Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Story of a Lupus Survivor and Wheatgrass



I'd like to thank my friend Vic Milan who shared this testimonial from one of his listeners. Vic has a radio program called Kalikasan Vigilante, which airs Mondays to Fridays from 7:15pm to 8:30pm at 104.3FM - Wheatgrass Man
A LUPUS SURVIVOR’S STORY
BY MARIA CHRISTINA M. CASTILLEJOS
(23 Years Old)

"I was in second year college in 2003 when I was diagnosed with Lupus Nephritis (Class 4). I was hospitalized for more than one month. Two years later, after a seizure, the diagnosis was even more stunning: I had Lupus Cerebritis, which means that the disease had reached my brain. I was also told I could no longer go back to school. I was so devastated I just wanted to die.

I was told to see a psychiatrist so I could accept the fact that lupus would forever be in my system. I did not follow the suggestion. I was determined, and I began to believe in my heart, that prayers and research would help me find a cure.

Lupus is a disease where the immune system goes on a rampage, attacking even healthy cells, resulting in severe damage to my kidneys, lungs and hemoglobin count. In my case this happened whenever I experienced pressure and depression. I was hospitalized three times for long periods, put under heavy medication all the while, and the effect on my family’s finances was just as devastating.

Subjected to all kinds of procedures, my body became almost immune to pain. One procedure involved taking out 4 liters of liquid from my lungs… it was so painful I wished for death just to escape the pain, but I just let them do it anyway. My pain threshold went up some more, and during another open surgery I was awake during the whole procedure because the anesthesia no longer had any effect on me… possibly also because of all the drugs that had been given to me.

In 2007, they started giving me 5000 units of Recormon injection due to very low hemoglobin count. (Normally, blood count is at 12-17 G/DL; mine went down to 8.1 G/DL) which caused me to have shortness of breath and weakness almost to the point of collapsing. I could not sleep well. Black circles began to form under my eyes and other sensitive parts of my body. Also at this time my mother was suffering from slight anemia and symptoms similar to mine.

Then one evening while she was listening to her favorite radio station, she heard about wheat grass and its health benefits when taken regularly. She immediately contacted the person in the radio program to ask where she could get the grass.

Just two days after taking the said grass, she felt strong and was relieved of feeling weak after just minor household chores. She then encouraged me to take it also and see if it could help me. However, my doctor said I should not take it because it might conflict with my other medicines and that it might harm my kidneys.

My mother was so persistent and suggested that I should try the wheatgrass without stopping my medicines. I started taking two sachets a day for two weeks. I stopped my injection then so we could observe the effect of wheatgrass.

In just two weeks I started feeling so fantastic. I felt strong, my sleeping improved and my dizziness was gone. I had my hemoglobin count tested again and the result was amazing: it had gone up from 8.1 to 12 G/DL (normal) and my creatinine was normal.

My doctor was surprised. We had not told her I was taking wheatgrass. She must have thought it was due to Recormon injections and other maintenance medicines.

After just six months of daily wheatgrass intake, I am testing negative for protein, my pus cells normal… no more urinary tract infection (UTI) though all these past years I had been taking high dosages of antibiotics for UTI. My doctor continues to be surprised at my progress; I should be out of steroids soon. I am praying that with this new non-synthetic food supplement I will continue to improve and completely heal my disease and I will be normal again to continue my studies. I feel very strong now and am more confident because I have not had any attack the past six months.

I am now allowed to study at the University of the Philippines home-stay program. I now have a temporary job in the day time to test my endurance and ability to cope with pressure. I want to finish my studies so I can find a permanent job so I can continue my regular dosage of wheatgrass.

I will take this product forever and have recommended it to other lupus victims like me. "

Monday, May 18, 2009

A Brief History of Wheatgrass



“Fifteen pounds of wheat grass is equal in overall nutritional value to 350 pounds of ordinary garden vegetables. We have not even scratched the surface of what grass can mean to man in the future.”Dr. Charles Schnabel, Father of Wheat Grass Therapy

So, what makes wheatgrass such a potent nutritional treasure? Today, informed health experts agree that the young green shoots of wheatgrass contain a phytonutrient or group of phytonutrients still not able to be isolated or synthesized in the laboratory. This is known as Grass Juice Factor. Its health benefits are profound.

In the late 1920s a Kansas City food chemist Charles Schnabel who was looking for a nutritional source to be added to poultry feed to promote fertility and reduce mortality tried to increase the percentage of alfalfa; next, he tried combinations of twenty different green vegetables. They did not have the health promoting effect Dr. Schnabel sought.

In 1931, he desperately tried something unique, using feed with immature wheat and oat grasses. The poultry responded fantastically. Their winter egg production increased 38 to 94 percent. But not only were more eggs produced, they also had stronger shells, therefore increasing the number of healthy hatchlings. A higher proportion of the layers and offspring remained free of diseases.

Following up on Schnabel’s work, esteemed nutritional scientist Dr. George Kohler and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin were studying the differences in the nutritional value of cow’s milk produced at different seasons of the year. The researchers discovered that laboratory animals fed summer milk thrived, but became sick and died when given winter milk. Clearly, the higher nutritional value of the summer milk was found to be due to the young grasses cows grazed on in the spring and summer. Thus began research on the Grass Juice Factor, thought to be responsible for this growth effect.

Meanwhile, at the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Mott Cannon and his colleagues found that guinea pigs failed rapidly when fed a stock ration plus high levels of all the then-known nutrients. Wheatgrass expert author Steve Meyerowitz notes, “When the researchers added standard food supplements such as liver extracts, wheat germ, and brewer’s yeast to the animals’ diets, the guinea pigs remained sick and often died. Addition of dehydrated grass or grass juice brought about dramatic recovery and stimulated growth in these animals.”

Unfortunately, World War II changed that. After the end of the war, large corporations influenced American eating habits and medical choices towards chemicals and drugs, and the companies Dr. Schnabel was associated with discontinued distribution of his grass products. By 1950, Americans had been shifted from a natural to a synthetic approach to health care, and it wouldn’t be until the 1970s that natural grasses would make a comeback, largely due to a few committed individuals. Today you can find fresh wheat grass juice in most natural foods stores and juice bars because of those pioneers, and for good reason.
REFERENCES: Cannon, M. & Emerson, G. “Dietary requirements of the guinea pig with reference to the need for a special factor.” The Journal of Nutrition, 1939:18:155-167. Graham, W., et al. “Grass as a Food: Vitamin Content.” Paper presented April 10,1940, at the 99th meeting of The American Chemical Society. Kohler, G., et al. “Growth stimulating properties of grass juice.” Science, May 8,1936:445. Schnabel, C. “The biologic value of high protein cereal grasses.” Paper presented to the biologic section of the American Chemical Society in New York, April 22,1935.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Becoming Healthy with Wheatgrass



All of us should get back to good health, the natural and preventive way. In this day and age, getting sick can be expensive, or worse, might even cost you your job. So many products today give many promises but in my opinion, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Last year, I was introduced to this "miracle food" called wheatgrass. I consider myself a healthy person (at least that's what I thought) and my regular annual executive checkup was essentially "ok". I did find though that as I was getting older (I'm 37 years old now), my energy level wasn't the same as it used to be. My BMI (body mass index) was also above normal treshold, so I was a little overweight. My doctor wanted me to bring down my weight to 165 lbs from about 180 then. Ofcourse I thought it was a crazy idea, the last time I weighed that much was when I was still in college.




So I did consider trying wheatgrass, but didn't want the hassle of juicing it myself. Good that with the advent of technology, there was now a powder version of wheatgrass which you mix with water and drink straight up. I expected a really "grassy" taste, but to my surprise it wasn't that "grassy" :-). I also tried the powder version with honey and it gave a natural sweet taste.

Drinking wheatgrass first thing in the morning gave my body a certain "kick". I noticed that I was able to go through 10 hours in the day without a drop of energy, and the usual sleepy feeling after lunch wasn't there anymore. I also did notice that my bowel movement became more regular. After a month of drinking wheatgrass, I started to lose a few pounds ...

The active component of wheatgrass if you recall elementary science is Chlorophyll. Advocates call it the natural green blood, because of its resemblance to the chemical composition of Heme, our own blood. The similarity of the molecular structure between Chlorophyll and Heme results in the effective assimilation of phytonutrients by the body and makes it a powerful blood purifier




Why do they call it Miracle Food? Studies done show that 15lbs of wheatgrass is equivalent to eating 350lbs of veggies! Imagine that, it is difficult to eat that much vegetables but it is certainly easy to drink one glass of wheatgrass daily.







Wheatgrass has been used historically by patients of cancer and other diseases for years to get back to good health. Certainly, this topic is a controversial one but there are many many cases of testimonials around the world on this. I for one have met a Lupus survivor here in Manila, a 19-year old student who after using conventional medicine and burning through cash, she didn't get well. After taking wheatgrass twice a day for 5 months, she got healed!



My personal experience after 5 months of wheatgrass and doing a 3-Day Detox (more to this in another article) is I lost 20 lbs, and now back to a normal BMI of 24.75. And the reason I'm sharing this with you is because it really works!



To Good Health,

Wheatgrass Man