Let’s face it: the word “superfood” has become overused. This title, which was originally intended for foods whose nutritional value considerably exceeded that of the average fruit or vegetable, seems to be attached to almost any natural food these days. Mainstream health magazines are particularly guilty of this abuse, often preferring to use “superfood” as a marketing term rather than an objective declaration of nutritiousness. That said, there are a small number of foods that…
Barley is a major grain that was one of the first cultivated grains, and remains the fourth most cultivated cereal grain in the world. Matured barley is commonly used in beer production, and as animal feed. Young barley shoots, however, are consumed almost exclusively as a health food, and for good reason: research suggests that these gluten-free shoots, which are called barley grass and typically consumed in juiced for powdered form, contain a huge number…
Wheatgrass is a gluten-free food prepared from the young shoots of the wheat plant, Triticum aestivum, which grows in temperate regions throughout Europe and the United States. Consumption of wheatgrass only became popular in the Western world in the 1930s, when an American chemist, Charles L. Schnabel (now known as the “father of wheatgrass”), began to popularize it. Schnabel became well-known in the 1940s for stating that “fifteen pounds of wheatgrass is equal in overall…
Spirulina is a type of green algae that grows in fresh water bodies. It is a survivor plant which, unlike most flora, is able to withstand considerable temperature variations and still thrive. It is cultivated worldwide and has been harvested as a food source for thousands of years. According to David Wolfe, author of the excellent book, Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the Future, spirulina is one of the most nutritious foods in the…
Chlorella is a single-celled, green algae that grows in the sunniest parts of freshwater bodies. According to Dr. Beth M. Ley, author of the book Chlorella: The Ultimate Green Food, it is one of the Earth’s oldest living organisms, and has been harvested as a food source for thousands of years. However, a true understanding of chlorella’s nutritional value only emerged in the 20th century, when Western scientists began to study its chemical composition. By…
