Let’s Talk About…Chlorophyll

Here’s a flashback to sixth grade science class: Let’s talk about chlorophyll! Yes, the matter that turns sunlight into energy for plants.

Did you know that chlorophyll is chemically very similar to human blood? The difference is that instead of iron as its core atom, chlorophyll’s core atom is magnesium.

When I broke my kneecap over the summer, I went into geeky research mode to figure out every little advantage and bio-hack I could find to help it heal more quickly. I ended up stumbling on the benefits of chlorophyll for lots of things, including growth and repair of tissues. In addition to a cocktail of high dose turmeric, vitamin C, fish oil, and a supplement called Capraflex,ditching gluten and really focusing on a super clean diet, I added in liquid chlorophyll into my routine to help put some pep in the step of my internal worker bees.

Now, I can’t really say if the chlorophyll has done much for the bone and tissue healing directly, but I can say that when I use it, I feel fantastic! I really think the combination of all the things I’m doing has definitely helped with the bone healing and recovery, though, and this was just one component.

A couple of tablespoons in some hot water make a mild tea-like drink with the punch of a cup of coffee. I learned early on not to have it too close to bedtime or sleeping would be a challenge, and I can pretty much sleep anywhere.

Interestingly, the bottle advertises that liquid chlorophyll is an “internal deodorizer,” and is more marketed towards folks that may be heavy sweaters or have breath issues, but, in researching it, I found out that chlorophyll has tons of benefits, including:

• Neutralizing the pollution that we breathe in and intake everyday – a good supplement for smokers.
• Efficiently delivering magnesium and helps the blood in carrying the much needed oxygen to all cells and tissues.
• It is also found to be useful in assimilating and chelating calcium and other heavy minerals
• It had been seen to have a good potential in stimulating red blood cells to improve oxygen supply.
• Along with other vitamins such as A, C and E, chlorophyll has been seen to help neutralize free radicals that do damage to healthy cells.

–>Source of above stats, that has plenty more where those came from.

So, what does it taste like? Honestly, not much of anything. When made in my hot tea configuration noted above, it’s very reminiscent of…hot tea!

Different brands use different greens as the source, but I like one made from alfalfa called Chlorofresh, which comes in regular or mint. I haven’t tried the mint, but regular is quite fine. You can find it on Amazon or a health food store like Whole Foods in the supplement section.

Of course, whole green plant foods are the ultimate source of chlorophyll. But, if you want to add something above and beyond your big salad and green smoothie, consider giving liquid chlorophyll a try.

What do you think? Have you tried it? Or, will you?