There are a few plants in nature that are extremely concentrated with vitamins and minerals surpassing even kale and broccoli. Although micro-plants are related to dark leafy vegetables, they provide a higher level of nutrients than other foods.
These micro-plants consist of blue-green algae, chlorella, spirulina, wheat grass, and barley grass. They were the very beginning source oflife for this planet and they continue to nourish us well into the future.
Micro-plants come in many forms and colors, harvested both from the sea and dry land, and nutritionally each one is an excellent source of two important phytochemicals, chlorophyll and lycopene. These super powerful nutrients support your body’s ability to detoxify heavy metals, pesticides, and other toxins, plus they are loaded with nutrients to boost your immunity to disease.
Micro-plants, commercially known as Green Foods, contain a concentrated combination of phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, bioflavanoids, proteins, amino acids, essential fatty acids, enzymes, coenzymes, and fiber. This means a whole lot of nutrition in small amounts of food. Dr. Richard Schulze, author of Get Well, refers to micro-plants as nature’s blood transfusion.
It may be a bit confusing to discern which micro-plant is right for you to take, but don’t worry, there are products on the market that combine these Superfoods into one formula making it easy to stir into fresh juice and drink your nutrients. Individually, the more common micro-plants sold in natural foods stores include:
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- Chlorella (Chlorophyta): This is a single cell freshwater green micro-algae that is the Superfood of choice for over 10 million peopleworldwide. The first known form of plant life with a true nucleus, it has survived for 2.5 billion years because of its extremely tough outer cell wall and its ability to quadruple in quantity every 20 hours, making it the fastest growing plant on earth! NASA believes it to be the ideal food for long-term space travel and colonization. It is useful for removing heavy metals, pesticides, and other toxic carcinogens from the body. It contains less protein and beta-carotene than Spirulina with twice the nucleic acid and chlorophyll. It’s cleansing and rejuvenating properties are considered to fight aging, Alzheimer’s, sciatica, palsy, seizures, multiple sclerosis, and general nervous system issues.
- Blue-green algae (Cyanophyta): It's one of the first life forms, scientists have found 3.5 billion
years of earth’s existence encoded in the RNA/DNA (nucleic acids) of these primitive organisms. Presently available in loose powder or capsule form, blue-green algae contains the highest amounts of beta-carotene, and nucleic acids than any plant or animal food. Actually, blue-green algae are composed of hundreds of types of algae, spirulina, aphanizomenon and microcystis being a few. Blue-green algae can result in taste and odour issues in water supplies and some species produce toxins that are harmful to humans and animals when they are consumed, inhaled or contact the skin. Water affected by blue-green algae may be unsuitable for drinking, recreational activities such as swimming, fishing and agricultural uses.
- Spirulina is a type of blue-green algae that is rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, and carotenoids (a type of antioxidant that can help protect cells from damage). It contains nutrients, including B
complex vitamins, beta-carotene, vitamin E, manganese, zinc, copper, iron, selenium, and gamma linolenic acid (anessential fatty acid).
Spirulina -- like any blue-green algae -- can be contaminated with toxic substances called microcystins, and can also absorb heavy metals if any are present in the water where it is grown. For these reasons, it is important to buy spirulina from a trusted brand.
Test tube and animal studies suggest spirulina may boost the immune system, help protect against allergic reactions, and have antiviral and anticancer properties. However, there is no proof that spirulina has these, or any, benefits in humans. More research is needed to fully understand how or whether spirulina benefits people.
- Barley grass is the leaf of the barley plant, as opposed to the grain. It is capable of growing in a wide range of climatic conditions. Barley grass has greater nutritional value if harvested at a young age.
Young cereal grasses—especially wheat and barley grass—are distinguished by their brilliant emerald green hues. Before World War II, drug stores throughout the country, but especially in the grain-belt states of the Midwest, sold tablets of dried wheat or barley grass as a kind of primitive vitamin supplement. Today, young wheat and barley grasses are dried and powdered to make dietary supplements, or picked fresh to process in juicing machines.
At the early grass stage of their growth, wheat and barley are closer to vegetables than grains in composition. This is important to note because while I strongly discourage eating wheat and wheat products, I believe wheatgrass is an excellent addition to your diet.
The nutrient profiles of green cereal plants change quickly as they grow. As the plant grows, the chlorophyll, protein and vitamin content of cereal grasses declines sharply and the level of cellulose (indigestible fiber) increases. Over a period of several months, the green leafy cereal grasses become amber waves of grain bearing the kernels we harvest to make into flour—an unhealthy, pro-inflammatory food.
There is very little nutritional difference between wheat grass and barley grass, although it is important to note that barley grass acts as a free radical scavenger that also reduces inflammation and pain, and wheat grass contains P4D1, a "gluco-protein" that acts like an antioxidant, reducing inflammation. It is also thought to be able to help the body attack cancer cells.
You can get cereal grasses in powder or tablet form. Dried cereal grasses are certainly easier to handle than fresh, which must be juiced. However, fresh grass juice contains healthful enzymes not found in dried grass powder and is likely to be higher in just about every phytonutrient found in cereal grass. Many juice bars and health-oriented markets offer these juices on their menus.
- Wheatgrass is one of the most potently healthy substances on earth. Yet for some reason it is still not mainstream. Since I’ve beenusing wheatgrass I’ve noticed my energy levels go sky high, my skin clear up and colds, coughs and illnesses disappear forever. Others have seen their gray hairs vanish, Rosacea clear up, bad breath subside, allergies clear up and a whole lot more.
Wheatgrass and wheatgrass juice are excellent ways to get dark greens in the diet. Pound for pound, wheatgrass is more than twenty times denser in nutrients than other choice vegetables. Since it is considered a vegetable in the grass stage, wheatgrass is safe for people with wheat allergies. Juicing unlocks even more nutrients from wheatgrass, making them more concentrated and usable to the cells of the body.
One of the ingredients with major benefit in wheatgrass is chlorophyll, which has the ability to draw toxins from the body like a magnet. Considered the "blood of plants", chlorophyll can soothe and heal tissues internally. The chlorophyll in wheatgrass is high in oxygen and light energy, which can provide the brain and body tissues with an optimal environment in which to function. The chlorophyll in wheatgrass also has antibacterial properties, which can stop the development of harmful bacteria in the body.
Wheatgrass juice has external benefits as well. It can be used as a scalp treatment to restore luster to hair, as a skin cleanser and astringent, and as a sinus treatment.
Wheatgrass juice can also be added to bath water to stimulate circulation, and it can be applied topically to help heal cuts and bruises. In addition, gargling with wheatgrass juice can ease a sore throat.
A major benefit of taking wheatgrass juice is that it is easily digested with little energy. Wheatgrass provides crude chlorophyll from a living plant, which is the most effective way to gain the full therapeutic benefits of chlorophyll. Just an ounce of wheatgrass juice per day provides a host of benefits, while a therapeutic program to treat a specific condition or illness may include two or three ounces. It is a complete food with no side effects. Many people grow their own organic wheatgrass and use juicers to make their own juice.
These micro-plants are well known by scientists as nutritious and safe to eat. With over thirty years of international scientific research, and thousands of published peer-reviewed papers that document their safety and nutritional and therapeutic health benefits, micro-plants should be a part of everyone’s daily diet. Scientific research continues to investigate each one of these amazing foods, so new discoveries are always forthcoming.
For your present needs, there are quality “green” powder drinks that are a combination of all the listed micro-plants, plus fruits, vegetables, sprouted grains and probiotics. Makers of the leading “green drinks” claim that one to two tablespoons of this concentrated powder in water or a smoothie drink will provide you with the equivalent of five to six servings of vegetables. Check the label for ingredients and nutritional breakdown.
Disclaimer: This website is for information purposes only. By providing the information contained herein we are not diagnosing, treating, curing, mitigating, or preventing any type of disease or medical condition. Before beginning any type of natural, integrative or conventional treatment regime, it is advisible to seek the advice of a licensed healthcare professional.
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