Watching the Grass Grow

Buying local, seasonal and organic produce has become a common practice for people living the "whole foods" lifestyle. What a great concept to be able to buy local, healthy produce from your own community - produce that is fresh picked, alive, and ready to nourish your body. You may start with the first greens of spring, move onto berries and stone fruits. Then would come tomatoes, corn, beans and peppers. Finally we would enjoy melons, squash, potatoes, beats and carrots and such.

Anyone who lives in the northern reaches of the United states or Alaska would soon realize that this practice of buying local, seasonal and organic produce only works until about the end of October leaving November, December, January, February and most of March to fend for whatever types of healthy foods we can find.

Many times these winter season foods have been stored for months or shipped to our local supermarket from thousands of miles away. Those tomatoes that you buy might last a week before they begin to self destruct while those that you had fresh from your garden last fall would last a month on the counter before doing the same. Face it. It's just hard to get that same freshness and vitality from winter produce.

It is no wonder that this time of year is also Flu season. There has been quite a bit of research done on the healthy effects of eating a raw "plant based" diet. These foods are alive and full of enzymes that help our bodies easily digest them releasing the many vitamins and minerals provided from such a diet to nourish our bodies. On the contrary cooked and heavily processed foods are void of life and enzymes causing our bodies to work harder to digest them which can weaken our immune system making us vulnerable to the seasonal colds and flu common during the winter months.

It has been shown that eating these cooked and processed foods causes a condition called "digestive leukocytosis", which is an immune response causing an increase in white blood cells in our bodies. In the 1930's some research was done by  a Dr. Kouchakoff' who found that

after a person eats cooked food, his/her blood responds immediately by increasing the number of these cells. A rise in the number of leukocytes after eating was a well-known phenomenon called 'digestive leukocytosis.' Since digestive leukocytosis was always observed after eating, it was considered a normal physiological response. No one knew why the number of white cells would rise. It appeared to be a stress response—as if the body was reacting to something harmful, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, an infection, or some sort of trauma.

However, through further research it was found that digestive leucocytosis does not occur after eating raw, whole foods. Eating raw foods then allows your immune system to save it's energy for other things like the cold and Flu that everybody in the office is sharing this time of year.

Raw, whole foods? Local, seasonal, organic? Where? If this is a key to good health during the cold and Flu season, what can we do? Might I suggest that you spend some time watching the grass grow? Yes, in spite of the snow in my yard, I've been watching the grass grow since November - the wheatgrass. And what a great place to watch it grow but perched on top of my entertainment center above my TV.

Wheatgrass is a simple solution for something grown local, in season and organic. It has tons of benefits to keep you healthy in the meantime while you wait to reap the fresh produce of the warmer months to come.  According to the Mayo Clinic's web site,

Wheatgrass does provide a concentrated amount of nutrients, including iron, calcium, magnesium, amino acids, chlorophyll, and vitamins A, C and E. Wheatgrass fans say that its rich nutrient content boosts immunity, kills harmful bacteria in your digestive system, and rids your body of waste. Some proponents tout wheatgrass for cancer, anemia, diabetes, constipation, infections, skin conditions, colon cleansing, ulcerative colitis and joint pain, among other health concerns. Wheatgrass may also be promoted as a good way to help meet your daily target for vegetable servings.

There is a lot of information about the immune boosting, healthy benefits of wheat grass so I encourage you to do a little research on your own. Most likely, you will be like me and realize that growing wheat grass in the winter months makes a lot of sense so get started!
 

I keep three flats going at a time to ensure that I'm able to get 4 or 5 ounces of juice per day split between my wife and me. 

Wheat grass flat



Ready  for the juicer

Juicing with masticating juicer

My favorite green energizer -wheat grass juice

So stay healthy this season by growing your own "local, seasonal, organic" raw goodness in wheatgrass. You will enjoy watching the grass grow but not nearly as much as you'll enjoy the energizing benefits of this wonderful "seasonal" drink.