Everything You Need To Know About Greens Powders (FREE Podcast!)

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By James Colquhoun and Yuri Elkhaim 

A little while back I sent my good friend Yuri Elkhaim (Super Nutrition Academy) one of our brand new Food Matters Superfood Greens powders to try and he was so impressed with the blend that he invited me to talk more about greens powders and what amazing benefits you can get from incorporating them into your diet.

Below is my dear friend Yuri's free podcast, and a transcribe for those that aren't able to stream it. I hope that it answers all the questions you might have about why greens powders are so important for your health, and what to look out for when buying a greens powder.

Enjoy!!

In good health,

James Colquhoun

Episode #70- Super Nutrition Academy with Yuri Elkhaim

James Colquhoun and I discuss the best greens powder on the market and why greens are so important

Yuri: Hey, guys, Yuri Elkaim here. Welcome to another episode of the Super Nutrition Academy Health Class. Today we are joined by my good friend, an inspiring man, James Colquhoun. He is the producer and the man behind two incredible documentary movies that you may have seen or maybe not have seen, called Food Matters and Hungry for Change.

Now, before we go any further before I bring him on, both these movies are, they’ve taken the health world by storm. They’re currently available on Netflix. You can also go to FoodMatters.com to check out Food Matters and HungryForChange to check out Hungry for Change. I have both these movies at home. I actually saw both movies before I even knew James, and I was just like, “This is incredible stuff.”

We’re going to talk with James today about some really cool stuff. Without any further ado, welcome.

James: Yuri, thank you. It’s a pleasure to be speaking with you and great to have known your work for a number of years and to have more recently gotten to see you and meet you in person. Lovely to be speaking.

Yuri: Absolutely, likewise. I’m pretty thrilled because what you guys have done with Hungry for Change and Food Matters is really incredible. You’ve really, I think, raised the awareness and consciousness of a lot of the stuff that maybe a smaller segment of the population knows about, but you guys have done a great job at getting this out to such a mass audience. I just want to commend you on that.

James: Thanks. I really appreciate that coming from yourself. It was born out of a passion of us wanting to help get this message to my father. As you said, there is a group of us that has access to this and understands this information, but in the information age that we live in, there is literally so much information that’s fed to us on a daily basis.

But film became a great medium for us to be able to deliver this specific type of information to help people really take charge of their health and be able to access it through Netflix or iTunes or on DVD at home. It’s really something that we are passionate about.

Yuri: Yeah. I love these kinds of movies because a lot of times, we’ll ask people, like our followers on Facebook: What’s a challenge this week that we can help you overcome? Where’s an area of motivation that you need? A lot of times it’ll be people saying, “I need a little bit of inspiration or something just to get back into healthy eating,” or something along those lines.

These kinds of movies are just exactly what I would recommend for someone like that because if you’re in a bit of a funk and you need that little kick in the butt or that bit of inspiration, watching Food Matters or Hungry for Change is exactly the type of movie. Again, it’s only about an hour or so, so it’s not too long. It’s a perfect amount of inspiration to get you back on the healthy bandwagon.

James: And I totally agree. That was really what inspired my father to heal. Not many people know the back story behind why we created Food Matters, which was the first documentary we did. My father was five years bedridden with severe chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, and anxiety had to sell his business. Basically, he gave up a lot of his life because of his illness.

The best the medical profession could offer was about six different medications that they were constantly trialing different concoctions, hoping that they would find one, the magic ratio of all these medications in order to alleviate his symptomatology, but that never became true. He continued to spiral downward with his health.

It wasn’t until we were able to bring this information to him in the way that the films did and, on top of that, get into his kitchen and make some really active changes and really clean up his diet. That’s what I’m excited to speak with you about today as well, Yuri; what are some of the things we did with him that really helped him and some of our top recommendations to people looking to transform their health.

Yuri: Yeah, absolutely. Let’s jump into this because I’m really excited, well, I’m kind of excited and anxious at the same time, because you sent me one of your new greens powders that you guys have just come out with. We spoke about this in New York, and I was just like this is incredible because one of the dilemmas that I have faced which was, greens powders, first of all, the cost in a lot of cases can be very expensive and kind of out of the reach for a lot of people.

But also, secondly, the quality of greens powders are such that they’re not very palatable; it’s just like this really kind of fibrous dust in water that never really dissolves. What you guys have come out with is just an incredible greens powder. I’ve actually told a lot of people that have been asking us about this. They’re like, “When is this coming out? When can we get it?” I’m like, “Well, let me speak to James, and hopefully, we can get it out there to you guys.”

Why did you guys develop a line of greens powders? You have the documentaries; you have a great recipe guide that kind of supports that as well. Why did you come up with a greens powder? And what is the importance of greens in your eyes?

James: That’s great, Yuri, an excellent question. I think that the greens for us in particular, especially for me personally, is such a powerful way to be able to really transform the bad chemistry of our blood and our system and really help support health in a very instantaneous-like fashion.

As Jason Vale says from the Hungry for Change film, juicing—and when I say juicing, I talk about fresh-vegetable juicing, vegetables-and-fruit juicing, plus also juice powders that you mix into water—when you drink these liquid products—or smoothies, even, for that matter, but smoothies a bit less so with the fiber—but when you drink these sort of food products that we can liquefy and drink, they bypass our digestion for the most part and go directly into our bloodstream.

This is particularly important for people that may have some gut issues. There’s a lot of leaky gut syndrome these days. A lot of people don’t have optimal digestion; we’re not eating the fermented foods and the cultured foods that we know are so supportive of digestive health in the volumes that we may have used to do, say, a hundred years ago. And we’ve got a lot more fried foods and toxins, so as our digestion capabilities have been impaired because of the modern-food landscape, we are needing to turn more toward these liquefied products that can help get into our bloodstream and bypass our digestion and help to really get those nutrients right into the cells where they need to be.

For me personally, one of the things that started my health journey was 2003, I went to the Tony Robbins conference, and on the fourth day, he started speaking about alkalinity. That was really fascinating to me. About two or three years before that, I had an experience where…this was over ten years ago now that I’m speaking about. I had an experience where I had really severe acid reflux, I had indigestion, and my family doctor—who is no longer my family doctor as of about that same time period as well—recommended some medications for me which would suppress the over-acidification of my stomach.

On his advice, I’d started taking these medications. This is five years prior to making Food Matters. I took these medications and then my prescription ran out, and my symptomatology came back immediately.

I started doing some research about acid-alkaline and about how important it is to be alkaline in your bloodstream and in your body and how the symptoms of being over acidic were exactly the symptoms that I was experiencing. I took a look at my diet, and I was eating heavy foods, cooked foods, a lot of acidifying foods, and not much on the alkaline side.

Then I started researching what are the most alkaline foods known to man. It’s like cucumbers, green, leafy vegetables, all those things your grandma tells you to eat. And one of the other things they talk about is the grass powders and the grass juice powders. If you go to a health-food store, you see it there, the fresh wheatgrass shots that people are having. These are some of the most alkaline foods that we can have on the planet.

The first thing I did was, I went to a health-food store and bought some barley grass powder. I would mix this into the water, which is the same as wheatgrass powder or alfalfa-grass powder; they’re all similar family, similar production. Mixed it into the water, started drinking it, cleaned up my diet, and since that time I’ve never had any reflux or any problems with my digestion.

That was huge for me and it was huge, again, for my dad in being able to heal him. It’s one of our most recommended turn-to. It’s like have a fresh-vegetable green juice in the morning or have some sort of grass juice powder product. That’s a big thing for us.

Yuri: Yeah, it’s the ultimate coffee. Thankfully, a lot of my listeners, I continue to preach the importance of green juicing and greens in general. My utopian reality would be the day where, instead of people walking around with a Starbucks, they’re walking around with a green juice. I think that would be just incredible.

James: That would be amazing. Let’s hope that maybe a reality one day soon. As public consciousness and demand grows for these things, I have this shimmering optimism that McDonald’s and Starbucks might save us. They might be the first people to make green juices available to the masses, so let’s keep that optimism. I think it’s a nice thing to have.

Yuri: Yeah, definitely. I think, actually, some of the Starbucks in the U.S. were starting so—I don’t know if they’ve done this or they are contemplating doing it—they’re actually going to be introducing juice-and-smoothie bars in some of their locations. I don’t know if that’s actually a myth or if that’s become a reality, but I think it would be pretty cool nonetheless.

James: It would be fantastic. I know some people that have been speaking to the founders of Starbucks about that, so I’m also optimistic about that, so fingers crossed.

Yuri: Yeah, no kidding. That’d be great. My issue, a lot of the stuff that I talk about really, like yourself, has a foundation with alkalinity within the blood because that’s really where everything starts.

The problem…it’s not that it’s a problem, but I think one of the obstacles to overcome is that there’s very sparse scientific literature that supports that, so when you start talking about, even if you were to talk about this with medical doctors or if one of your clients or people that you advocate this stuff to takes this information and talks about this with their doctor, their doctors would be like, “The acid-alkaline stuff, there’s nothing supporting it.”

I remember there was an article written by, I don’t know if it was a medical doctor or registered dietitian where they were talking about the acid-alkaline balance and how they don’t recommend it. This was actually on the Mayo Clinic or one of those big kinds of institutional sites. They said they didn’t recommend an alkaline diet because there was very little research behind it. I was like, well, if you’re not recommending an alkaline diet, what’s the alternative?

James: Exactly.

Yuri: What are you recommending, right? How do you position this, or how do you discuss this with people to maybe open their minds to the power of this?

James: Great. I think that, first of all, we need to have our head in science and we need to have our head out of science. I think that if you really, really go deep into the science, you’ll quickly discover that there is more conflicting information in scientific research than in any other area and nutrition is at the cornerstone of that.

As consumers and as people and as you and I in the health field, you will know that over the last ten-plus years that we’ve been researching and in this space, we’ve been bombarded with “This is working. Oh no, now that doesn’t’ work; this is working. Now that doesn’t work; this is working.”

There’s constant back-and-forth and I think that science will always go to prove what they want it to prove at that point in time. I think that there is an element of science which is really, but there is an element which we need to sort of get away from. We need to have our feet in both camps. I think that can both serve us.

With regards to alkalinity, I think there has been some research showing that it’s very positive, and there have some people that are naysayers. I think that what we need to look at is we need to just look at our understanding of the human body. I think if we refer back to that, it’s such a great sounding board. I think this refers to a few different platforms, and I think alkalinity, this is a great place to start from.

And also from the sense of beneficial bacteria and probiotics and so forth. There is less research in that space, but when you look at how the body works, you’re like, “Oh, that makes sense. Let’s fit in with that.”

Yuri: Exactly.

James: So, alkalinity, the body works fantastically in an alkaline environment and less optimally in an acidic environment. One thing I want to say about the acid-alkaline and the alkaline diets, I know a few of the biggest people in the alkaline diet world, and I really, strongly promote alkalinity, but I feel we need to always have balance in what we do.

I’m not trying to make excuses for eating a balanced diet that people say, and they just think chips and Slurpees and large Coca-Colas are part of a balanced diet; that’s not true. A balanced diet is something that is balanced in the sense of natural foods.

There are certain natural foods that are acidic. Animal products are generally acidic; some dairies are acidic, although some of the fermented, raw kefirs are alkaline. There are certain products that are natural, like mushrooms, for instance, and fungi are acidic, but I think they can be used most certainly in a great way within a diet.

The benefits of alkalinity, though, are when you feel it in your body. I think to take science out of it, take anything out of it. If you move toward an alkaline diet and especially introducing the green juices and/or the grass juice powders, the product that we’ve developed, you introduce them for a period of a time once a day or you do more of an alkaline program for maybe having five of these a day, you will dramatically feel an increase in your body.

Your body will vibrate at a whole different level, and you will feel better for it. That’s the power of having an alkaline system. I think to use science but use your body as the ultimate testing ground and you will see how that feels.

Yuri: Totally. I absolutely agree. That’s the biggest thing. It doesn’t matter what the latest scientific study shows or what your doctor says; it’s how you feel. If you experience something and you feel pretty euphoric—not in the sense if you do cocaine, because cocaine will make you feel, I guess, a certain way, and it’s not necessarily good for you.

But with this stuff, it’s so profound, as you said. It really spans the spectrum of not only energy and vitality but like what you said with acid reflux and digestive issues. It really is, I don’t want to use the term cure-all, but it is such a profound and simple strategy for people to incorporate. Even if they did nothing else with their diet, just adding greens in, it’d be so powerful.

James: Exactly, and I think that that’s where health gets really great when you can focus on things that build your body that has systemic effects all throughout your body. I think that alkalinity is certainly one of those, and re-colonizing your boy with powerful probiotics is another one of those. Those two things together I think, as well.

And really dense, nutrient-rich superfoods. For instance, you add them into your diet, you’re building something that will affect so many systems within your body, and you’re building something that will support so many health benefits within your body. I think that’s great to be able to have access to that now more than ever. I think we have great accessibility because of the awesome health food stores we’ve got and the co-ops and other programs and Web sites like yourself.

Yuri: We talked about greens, alkalinity, you’ve mentioned probiotics; we’ll come back to that in a second. One of the things we wanted to discuss, which I think ties in perfectly with both of those subjects, is the notion of cravings.

I think a lot of people are held back in terms of healthy eating because they’re conditioned to eat certain things or they have physiological cravings to sugar or chocolate or to whatever. What is the power of; let’s look at both greens and maybe probiotics as well in their role in helping people overcome cravings?

James: I think that this is fascinating to me and cravings are such a powerful topic and it really gets people engaged because people realize that they have cravings. For most people in the U.S.—I know for sure in living here as well—people crave sugar a lot of the time.

When people start to do some research on it, there are great books out there about it, we talk a lot about it in Hungry for Change, the film, as well, that as we’re eating more sugar than we ever have done before, it sends us into these ups and downs and then we’re craving every three hours that next sugar hit or that soda or that chocolate bar.

We’re stuck on that bandwagon and that affects us physically and that especially affects us emotionally and we have these mood swings as well. Cravings are a very real issue.

A lot of people say they trust their body. I know that you’ve probably heard this, Yuri, as well. “Don’t tell me what to eat. My body tells me exactly what I need to eat. I just need a soda right now. I just need this right now.” And it’s true; people say that with absolute conviction. They say, “I’m really in tune with my body. I know what it wants.”

What I’ve got to say to that is that I respect that, but we are not our body. This is a really fascinating concept. We think we are our skin and our organs and our brain and we’re so intelligent. We are really an intelligent and interesting creature. We’re one trillion cells that are working together to keep us alive and eat and interact and do our work, but the really interesting notion is that we are ten…

Hello, to you, Yuri, we just got cut out.

Yuri: Yeah, no worries. Just go back to where you were talking about what we’re a trillion cells. You got to cut out there.

James: Okay, perfect. Here we go. We think we are our bodies, but, in fact, we are one trillion cells. We are ten trillion bacteria.

We are really an organism that just carries around bacteria. When you start to eat, when you have a diet that is over-acidic, that has lots of sugary foods and has lots of cooked foods, then your bacteria shifts to yeast and fungi forms in that over acidic environment, and those bacteria crave on your behalf the things that are not healthy for you but are healthy for those forms of bacteria and that’s more sugar, more bread, more pasta, more sweets. And you think that you are craving those, but it’s your bacterial environment that is craving those things.

As you shift your bacterial environment and you eat and drink more of those alkaline foods—the green juices, the green drinks, and the more plant-based foods—and you alkalize and cleanse your body—you’re still allowed to have some of the acidic foods, that’s fine, but have more of the alkaline foods plus, at the same time, colonate your body with very powerful probiotic, fermented, friendly bacteria that we’ve all heard so much about in the media but the really good-quality, organic yogurts, fermented sauerkraut, kimchi, kefirs, properly fermented misos, all these incredible, powerful fermented traditional foods we have access to. Now, you do that, you literally shift the environment of the bacteria in your body from the yeast-fungi forms into the more natural forms of healthy colonized bacteria.

And then note your cravings when you’re in that space. You do not crave sugar; you do not crave bread. You crave sweet broccoli with lemon juice and a bit of olive oil. That tastes sweet to you because your flavor sensations change when you’re in that space as well.

I think it’s such a fascinating thing to be a part of that and to help people understand that when they shift their bacteria in their internal environment, they’ll shift their cravings and their favorite foods change. That’s a really fascinating discussion.

Yuri: The amazing part, too, is that when they experience that, it’s almost like, wow, and then they realize that they were addicted to those foods before. Maybe there was maybe a little bit of a sense of denial initially, but once they’ve kind of seen the light and experienced the other side, they can look back and be like, “Wow, I can’t believe I was drinking that much sugar,” or whatever the foods that they were addicted to.

I think there’s a great sense of power and control to that because I think a lot of us lose a sense of control with respect to what we eat because we feel compelled by these urges or these cravings. When you can give somebody back that sense of control to, “You know what? I see that piece of chocolate cake, but I don’t even want it. I know how I feel when I eat that, but I feel so much better when I have this instead.” I think that’s such a great place for people to be in, and it’s just a matter of really experiencing that for people to get that and understand it.

James: Absolutely, and I think that it’s also great for people to realize that the cravings they had were natural given the environment of their body. You can equally say that when people are cleansed and alkalized and have good fermented bacteria in their system, they’re addicted to healthy food.

Addiction is probably not a great word; addiction should be potentially rephrased to a natural reaction to foods that are I your environment because of the internal environment of your body. I think if we look at it like that, then it’s like, great, let’s shift the internal environment and then that’s going to shift our cravings.

Yuri: Awesome. We just shared some really cool stuff about greens and naturally fermented foods. I’m a huge fan of good bacteria. Out of curiosity, for myself as well as the benefit of our listeners, what does a typical day look like for you foodwise? How do you incorporate these different foods into your day?

James: Okay, that’s a great question. I think that for a lot of people in health—and I know it’s probably the same for yourself, Yuri, and potentially a lot of your listeners—our understanding of nutrition and health evolves as our access to information evolves, but then what actually happens is we’re getting closer to an original way of eating that fits in with how we’re biologically adapted to eat, which was really up to, even a few hundred years ago and then stretching back for 10 thousand, 20 thousand years. And I think that as I’m learning more, I’m getting back into more of those traditional foods, which incorporates traditional aspects but also some more recently domesticated aspects of our food consumption.

Typically, a day for me starts with, in the morning, hydration, so water and some sort of green juice or green drink. The green juice will be celery, cucumber, kale, and then I’ll either just, for me personally, I just like it with a little bit of lemon or lime and sometimes with a little bit of pear or green apple if I’m feeling like that little bit of extra sweetness in there. Or I will have a green drink, which is something like the Food Matters Superfood greens that we have, which is grass juice powders, not just grass powders.

The grass juice powders blended in water, so I’m getting my hydration and some greens, and I think that’s a really great start. Straight away after that, I do like to get some protein in the morning in order to balance my blood sugar levels. For me, personally, I love soft-boiled eggs. They’re just fantastic for me; they work great.

Other people might prefer a cereal-type breakfast, and I would definitely be leaning toward the millet or buckwheat in some from there as opposed to the wheat-based cereals. I like to have soft-boiled eggs and maybe some sautéed spinach or some cultured vegetables, fermented vegetables, a tablespoon of that, or even a nori wrap. Making an egg, whisking it, making a really thin omelet, and then laying that over a nori wrap with some lettuce and some yogurt, and then get in there and wrap that up; that’s great.

That’s normally my breakfast, a little bit like that. And then lunch, for me personally, I don’t do well on gluten or bread.

Yuri: Welcome to the club.

James: I know. I think that a lot of people have a long history with bread through their family and upbringing and they might be emotionally connected with it. For me, it’s not a sandwich at lunchtime.

It’s either a salad and I generally have a salad with some sort of cooked side. It might be some leftovers from the night before, whether it was some sort of broth or chickpea curry or something like that with a salad. I like mixing some warm foods with a salad as well; I find that really great.

My wife makes this incredible sort of Indian vegetarian dishes, and we have that with some salad. I like that, the salad and the cooked together. And then for dinner, well, it’s dynamic. I’m a lot of different things and I generally eat lighter for dinner than I do for lunch.

Some things I do would be like roasted vegetables. I really enjoy the yams or sweet potatoes with some onions and garlic roasted in the oven. And if I’m having a potato, then the red potato is best from blood sugar and GI level. And then having that with a big salad with some fresh yogurt, crushed garlic, and turmeric mixed in as a dressing.

Yuri: Nice.

James: That’s sort of a pretty average day for me. How does that compare with you, Yuri? Does that fit in?

Yuri: It’s funny ’cause it’s about the same. What I love about your approach is that I found that some people, it’s funny ’cause when you talk about alkalinity, you talk about plant-based foods and the power of a plant-based diet, like I have for so many years, and then you talk about, like, I, too, love eggs. I think I probably had eight eggs on Sunday alone just between breakfast and dinner at some point. That’s not the way it is every day.

I try to get people thinking outside the box. It’s not like you have to be raw vegan. That’s not my goal; that’s not what I espouse people to be. What I love about what you’re talking about is that you talk about the importance of alkalinity, but you also talk about it in a very balanced fashion.

So, as everyone can listen to what you’re talking about here, you’ve got salads throughout the day, you’ve got some great sources of protein, be it from eggs or other animal sources occasionally. It’s a really well-balanced diet, and, really, for me, it’s a very similar approach.

I’ll usually start my days with a green juice or a smoothie or some sort. Usually for lunch, if I’m too lazy to make anything, I’ll just make another green juice or a green smoothie. And then my dinners tend to be, as of late, a little bit heavier than they used to be, just ’cause I don’t eat as much earlier in the day. That’s probably one thing I would change and normally advise to people is have a heavier meal, if you want to call it that, at lunch and a little bit lighter at night.

I love how you’re incorporating the salads pretty much at every point. I have to say that you guys, in your, I think it’s the Food Matters recipe guide that you guys have, you have an amazing recipe for that millet porridge.

James: Yes, that’s a lovely one. I love that.

Yuri: Oh, man. Just for everyone listening—correct me if I’m wrong; maybe I’ve kind of amended the recipe to my own taste here, but it’s basically millet with coconut milk. You kind of cook the millet first, and then put it in a bowl with coconut milk. Put some berries in.

I don’t even know what else I put in there anymore but it’s just delicious; it’s really, really good. And very substantial looking for a little bit more substance in the morning or really at any point; you can have that at any point of the day. That’s awesome.

James: Great, I’m really glad you love that recipe. The millet porridge is one of Laurentine’s favorites as well.

Yuri: Yeah. And especially for families with kids who are so used to, “Well, what do I have instead of Cream of Wheat?” or “What do I have instead of cereal?” or “What do I have instead of oatmeal?”

These are great alternatives that, once you taste this stuff, it just blows your taste buds. You’re like, “How did I not even know about this?” It really just changes the conversation at the table and obviously in your pantry and your fridge after that. It’s tremendous.

James: Great. And I love what you were saying there about bringing the realism into the diet. I think what I’m really passionate about is trying to get real information out there but at the same time release any dogma around nutrition.

I think that the nutrition industry and all of us who here that are interested in nutrition moved past these concepts of you have to be 86 percent raw or you have to be a vegan or you have to be this or this is the way to eat. I think that we need to acknowledge that humans are a dynamic mammal, and we need to interact in a plethora of ways with our food.

I think it can be unhealthy if we get too dogmatic about or too strict or too regimented about what we eat. I think that we have to agree upon certain terms, which are lots of plants are fantastic. Lots of greens are amazing; fermented foods and traditionally fermented, cultured foods are incredible. Alkaline foods are very supportive of health.

I think when we agree upon those fantastic basics, we can build and incorporate in the ways that serve us without having to feel trapped by our information and what we’ve learned, being able to be free with these choices. I think that that’s a really, a newer thing, but I think it’s maybe a very old thing, but I think it’s a very powerful way to look at our relationship to food and diet and health.

Yuri: Yeah, totally. It’s funny ’cause when you think about Paleolithic man, where we originally came from, they didn’t have the luxury of calling themselves a raw vegan or a fruitarian; they just ate what was available. And if they lived in Scandinavia, their diet may have been a little bit different than if they lived in the tropics.

I think we kind of take things a little bit to the extreme nowadays with all the convenience we have in terms of choice. As you’ve mentioned several times already, it’s really about getting back to basics and going more natural, getting closer to the earth, and that’s really the key.

James: Absolutely.

Yuri: Yeah. Just before we finish off, I want to touch upon the Superfood Greens that you guys have. Can you describe the difference, because I mentioned at the beginning of this call how one of my pet peeves with a lot of green powders is the fact that they’re not very palatable; they’re not even enjoyable to drink. How is that different from what you guys have created?

James: That’s a really great question. We would’ve not created a product if something like this exists or was more readily available. I think that for us, we really enjoy like I’ve been talking about, is grass-juice powders and the green drinks. But as I’ve been living in the U.S. and been going to my local Whole Foods or local health-food stores here and I buy, I look for wheatgrass powders or barley grass powders or these green-drink powders that I can use and I bought several, just about every brand that exists, over the last couple of years, and I have very mixed experiences with them.

One of the biggest problems I have, which is what you alluded to earlier in this conversation, is when I mix some of them in water, they don’t emulsify; they don’t mix in. They float to the top, there’re chunks in there, it gets stuck in your throat, and it’s not tasty to drink. It’s not like a wheatgrass shot, it’s not like a green drink or green juice, and it’s not great.

And when I started doing research about why certain products were different than others, I found out there’s a difference between grass powder and grass juice powder. This was really fascinating because of grass powder, basically, you harvest the grass, like in the trays of wheatgrass you see in the juice bars. You harvest the grass by cutting it and then they dry it and then they mill it. It’s grass powder; that’s what it is.

But the other option, which is a much more nutrient-dense and a much more enjoyable product to use, is the grass juice powder. They harvest the grass and then they cold-press juice the grass to get a wheatgrass shot basically, and then they freeze it and then they shave it very thinly, that frozen block, and then they air dry it at a raw temperature and you have this really dense, dark-green grass-juice powder.

It’s a lot more expensive, which is why I guess some companies don’t use it. It’s more expensive, it’s not much more expensive, but at the same time, it’s far superior. And when you mix some of that grass-juice powder in the water, it will emulsify within five or six stirs and it’s dark-rich green and it looks incredible.

What we did is we combined three of the grass-juice powders—wheatgrass, barley grass, and alfalfa grass juice powders, all organic—with two very powerful algae, which I love, which is the spirulina and chlorella, which are very powerful for detoxifying and also rich in nutrients. And then for flavor, to have something that was delicious but not overly sweet, I didn’t want people to think they were having a dessert in the morning, but I want it to be palatable because a lot of them taste pretty horrible.

And on the same spectrum, some companies go, “Well, we’re going to make this green powder taste amazing,” and they just put heaps of sweeteners in it or lots of other powders like bee powders, et cetera, which dilutes the potency of it, plus, at the same time, will make it oversweet. We used a blend of mesquite, which is a traditional Indian-American legume; it’s a bean that has this beautiful caramel sort of flavor, and it’s rich in lots of incredible minerals.

We use mesquite, vanilla, and cinnamon. That just has this beautiful, subtle flavor that goes so well with the greens. We have something that is unlike anything I’ve tasted and, as I said, my first grass powder experience was the early 2000s when I had the acid reflux issue, and I’ve been drinking them consistently since then, hundreds of different brands.

Now we’ve got one that I absolutely love and it’s called the Food Matters Superfood Greens and it tastes really great. The tin we have is 60 servings, and it lasts a couple of months if you’re having one serving a day.

Yuri: Or for a week for someone like us.

James: Yeah, if you’re going through it a little bit more intensely, but likewise with the grass-juice powders, you need less. A lot of the times with the grass powders, they’ll recommend a tablespoon or one of their big, giant scoopers that they put in there. But this, for eight ounces of water, all you need is a level teaspoon.

You’ll see the color and the richness of it. If you compare it to any other grass powders you might have, you’ll see they’re generally browner or darker, whereas this is a vibrant, rich green. It really is embodying a lot of the incredible plant compounds into it. I’m very proud of it and excited that it’s now available.

We’ve had a lot of interest, and people have bought out a lot of our stuff to start with, but we’ve got more coming out and shipping this week. Yeah, excited to have it available for people.

Yuri: Yeah, and I’m looking forward to—for everyone listening, if you’re sitting on the edge of your seat thinking, Okay, where do I get this? How do I get it? I will definitely keep you guys in the loop because I know I’m kind of hounding James, like, “Okay, when is this stuff ready?” because it’s awesome.

I sent him an e-mail after the first time I tried it. I was just like, “This stuff is amazing. I need to get it out to my followers because it’s just awesome.” And like James has said, this is stuff that you’re not going to find at your health-food store.

Between what James has tried and what I’ve tried, there really are very, very few options that are like this out there. You’ve done a really great thing to bring this to the market, so thank you.

James: Thank you, Yuri. I appreciate your support too.

Yuri: Absolutely. So, with that said, I want to thank you for joining me today. It’s been a pleasure talking with you. And for everyone listening, remember, you guys can go to Food Matters to check out both or either one of those documentaries. Again, I highly recommend it; they’re awesome.

And I just want to commend you guys for doing such a great job on getting this message out to more people. It’s truly, truly awesome. Thank you very much, James, for taking the time today.
James: Thanks, Yuri; it’s been great speaking with you.

Yuri: Yeah, absolutely. We’ll talk to you soon. And for everyone else, we’ll see you guys in the next episode.

Did you learn something new from this podcast? Have you tried greens powders before and what experience have you had with them?

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