This fast track is called SPROUTS. Folks who don’t know much about sprouts put them in the same category as parsley—a garnish—something you dress your food up with, but not much of a food in itself.

But that’s not the case. They are nothing short of a simple and fast track to health and healing and they taste AWESOME. You’ve probably heard of alfalfa sprouts. They’ve been in the whole foods stores for years now. But did you know that broccoli, cabbage, garlic, onion, chives, radish, buckwheat, lentils, peas, mustard, rye, (just to name a few) are also delicious in the sprout form?

These are all fast growing plants and if you were to plant their seeds and examine them after only a week’s time, you would notice green leaves already starting. And here’s what’s amazing: even at this early stage, these plants provide the full flavor of the fully grown adult vegetables. While the adult leaves of these plants are just a little bit too chewy to be considered delectable, their baby leaves, the sprouts, are perfectly scrumptious.

And here’s why we say sprouts are a fast track to health and healing:

· These fresh baby plants make a living salad that is LOADED with enzymes, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, phyto-chemicals, RNA and DNA, bio-flavinoids, T-cells, and trace elements.

· They contain 4 times the protein of lettuce! 2 times the protein of Spinach, and 39 times more Beta-Carotene than carrots and other orange/yellow veggies!

· They’re low in calories and through the roof in energy.

· Digestibility: As baby plants, their delicate cell walls easily release elemental nutrients. Abundant enzymes make them easy to digest even for those with weak digestion.

It’s becoming more and more common to find sprouts other than alfalfa in your whole food and grocery stores, but like any produce, it’s always fresher and higher in nutrients when you’ve grown it yourself. I’m a big fan of sprouting, have been doing it for years, and love the advantages of growing my own sprouts. For instance:

• You can have a 100% organic salad 52 weeks a year for only pennies per pound!
• Instead of just 1 head of lettuce, you get 1,000′s of micro-lettuce leaves.
• You get wonderful spicy flavors such as those found in radish and garlic sprouts or mild flavors such as those from buckwheat, lettuce, and alfalfa sprouts. And the flavor combinations that result from combining sprouts in salads is remarkable.
• It only takes 1 minute of watering per day to tend your sprouts. And they need only normal room light and temperature to thrive.
• You can garden all year ‘round. No Soil. No Green Thumb. Only 1 min per day!
• Sprouting is economical—a brilliant way to cut your grocery budget. Seeds can multiply 7-15 times their weight. $10/lb. for alfalfa seed, that yields $1 for a pound of fresh sprouted home-grown organic greens! And a pound of sprouts will feed a LOT of people.

• It’s the most affordable avenue to organic food: No pesticides, synthetic fertilizers or fumigants. No chemicals.
• You have non-stop availability: From Florida to Alaska; in January or July, you can enjoy live food anytime, anywhere, even on a boat or when hiking a mountain trail.
• Sprouts take up little space and time. One pound grows in only 9 inches of space and takes 1 minute of care per day.
• You always have fresh live food: Eaten when picked. No loss of nutrients sitting in warehouses or on grocers’ shelves.
• Sprouts are versatile: You can have more varieties of salad greens than you’ll ever find in the supermarkets (buckwheat lettuce, baby sunflower, garlic chives, Chinese cabbage, purple turnip, curly kale, daikon radish, crimson clover, golden alfalfa and more). Your salads will literally come alive!
• There’s even more versatility to sprouts: Make breads with sprouted wheat, rye, or barley and increase the nutrition factor. Sprouted peanuts are a great snack, as is hummus dip from sprouted garbanzo. And there’s cooked vegetable side dishes made from sprouted green peas, or Chinese sautes from mung, adzuki and lentils, and even sprouted wheat pizza!
• Finally, there’s the ecology or green factor: No airplanes or fuel/oil is consumed to deliver this food to you. No petroleum based pesticides or synthetic fertilizers have been used. ZERO pollution!

If any of this interests you, I suggest you start where I did, with the pro of all-things-sprouts. Steve Meyerowitz, aka the Sproutman, wrote a book on the subject and created an easy-to-use chart that simplified the endeavor (found at www.sproutman.com).

I started with alfalfa, and moved next to peas and mung beans. I sprout my wheat as well. I eat sprouts all year and especially like them tossed into soups and stews just before serving. They’re terrific in sandwiches and wraps, too. If you want a fast track to health and healing, there’s not a better way than sprouts!