Except for the air you breathe, what you eat and drink is what makes up your whole body and makes it run. If you fill your body with junk, expect it to turn into junk. If you want to keep your body out of the junkyard, you need to pay some attention to what you put into your mouth because the food manufacturers are trying to fill you up with… yes, junk.
Perhaps this is why “greens” supplements have been taking the natural health world by storm the past few years. If you’re not on the bandwagon yet, you probably fall into one of two camps… 1) you haven’t heard of them… or 2) like a lot of folks, you don’t find green foods all that appetizing, so you put off giving them a try.
You may enjoy a loaded salad, but you’re not so sure about this superfood algae stuff. “Wheatgrass? Isn’t that for vegans?” No, and I’ll explain…
Let’s break down exactly what these supplements are, the benefits they can bring to your health, how to find one that suits you — and why even if you don’t think you’re a fan of the green stuff, you’ll fall in love with the super-easy way to round out your nutrition.
Let’s get started…
A greens supplement is generally a powder that you can mix into water, juice or even as an extra ingredient in your smoothie, depending on your tastes. They include veggies, grasses, fruits and other natural health foods that are distilled down into their most potent form.
Ingredients to look for are:
Grasses: These would include barley, oat, alfalfa and wheatgrass plus spirulina, broken cell wall chlorella and dulse leaf. It’s even better if these are fermented to boost vitamin levels and improve mineral absorption. These are nutrient powerhouses you’d be hard-pressed to work into your diet any other way.
Fruits and vegetables: Here you want a blend that includes not just any old fruit or vegetable, but superfoods such as kale, carrot, parsley, broccoli, spinach, apple, blueberry and black currant.
Fiber: Inulin, flaxseed fiber and gum acacia — a veritable fiber trifecta — are must-haves to enhance intestinal health and a greens drink is a great way to get them into your daily diet.
Antioxidants: Greens drinks may include potent sources of antioxidants to fight free radical damage and oxidative stress linked to the development of numerous chronic diseases.
Enzymes and probiotics: One of the jobs of greens drinks is to optimize gut health and they couldn’t do that without a healthy blend of digestive enzymes and natural gut microbes.
Of course, not every greens supplement will deliver all of the ingredients above, but the best will.
Greens drinks promote good health and support your overall wellness in numerous ways…
#1 — Enhanced Immune System
Greens supplements that contain probiotics work to boost your gut health (the seat of your immune system), so taking a daily dose could mean big benefits when it comes to warding off all of those germs you come into contact with every day.
And with a healthy blend of fruits, veggies and grasses, the drink will offer potent levels of vitamins A and C for even better immune support.
#2 — Antioxidant Support
As we mentioned earlier, the antioxidants found in greens supplements (both in their antioxidant blend and in the fruits, veggies and grasses) guard against free radical damage, which leads to inflammation, and from there to chronic disease.
This alone is reason enough to make a greens supplement drink part of your daily regimen — since it’s widely accepted that inflammation is behind the majority of human diseases from heart disease, and diabetes, to Alzheimer’s.
#3 — Better Blood Pressure
Taking a greens powder supplement may even help you maintain healthy blood pressure.
That’s because a study using two tablespoons per day of a greens powder found that it had the power to reduce both systolic and diastolic pressure by approximately 8 percent.
#4 — Alkalinity
Regular consumption of a greens drink also helps to balance your body’s pH.
You see, while at birth, your body is naturally alkaline, over time it shifts into acidity. And the more you’re exposed to unhealthy foods, chemicals and daily stress, the more acid you become.
Luckily, greens are alkaline by nature and can help reverse that shift so that you can get back to a healthy alkaline state — one that can even be measured in the pH of your urine. By making this shift back to alkaline, you can help optimize your body’s excretion of toxins to better fight off chronic disease.
All chlorophyll products build the blood and powerfully alkalize the body system. The only difference between chlorophyll and human blood is that the center of the chlorophyll molecule is magnesium and human blood is iron. Different types of chlorophyll available are freshwater algae, seaweed, spirulina, wheatgrass, barley grass and alfalfa… all part of a good greens drink.
Clearly, taking a daily greens supplement could be one of the best things you do for your health.
But which one should you choose?
First, it’s important to look for one that includes all of the ingredients and blends we talked about in the first section. After all, if you’re going to take a supplement daily, you want to get all of its possible benefits.
Second, make sure it’s fermented for improved bioavailability.
Third, since we are talking about grasses, vegetables and fruits, you want to make sure it’s organic so that you’re not putting toxic chemicals into your body and worsening your health instead of improving it. This particular point is why I chose Peak Organic Alkalizing Greens™. Not only does it meet every one of those criteria, but it’s also lightly sweetened with stevia so that with just one scoop in water or juice you can create a delicious, healthy drink with no pills to swallow.
I don’t like to visit the grocery store too often, and we all know leafy greens and sprouts don’t last that long, even in the crisper. That’s another reason why the convenience of powdered greens is a godsend.
Bob Livingston
