The Little Green Pill

Pssst . . . Ever hear of the little green pill?

Well, probably not, since it’s a name I just made up.  It’s a suitable moniker, however, for chlorella, a super-charged miracle food that comes in a variety of forms, including my favorite . . . tiny little tablets (aka little green pills) . . . as well as granules that can be mixed in juices, smoothies and the like.

Before I tell you what it can do for you, let me tell you what it is:  Chlorella is a nutrient-dense, fresh water algae that is actually a whole food, as opposed to a typical supplement.  That’s an important distinction:  Supplements are usually extracted, man-made creations; while whole foods are part of God’s creation!

Whole foods are things like apples, oranges, celery, broccoli, tomatoes—you get the picture.  They’re part of that mysterious world of real foods, and real foods, you may have noticed, are always revealing more and more of their benefits to mankind.

A lot of folks think chlorella is pretty special:  Folks at NASA, for example, who once called it the “food of the future,” and plenty of others.  It has been described as a “perfect food” because it contains almost everything the body needs to survive—things like nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), beta carotene, Vitamin B12, iron, protein, chlorophyllase and pepsin (both of which aid in digestion), and the list goes on.  It contains the highest known concentration of chlorophyll, which may explain claims that it can actually freshen your breath!

According to one source, chlorella “contains the widest range of essential nutrients available in any single food source, including potassium, all of the B vitamins, magnesium, zinc and iron, 18 vital amino acids, beta carotene and lutein.”  

You’d have to spend hundreds of dollars and carry home more than 20 pounds of food to get the same level of nutrients.

But what, you might ask, can chlorella do for you?

Plenty, it seems.  When I first read about chlorella several years ago, I was on a quest for healthy living and was reading everything I could find on the subject.

Back then, there were a couple of things that intrigued me about these little pills:  They were green and they promised to detoxify the body by binding to and removing heavy metals (silver fillings, anyone? I once had a mouthful).

Green, I was learning, was good.  It was more than good.  It was practically miracle good.  Green foods alkalinize the body . . . and acid, I was learning, was bad—as in really bad.  An overly acidic environment is a breeding ground for a host of evils—a place where varmints like yeast, cancer cells and parasites can make themselves comfortable and thrive.

The more I thought about some of my lifestyle choices . . . or rather, my lifestyle beverages (coffee, tea and wine), the more I realized that acid and I were longtime friends.

My research told me that one of the best ways to combat these frenemies was . . . drrruuummm roll . . . green foods!  They neutralize acid, rendering it harmless, leaving an alkalized state in its stead. 

There are lots of ways you can ingest green foods.  You can eat them (lots and lots and lots of them), you can juice them and drink them down (a great way to load up on greens, but quite labor intensive) or you can do something far simpler—take chlorella!

When I first started taking the little green pills, I happened on the Sun Chlorella brand, which recommends that adults take 15 tablets a day for “Good Nutritional Benefits.”  That may sound crazy, but believe me, the pills are so small and compact (they’re practically cute!) that it’s really quite easy.  I can pop 15 in my mouth and down them with one swallow.

For those seeking “Better Nutritional Benefits,” 30 tablets a day should be taken; and for those bent on “Superior Nutritional Benefits,” 45 tablets a day are the way to go.

(Of course, not everyone has an iron stomach, like mine.  That’s why it’s a good idea to start with one or two pills to see how your system reacts, and then build steadily upward.)

I’ve read that it’s impossible to overdose on chlorella, since it’s a whole food.  I wouldn’t know.  Those little pills don’t come cheap, so I haven’t put them to the test.

Prices may vary, but the Sun Chlorella website quotes a price of $38.25 for a 20-day supply (300 of the tiny 2000 mg tablets). 

But alkalinizing the body and kicking out toxins and heavy metals aren’t the only benefits of chlorella.  It also supports the immune system, aids in the digestion of food and is believed to renew cellular strength and integrity.

I stumbled upon an additional benefit a few years ago.  At the time, I had stopped taking chlorella—simply gotten out of the habit—but for some reason had bought some for my husband, who promptly announced that they bothered his stomach (Sensitive guy . . . I should have started him out slow!)

I wanted him to be healthy and happy and take the chlorella, but since he was unwilling, I was quite happy to take over his supply (Remember, they’re a little pricey, which may be why I had stopped taking them myself!)

Now, it just so happened that around this time I had been experiencing a fairly consistent pain in my left thumb area, as well as some overall achiness and morning stiffness in parts of my body.  This had gone on for a few months.  I was starting to feel like my body was falling apart!

I didn’t want to take pain medication, but didn’t know what else to do.

Thankfully, a solution was on its way!  After resuming a chlorella regiment, I thought I noticed that my hand would stop hurting shortly after downing the little green pills.

But I wasn’t quite sure.  Could it actually be . . . or was it just my imagination?  I decided to put it to the test!

So, on a Saturday morning, while at work, I decided to conduct a little experiment.  My hand was definitely hurting, and I had achiness in my arm and shoulder.  It was a great time to down a dose of my little green pills.  So, I swallowed a small handful . . . and then pretty much forgot about the whole thing.  (Did I mention it was a Saturday morning . . . at a busy salon?)

About 45 minutes or so later, I realized that my achiness was gone and my hand wasn’t hurting—or, to be more accurate, I felt only the slightest twinge of what I had previously felt.

I went over to tell one of the stylists, who had watched me take the pills, and another stylist who was experiencing pain in both of her hands, overheard our conversation and wondered if she could try them, too.  I gave her 15 pills, and about an hour later, she noticed that her hands had almost completely stopped hurting.

After about a week of taking my little green pills, I noticed that my overall achiness and morning stiffness had pretty much disappeared.

Way to go little green pills!

So there you have it—my experience with chlorella.

The little green pill . . . that’s just what the doctor ordered!

Copyright 2020 Jonna Crispens. All rights reserved.