Sweet Green
By Vesta Copestakes

I was warned about this stuff right from the start. “Don’t take it after 2 PM or you’ll be up all night.” Sounded more like a warning about Espresso! So, of course, I had to try it after 2. But not when I was full of energy. I tried it when I was getting drifty after hours at the computer when I just couldn’t get my enthusiasm up to where it belonged. Normally, I’d brew a cup of coffee with some trepidation because I KNOW it keeps me up! So this time, I thought I’d try Dyna-Green’s freeze-dried wheat grass juice.

It’s a rather lovely color, a rich dark green. I’m used to drinking green things in my morning power drink, so the thought of dropping a teaspoon of fine green powder in a glass of water didn’t appall me. But I’m not one to drink this stuff plain. I like it mixed with juice and yogurt and fresh fruit to mask the “I’m a happy cow in my field” sensation. But this jar instructed me to NOT mix it with acidic substances so that nixed the orange or pineapple juice I am accustomed to. I dropped it in water and watched it mix quickly and smoothly, OK, what the heck – down the hatch!

Hmmm – it tastes kind of sweet! I can’t describe it as pleasant, but it certainly isn’t unpleasant. It lives in a neutral taste zone. Now to feel it’s effects. It didn’t take long to feel my energy come back, but so differently than coffee’s effects. Coffee tends to have an edge that zooms in from left field and makes me a feel a bit wired. Not this wheat grass juice. It’s calm and centered. Very different. I found it easy to feel focused on my work yet not at all restless. This is good!

Dyna’Green’s powder is recommended as an every day event. That makes sense for taking advantage of its cell repairing benefits. One of the distinct advantages of this freeze dried product over the fresh tray-grown grass you can get at juice bars (aside from the convenience of drinking it at home!), is that these grasses are grown under natural conditions, which by the nature of nature, means these young plants are put through the stresses of everyday life in a field. They have to deal with harsh sunlight, blustering winds, pouring rains and other hazards that put them under stress.

One of the wonders of nature is that being under stress requires the plant to develop systems to repair the damage, to regenerate cells. Consuming a plant that has gone through this stress passes on those cell-repairing processes. Since there is hardly a human alive who isn’t under some stress, this is a real advantage.

And, tray-grown plants are harvested very young, before they even have a chance to get stressed, even if they could in a tray under ideal conditions! So they never get the chance to develop these beneficial defense mechanisms. Dyna-Green waits until the plants have experienced stress, but while they are still young and tender, before they harvest the grasses. This taste-test lets them know that the plants have developed sufficient defense mechanisms to pass on these benefits to humans. But they can’t be old either or they wouldn’t be passing on the vitality of their youth. So it’s a matter of timing. Get them after they have gone through some paces and before they start showing any signs of age. Think of it as harvesting at puberty, before the plant starts putting its energy into reproduction, but after it’s lost some of its baby flesh.

As most people know by now, the next best thing to eating a fresh, uncooked vegetable is to eat a quick-frozen one. The longer a vegetable sits around after being harvested, the less nutrients it contains. Cook it and you lose even more. So Dyna-Green harvests their grasses while they are young and vibrant, gently extracts their juices and then quickly freezes the juice. Then, under low temperatures and an oxygen-free environment, the frozen juice is dried. This method preserves the vitamins, enzymes and other phytochemicals.

Why is freeze-drying better than either fresh juice or traditionally dried wheat grass? Most drying is done with heat at high temperatures. The heat damages vitamins and enzymes as does the oxygen in this environment. It simply kills off part of what you are consuming this product for. Freeze-drying is at temperatures below zero where there is no damage to the nutrients. Fresh juiced grass is simply grown under such controlled environments that it never gets the added advantage of producing cell regenerating properties, and besides, you can’t get it at home without growing it yourself and that’s a pain!

So here’s a product that’s easier and better than a kitchen garden, more nutritious than competitive dried grasses, and the end result is that it even tastes better! Heck, if you’re going to consume wheat grass, this is the way to go!

Now there’s one more thing to know about Dyna-Green’s freeze-dried wheat grass. It turns out that enzyme and phytochemical activity quickly degrades when the pure dry crystals are exposed to oxygen and moisture in the air. That’s not good. BUT, if you add a bit of soluble carbohydrate, in this case over-cooked rice, to coat the juice particles as they dry, the particles become protected as they dry. Amazing! Water dissolves the coating so all those goodies in the grass juice are available. And the added benefit is that the rice adds a bit of sweetness to the whole flavor, so it not only protects, but also enhances the product. Now this is science at its best!

So when you drink a glass of Dyna-Green’s wheat grass juice, you are drinking young, vital plants in the prime of their life. Since we already know that consuming bad hormones and chemicals has an impact on our health, just think of what consuming good stuff does. It’s not just the vitamins. In this case it’s also the cell-regenerating properties as well. So much of why we exercise, eat right and sleep well is to make sure that our cells are given the best nutrients, etc. to regenerate as healthy cells, thereby prolonging our healthy lives.

After a month of drinking this stuff every day, I can definitely say that I can feel the difference. And just to be a good scientist, I stopped drinking my morning power drink so I could be a clean subject. Now I’m going to try them both and see what happens. I’m not fond of getting old, as most people aren’t, and I like feeling vital and full of energy. It just makes me think better as well as feel better. So why not? From what I can tell, Dyna-Green’s freeze-dried wheat grass juice really helps. It certainly helps me stay up late and work late into the night without the negative effects of coffee, and that alone is a real benefit!

Dyna-Green’s freeze-dried wheat grass is available at Whole Foods Markets and directly from Dyna-Green at 1-877-Dyna-Green (1-877-396-2473) or at www.dyna-green.com. It is grown is the hills of West Sonoma County, Sebastopol, California.

Order one 2.5 oz bottle of Dyna-Green Freeze-Dried Wheat Grass
 for Only $21.95 (30 servings)