I very recently bought a copy of Barley Grass Juice by Barbara Simonsohn and have read just the first few pages. I have already learned a lot about barley grass, either the juice or the powder, in those few pages.

In the introduction the author shares that she learned about barley grass many years ago from a man named David who was juicing barley grass every day to deal with the symptoms of stomach cancer. As long as he drank a little of the juice every day he had no symptoms. That’s pretty cool. I heard from a friend that it helped him with his sensitive stomach, but stomach cancer is a whole different level.

I want to share just a little bit that this book says about barley grass.

“In Japan, barley grass powder is already the most popular food supplement.” I think just about everyone knows that the Japanese are among the healthiest people on our planet. Maybe there’s a connection?

Dr. Yoshihide Hagiwara, the man famous for barley grass, called barley grass powder “nature’s best fast food.” Just mix the powder with water and drink. You can’t get much easier than that.

This is the caption next to a picture of a small girl holding a handful of barley grass. “A supply of vital substances like barley grass juice (or extract) protects our children against disease and provides their bodies with everything that they need to strengthen its defensive and self-healing powers.”

She goes on to talk about how whole foods are more “biologically available” than synthetic vitamins. This is largely due to the fact that synthetic vitamins don’t provide the other chemicals that we need to assimilate those vitamins. Science is constantly identifying new substances in our food and assigning various benefits to them. For example, we have known about the essential vitamins and minerals for a long time. Sugary cereals have been fortified with them since before I was little. Things like “phytonutrients” and “bioflavonoids” on the other hand are fairly recent discoveries. That doesn’t mean that they haven’t been there all along, just that now science has identified them and associated various benefits to them. There are still plenty more chemicals in real food that science hasn’t yet identified, and who knows what benefits they have.

So, the gist of the first 8 pages of the book is that whole foods are much more effective than synthetic vitamins and that barley grass, whether as a fresh juice or a dried powder, is a very potent place to get a lot of the things that our bodies need to stay healthy.

My family takes Nikken’s Jade GreenZymes, an organic barley grass powder, just about every day. I love the stuff.

Wayne Woodworth

I write a new post about green barley grass powder every Spring, actually every Spring allergy season. The reason is that green barley grass is the BEST thing that I have found for dealing with my pollen allergies.

When I was younger I used to take one drug after another for my pollen allergies. I would take one noxious chemical for a few years until it no longer worked then I’d have to switch over to something else. I think by the time I was 13 I quit taking anything at all and just dealt with it. I would be miserable for a few weeks then it would be over.

A few years ago I was introduced to barley grass powder and I was amazed that it actually worked. If I take it two or three times a day then I don’t have the itchy eyes or the sneezing that go along with my allergies, but I’m not exactly the best at remembering to take my nutritional supplements every day. Fortunately, I have also found that if I take the green barley grass powder right when my eyes start to itch then about 30 minutes later I will have forgotten that I was having any allergy symptoms in the first place.

Also, unlike the drugs that I took when I was young, the green barley grass hasn’t lost any of its effectiveness in the 5 years I have been using it. How awesome is that?!

If you have been around here for a while then you already know that the barley grass powder that I use is Jade GreenZymes from Nikken. Jade GreenZymes is the one Nikken product available in the US and Canada that is grown and processed in Japan, so people are concerned about its safety and availability. You don’t have to worry, it’s all good. The barley grass had already been harvested, processed, and delivered to Nikken’s warehouses in California and Toronto before the earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear problems that Japan has faced.

One final thing. DISCLAIMER: I’m not a doctor and Nikken’s Jade GreenZymes green barley grass powder is a nutritional supplement. As such… *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Wayne Woodworth

Have you tried barley grass to handle your allergies?

I have had pollen allergies since I was just a year old and they got worse when I moved to Georgia, where the pollen is so thick in the Spring that everything turns a yellow-green color.  I quit taking any medication for my allergies when I was still young because every couple years I had to switch to something else as my body adapted to the medication and it became ineffective.  I have found that taking Nikken’s Jade GreenZymes barley grass supplement three times a day during pollen season almost completely takes care of it.  I have gone from having sinus congestion that lasts about 9 months a year to having clear sinuses all but maybe a few days a year.  It has been amazing.

In my training as a massage therapist I learned that a lot of our problems can be taken care of with food, and food is much safer than taking drugs.  Barley grass is one of nature’s perfect foods, along with blue green algae, so what better way to take care of your allergies.

Wayne Woodworth
Independent Nikken Wellness Consultant
Allergy free thanks to barley grass

Disclaimer: I am an Independent Nikken Wellness Consultant and massage therapist. None of my statements have been approved by either Nikken or the FDA. I do not diagnose conditions and I do not prescribe any product to treat a particular condition.

Have you had your nutritional supplements today?

There are a lot of wellness companies that promote nutritional products.  You probably know at least a few that sell some kind of juice, such as Monavie or Xango.  The problem with these companies in my opinion is that is all they sell, just one product.  Nikken has a fairly wide selection of nutritional supplements that target very specific areas, such as liver support, bone density, or immunity.

I want to talk about three of Nikken’s core nutritional products, Ciaga (a high antioxidant juice),  Jade GreenZymes (young green barley grass powder), and Immunity (a blend of 14 mushrooms with immunity boosting properties) and the effect they have had on my kids.

I have 2 young kids who are very healthy and almost never get sick, even during flu season.  They don’t get flu shots and are in preschool with other kids who seem to be sick all the time.  If they do get a little sick it is only a minor fever and congestion that lasts only a day or so.  I credit that to Nikken’s nutritional products, namely Ciaga juice, Jade Greenzymes barley grass, and the Immunity supplement.

For them we mix their nutritionals together into a “cocktail” that they seem to love.  It doesn’t take much, just an ounce of Ciaga, a teaspoon of barley grass, and the powder from one Immunity capsule stirred together with a little water.  My son will even run his finger around the inside of the cup to get the last drops out.  We do this once a day and it does a great job of keeping them healthy.

Wayne Woodworth
Independent Nikken Wellness Consultant
Father of Healthy Kids

Disclaimer: I am an Independent Nikken Wellness Consultant and massage therapist.  None of my statements have been approved by either Nikken or the FDA.  I do not diagnose conditions and I do not prescribe any product to treat a particular condition.  These are my opinions based on my experience with my family and the Nikken Nutritionals.