Chapter 8
The Many Uses of Wheatgrass

There is no substitute for good grass any more than there is for water, light and air. - Dr. Charles Schnabel

There are basically two ways to use wheatgrass juice, internally and externally. The internal use of wheatgrass helps to cleanse the blood, organs, and gastrointestinal tract of debris. It stimulates metabolism and bodily enzyme systems in enriching the blood by increasing red blood cell count, and in dilating the blood pathways throughout the body, reducing blood pressure. The thyroid gland is also stimulated and normalized by the use of wheatgrass juice—an important step toward the correction of obesity, indigestion, and a host of other complaints.

As a protective food/medicine, wheatgrass juice is a storehouse of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, and oxygen—a great nutritional supplement. Its abundance of alkaline minerals helps it to reduce overacidity in the blood. In addition, it can be used to relieve many internal pains. It has been used successfully to treat peptic ulcers, ulcerative colitis, constipation, diarrhea, and other complaints of the gastrointestinal tract.

FOOD/MEDICINE

The question of how much wheatgrass juice to drink for optimum effect is a little tricky. I have seen enthusiastic students at the Institute drink eight or more ounces of the juice in one sitting their first day there. In some cases, these students felt sick and had to lie down for a while due to the cleansing effects of the juice. This, of course, is not the right way to use wheatgrass juice.

The right way to use wheatgrass juice is in small amounts throughout the course of the day, always on an empty or nearly empty stomach. In general, two to four ounces every day or every other day is sufficient. Slowly sipping small quantities of the juice gives your body an opportunity to get used to its taste and effect. Taking one- to two-ounce drinks straight or mixed with other juices, and sipping the juice slowly, will help prevent nausea or stomach upset.

On a healing regime, I suggest that you drink one or two ounces up to three or four times a day. If you wish, you may take a day off from drinking wheatgrass juice once in a while. The rest period will enable your body to readjust to the changes it has made, making the juice even more effective the next day.

RECIPES USING WHEATGRASS JUICE

Almost everyone I know uses wheatgrass straight, but a few people have created some marvelous recipes using wheat- grass juice along with other live foods ingredients. I would like to share my favorites with you. In general, you will need three kitchen appliances to make them: a blender with at least three speeds, a high-speed juicer, and a wheatgrass juicer.

Bear in mind that an average tray of fully mature wheat- grass yields between seven and ten ounces of fresh juice. The amount will vary depending on the length and moisture content of the wheatgrass and on whether you run the pulp through the juicer a second or third time. In general, a bunch of wheatgrass one half to two thirds of an inch thick (diameter) will yield about one ounce of juice. Have a two-ounce glass handy to measure the amount of juice for the recipes.

In recipes where water or ice is listed as an ingredient, use pure spring or filtered water. Vegetables and fruits that have been sprayed or waxed, and those with unedible skins, should be peeled before use. Organically grown fruits and vegetables may not need to be peeled.

The wheatgrass juicer does a good job of making juices from soft vegetables and watery fruits, including leafy greens, sprouts, summer squashes, cucumbers, celery, pineapples, and watermelon, but it does a rather poor job—and is very slow—juicing hard fruits and vegetables. Ingredients such as carrots, beets, apples, and watermelon are best juiced in a high-speed juicer. If, however, a recipe calls for half a beet or apple, or just one carrot, you may want to cut it into bite-sized pieces and use the wheatgrass juicer for convenience. The following recipes each make one serving, approximately eight ounces.

Recipes

Green Drink with Grass

1 hunch wheatgrass, about 2/3 - 3/4 inch thick (diameter)
3 ounces mixed green and sprout juice (6-7 handfuls of whole ingredients)
3 ounces carrot juice (3 medium carrots)

Juice greens, sprouts, and wheatgrass in that order in a wheat- grass juicer. Juice carrots in high-speed machine. Mix juices and serve.


Vegetable Grass Drink

3 ounces carrot juice (3 medium carrots) 3 ounces celery juice (2 large stalks)
1 1/2 ounces wheatgrass juice
1/2 ounce parsley juice (five sprigs)

Juice carrots in high-speed machine, and other ingredients in wheatgrass juicer. Mix and serve.


Wheat-Beet Juice

1 1/2 ounces wheatgrass juice
1 ounce beet juice (1 /2 medium beet) 6 ounces cucumber juice (1/2 large cucumber)

Juice ingredients in wheatgrass juicer, stir, and serve.


Wheatgrass Cocktail

1 1/2 ounces wheatgrass juice
6 ounces fresh apple juice (2 medium apples)

Mix wheatgrass juice and apple juice in a glass and serve.


Wheatgrasshopper

1 1/2 ounces wheatgrass juice
6 ounces pineapple juice (1/4 pineapple)
2 ice cubes
3 leaves fresh mint

Blend ingredients together at high speed for thirty seconds, and serve.


Wheatgrass-Rind Juice

1 1/2 ounces wheatgrass juice
6 ounces watermelon rind juice (1 piece, 3" x 8")
Cut red meat from watermelon, and set aside for later use.

Juice rind in high-speed juicer. Mix juices and serve.


WHEATGRASS JUICE BRINGS RELIEF

While wheatgrass juice makes a refreshing and enlivening drink, you may not always want to use it in that way. You may want to chew or gargle it, for example, to freshen stale breath or to relieve a sore throat. If chewed and applied to a sore tooth or to the gums, it will help reduce swelling and pain. Rubbed into the gums on a regular basis, it can help remedy pyorrhea and bleeding.

An effective eye wash for the relief of eyestrain and itchiness can be made from finely strained wheatgrass juice. Apply the juice with a dropper or purchase an eyecup at a drugstore. When placed in the ear with a dropper, strained wheatgrass juice helps reduce the pressure and discomfort of many an earache. If drops are inserted into the nasal passages and inhaled, it will help cleanse and open sinuses.

When using wheatgrass juice in these sensitive areas, you may experience a temporary worsening of symptoms. Your eyes may be even more itchy and red or your sinuses may clog further, but be assured that these reactions are temporary and will diminish greatly a few minutes later. At the Institute, we regard such reactions as a positive sign—that is, as an indication that the body is being cleansed of unwholesome substances. However, you may try using less wheatgrass juice next time, and diluting it with some water. Also try using wheatgrass in the many other ways it can be used outside the body. If reactions persist, discontinue use.

In addition, I have found through personal experience that wheatgrass juice can be used as a douche to help eliminate cystitis, vaginal infections, odors, and itching.

WHEATGRASS IMPLANTS

Another way in which wheatgrass is used internally at the Hippocrates Institute is as a rectal implant or retention enema. In many people, the lower bowel has become a dumping ground, its walls encrusted with debris and bulging with bubble-like diverticula. The use of an enema to cleanse the colon, followed by a wheatgrass implant, helps stimulate peristaltic activity of the muscles that contract the colon wall. This helps to loosen deposits that may be seen later (after defecation) in the form of hardened black material and ropes or lumps of mucus. In addition, the high magnesium content of wheatgrass juice draws fat out of the colon wall and the liver.

In an implant, fresh wheatgrass is inserted into the rectum and retained there for about twenty minutes before being expelled. Implants are especially helpful in the case of illness, serious or otherwise, as they stimulate a rapid cleansing of the lower bowel. In my opinion, wheatgrass implants are safer than the coffee enemas used by many health clinics, because wheatgrass does not introduce unwanted caffeine. (As a matter of fact, wheatgrass implants introduce many important nutrients to the body.)

All this talk about wheatgrass implants may leave you feeling a bit squeamish. If you have a psychological barrier against doing implants and enemas, try to remind yourself of their purpose—to reverse damage and draw out accumulations of debris that may be lurking inside you. If you can bring yourself to use these cleansing techniques, you will find relief and a sense of internal cleanliness that is refreshing. Besides, the removal of toxic and morbid matter from the colon is essential to healing.

If you are planning to use wheatgrass implants, it is best to perform an enema before you do so. Early in the morning is probably the best time to do both; however, if this is not possible or if repetition is desired, early afternoon and evening are also good times.

How to Take a Wheatgrass Implant

To use wheatgrass juice implants as a purge, simply fill a sterilized infant enema syringe with one to two ounces of fresh juice and insert it into the rectum. A couple of minutes later, the bowels will move hurriedly. Try another one to two ounce implant and also let it out if it wants to come. The second attempt will probably carry more fecal matter with it. A third implant, of two to six ounces, will usually be retained with ease. Hold it until you feel the urge to eliminate, generally about twenty minutes later. There is no danger of reabsorbing toxins if you have purged the colon first with other implants or enemas. You may even be surprised to find that your body has absorbed all the juice after twenty minutes.

Wheatgrass implants are especially effective in conjunction with the wheatgrass fast, which I will discuss in the next chapter.

OTHER USES FOR WHEATGRASS JUICE

There are many ways you can use wheatgrass juice externally. Applied to the skin, it can help eliminate itching almost immediately. It will soothe sunburned skin, and also act as a disinfectant. As a beauty treatment, it will help tighten loose and sagging skin. Rubbed into the scalp before a shampoo, it will help mend damaged hair and alleviate itchy, scaly scalp conditions and irritations. Try leaving the juice on your scalp for a couple of hours before washing it off.

Every household should have some wheatgrass juice for soothing and healing cuts, burns, scrapes, rashes, poison ivy, athlete's foot, insect bites, boils, sores, open ulcers, tumors, and so on. Of course, the juice won't stay fresh in a first aid kit, but you can always soak a lump of wheatgrass pulp in fresh juice and apply it directly to the affected area, or pour fresh juice onto a bandage, apply it where needed, and cover the area with a clean, dry cloth. The poultice should be replaced every two to four hours. Clean the area with castile soap and let it "breathe" a few minutes before reapplying the poultice. One way to enjoy all of the beneficial effects of wheatgrass juice is to add some to your bath water, and settle in for a nice, long soak.

As a sleep aid, merely place a tray of living wheatgrass near the head of your bed. It will enhance the oxygen in the air and generate healthful negative ions to help you sleep more soundly. I have seen remarkable results when insomniacs have placed just one or two trays of wheatgrass by the bedside.

Over the years, many pets, including cats, dogs, birds, monkeys, and gerbils, have benefited from the use of wheatgrass and its juice. Even healthy pets nibble grass to get roughage (fiber), which is lacking in most prepared pet foods. If your pet seems to be ill, try chopping some fresh grass into its food. (Chop it finely if you are feeding a dog or a cat, because these animals do not chew their food well.) You may also be able to give your pet wheatgrass juice either in its drinking water or with a dropper. If all else fails, try rubbing a small amount of wheatgrass juice onto your pet's fur. In most cases the animal will lick it off. If your pet does not perk up within a few days, consult a veterinarian.

Earlier I discussed how wheatgrass juice changes tap water by neutralizing certain harmful elements in it. Keep in mind, however, that adding wheatgrass juice is no replacement for proper filtering and home re-filtering of municipal water. Instead use the improved-quality tap water to grow sprouts, wheatgrass, greens, and houseplants, or, as mentioned above, to feed your pets.

Chapter 9 - The Wheatgrass Fast: For Cleansing, Healing, and Super Nutrition

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