wheat grass juice.
Wheat grass has many curative and healing properties to its credit. It helps in cleansing blood, improves skin tone and hair growth, builds muscle, helps fights infections, lowers blood pressure dissolves tumor, acts as an appetite enhancer, helps in throwing the toxins from the body and enhances cell regeneration. Apart from these, wheat grass also increases the hemoglobin production, aids in rapid wound healing, improves digestion and purifies the entire blood stream.
