I took a wheatgrass shot every day for three weeks and couldn’t believe what happened

A few years ago when the green juice phase landed from LA and everyone was slowly being Goop’d, my kitchen was awash with packs of green powder – chlorophyll, spirulina, matcha, wheatgrass, you name it, I was scooping it into everything. Then the next fad caught my eye and I’d pretty much forgotten all about my mean green obsession – despite being a vegetarian.

Then a friend started reminiscing about how she used to take wheatgrass shots every morning and they made her feel more energised and her hangovers were never as bad. After a summer celebrating a plethora of friends’ 40^th’s and a diet made up more of beige than brights, I thought why not give it a go. And so my experiment started…

Why wheatgrass?

Kate Moss, Drew Barrymore, Angelina Jolie, Jen An – they’ve all spoken about how they’re on board with necking a shot of wheatgrass on the daily. And, as a society who wants everything for nothing – that’s also what wheatgrass offers us. “One 30ml wheatgrass shot is known to be the equivalent of 2.5lbs of vegetables, that’s like your week’s veg in one shot,” explains Harri Grewal, owner of Big Juice Ltd who deliver frozen, readymade shots of the green stuff across the UK direct to your door. “Wheatgrass is also rich in chlorophyll – which is why it’s so green and is packed with vitamins, minerals and essential amino acids that our body requires. In today’s modern diet, most people will find it difficult to get the essential vitamins and minerals we need from our food so this offers an alternative.”

The cocktail of nutrients it contains is also the perfect prescription for purification and not only is it said to help with detoxifying and purifying the liver; it regulates blood sugar and digestion and because it’s high in antioxidants it can fight the free radicals that cause ageing. The chlorophyll is also a known antibacterial powerhouse and because of this, wheatgrass supplements are sometimes recommended to those suffering from acne, eczema and/or psoriasis.

With hefty claims, I was in. Although I nearly backed out after shot numero uno.

How to take wheatgrass

You can buy wheatgrass as a powder, tablet or liquid but I always remember speaking to a nutritionist who said to take any supplement in its purest form and that sometimes the process of turning a raw material into a powder would diminish some of its nutritional benefits, which is why I opted for readymade frozen shots. It also made it easy to slot into my morning routine and because they were delivered in one batch straight to my door, there was zero effort on my part.

The best time to take wheatgrass is first thing in the morning on an empty stomach as it allows the body to digest and absorb the maximum benefits. So, on day one, I took the lid off my shot and smelt it. Warning: do not do this if you don’t want to heave. It took me straight back to my dad used to mow the lawn and then empty the wet mushy remnants left in mower into the field behind our house. In short – it has an aroma of soggy grass.