On my way to healthier food I stumbled upon barley grass. I never heard about it before and so I was absolutely surprised by reading about heath benefits assuming it. Grass in my salad? OK, I already knew that grass in the green smoothie is a great thing. I unfortunately have a blender which doesn’t want grass at all, I tried it out. So what about this barley grass now?

Some facts..

Asking Wikipedia it says that „it is a food prepared from the cotyledons of the common barley plant“. So far so food. I found it in the Internet as juice, powder and as pills. The grass provides a lot of chlorophyll in the first place but also amino acids, vitamins, minerals and of course enzymes. Important it doesn’t contain any gluten!

The benefits were first seen on hens by a agriculture chemist called Charles Schnabel in the early 30th of the last century. He fed wheat grass to ill hens and they recovered and produced more eggs than the healthy hens. Incredible! So he started to dry the grass and consuming it with his family in the daily diet. Promoting it later, big companies started a research and by 1940 it was available in all major drug stores in the United States.

Benefits

Here I found a looooooong list. I will write only a few benefits of them, for more information see the links above.

it’s the best source for living chlorophyll and therefor light energy
it’s high in oxygen. The benefits go in the blood, the organs and the brain
chlorophyll is anti-bacterial and the consumption of barley grass can arrest growth of bad bacteria
it has no toxic reaction and the red cell count returns after a few days on normal
wheat-grass absorbed 92 minerals of the 102 minerals in the soil
chronic disorders can be cured by assuming chlorophyll
barley grass has 15 times more minerals and vitamins that vegetable and fruits
helps purifying the body from toxin
it helps tooth decay and 5 minutes in the mouth will take away tooth pain
it helps in any skin problem and keeps the hair from graying
the consumption makes one feel more strengthen, healthy and well-being
it’s great for a good digestion
wheat-grass reduces high blood pressure
it treats a cold, cough, bronchitis inflammation and more
it strengthen the immune system
it can help people with cancer

I found it in a special drug store. It’s called simply barley grass. The friendly woman in the store gave me a few tips. She said she is assuming it too and likes the taste of it. But not many people do so. I could buy it in a powder or in pills. I took the powder thinking to mix it in the morning green smoothie.

My own experience
At home I was all excited to try it out. When I opened the dark glass – saving the content from sunlight – and took a sniff. Yuck! No, definitely nothing I like. I tried a small amount on my tongue… oh, for heavens sake! Then I tried it in the smoothie. And I didn’t like the smoothie either. The next day I tried it in my morning muesli. It was as horrible like with the smoothie before. Next try: I started to take it with some juice in the morning. Holding on! And day after day it was better. I take it now for about 4 weeks and I don’t have any problems anymore. I drink it the morning immediately after the wake up and before my tea. And I take it slowly as recommended, watering well in the mouth for better absorption.

What good came out?
Well, I think I had benefits till now. Of course it is a short time to say really much. But I feel a lot better, I don’t have anymore that morning heaviness, I feel very clear in my head and can concentrate about hours. I will continue taking it. As powder. When I am on travel I will take it as pills. That takes me away the morning trouble with the fruit puree 😉

In half a year I will update here and tell, what else I got solved with it.

Update May 2014:
After now a year of barley-grass every morning I still feel great. No problems anymore, no headaches, no digestion problems, got back to my perfect weight, have a perfect skin and full of energy. I am sure it is not ONLY because of the barley-grass but mainly because of my paleo diet. I feel greater than ever and will hold on with this lifestyle for sure for the rest of my life.