Clean and Green - Kickstart with Chlorella
So we're staying on our green theme with this article today. We’re doing this because IT’s SO IMPORTANT and we want you to live a long, healthy and energy abundant life!
Phytonutrients give foods their colours, flavours and aromas and include substances like carotenoids and flavonoids. These essential building blocks of life are linked to prevention of certain diseases including cancer. We explore this area with an article below from our wonderful contributor Elizabeth McQuillan.
Chlorella is a great addition to any smoothie and adds super green colour
A visit to the local health shop leaves those of us without qualifications in herbology or supplement-ology pretty lost. Potions, tinctures, capsules and tablets – that are presumably meant to be good for us in one way or another – vie for position on the groaning shelves.
Most recently I had noticed an upsurge in the selection of green pondweed products. Chlorella seems to be flying off the shelves, and I did wonder what the heck the stuff actually does. The Japanese have known about the benefits for years, and actually cultivate their freshwater weed.
Algae are eukaryotes, with the contents of their cells parcelled into membrane shrink-wrapped organelles. The green slime acts as an effective powerhouse; capturing energy from sunlight during photosynthesis and reproducing at a phenomenal rate.
Chlorella is a slimy “superfood”.
Discovered in the 1950s by a Japanese scientist, chlorella growth factor (CGF) is an extract of the green freshwater alga, chlorella. Its cells divide themselves into four every 20 to 24 hours, and it is thought that the substance that allows this rapid expansion is CGF, which is produced during photosynthesis and makes up just 3 – 5% of the alga.
Significantly, CGF is believed to contain high levels of the nucleic acids RNA and DNA (our genetic fingerprints). The significance here is that as you age, your production of RNA and DNA slows down, and this growth factor is thought to kick-start the body’s ability for cell renewal. We can consume RNA and DNA in a range of foods, but chlorella is by far one of the richest supplies of the nutrient, containing 17 times more RNA than sardines.
Japanese scientists in the 1960s carried out tests that also suggested CGF may promote the tissue repair. After giving schoolchildren two grams of chlorella on a regular basis, after 112 days they discovered the children had grown faster and gained more weight than others who were not taking the algae. Since the same substances and processes that accelerate growth in children are thought to also promote the repair of tissue damage in adults, the scientists concluded that CGF has the ability to stimulate the body’s healing processes.
Chlorella can help to heal specific conditions of cellular breakdown such as ulcers, promote healing and repair in injury and illness, as well as boosting the good bacteria in the gut.
You can pick Chlorella up in various forms (tablets and powder) from health food shops. Amazon UK supply a number of products as well and our UK readers and get them via the links below.
#respectyourtemple
