Now the true, odd tale of what I learned from a wheatgrass fanatic who put it straight in his eyeballs. But, what caused this man to be so tempted?

Wheatgrass is high in with nutritional benefits. Personally, I crave an ounce or two of wheatgrass now and then, which is in no way unusual. But, with all things, there are individuals who are thought of as normal and those who are by any definition radical about the ingredients that both parties find tempting wheatgrass, in this particular case. I'd like to think I'm of the normal, realistic crowd, who flocks to grasses for their nutritional potential.

What's so special about wheatgrass? Juicing wheatgrass provides you healthy doses of: chlorophyll, enzymes, minerals, and vitamins, each in potent amounts. It is thought that chlorophyll is good for your blood, because of its similar chemical makeup of your blood cells. The verdict is still out on that, as far as I am concerned, but no scientist can deny its nutritional potency for such a small amount taken. That's why I ingest wheatgrass so frequently; it's hard to take in anything that compares, in my opinion.

But, there are individuals among us juicers, who take things to a new dimension - like the day I was at my favorite health food store. They had an electric wheatgrass juicer on display. And a person was drinking a shot or two of wheatgrass. Nothing strange or out of place about this, right? But then he took out an eyedropper and put it in a third glass of wheatgrass juice and started using the eyedropper to place wheatgrass juice in his eyeballs. Oh, this has lots of minerals and vitamins, he said, as he attempted to keep his eyes open, tears of green, running down the sides of his face.

Here's another interesting, although in this case unusual, reason why I encourage you to talk to your health care provider before juicing. The common idea when one finds something that is especially good for them, is to do more of it. And while, logically, that may sound logical, it is not always a smart practice. Such as, in this example, putting juiced wheatgrass into your eye. Think what you like, but I only drink mine.

A different example of such thinking might be: let's say, you have been working out at the gym, and saw observable progress with weight training. After a few sessions lifting free weights, you began to see results. Now here, the fanatical weight lifter enthusiast in this example, might logically think that they can go from lifting one hundred pounds, to abruptly lifting three hundred pounds. That seems absurd, maybe? Not to mention dangerous to the point that it could do more harm than good.

With juicing in general, not just wheatgrass, it's smart to entertain the idea of starting off slow. When I first started juicing wheatgrass, I added about an ounce or two to my carrot juice. In about a 2 parts wheatgrass, to 8 parts carrot juice. I didn't feel so good when I tried to take in a shot or two straight, like I discovered other people doing at the local juice bar. So, even now, after years of juicing, I still take in it slowly with other juices added in mostly.

If you should venture into wheatgrass with your juicing, remember you can use a masticating juicer to get both the juice and benefits from grass and similar greens. Many people make the common mistake, thinking just any juicer will do. That's not true. Also, there are wheatgrass juicers. Wheatgrass juicers can be purchased as both electrical and hand crank, or manual models. Both will get the job done, but hand crank models often must be clamped on to the lip of a counter (and not all of today's modern kitchens can accommodate this). This hand crank could be viewed as a good thing, or a bad thing, as you get one heck of a workout, long before you ever see your first glass of wheatgrass.

Juicing wheatgrass is not for beginners: it's an acquired taste. It might be too strong to your body if you are not already healthy inside and out.