Noted skeptic Michael Shermer wrote an article in Scientific American on why we are so accepting of anecdotal stories with no real evidence (and hey, do you think that might apply to UFOs?). It’s a good article and all, as usual for Michael, but I have to chuckle at the picture he posted with it: it’s from our Skeptologists shot, where Michael, Kiki Sanford, and Steve Novella drank the evil green liquid called wheatgrass juice. Kiki’s face is perfect.
For the last segment of the show we all were supposed to drink the wheatgrass, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I can sometimes have something of a delicate digestive system, and Steve’s horror stories about the night after the picture linked above was taken were enough for me to forgo the experience. Plus, it smelled a little bit like gasoline; given that and the natural grassy smell, I was having flashbacks to mowing my lawn as a teenager.
The funny thing about wheatgrass juice is that despite its popularity, it holds almost no significant nutritional value at all. It doesn’t have much in the way of vitamins, minerals, or anything your body needs at all. You’d be far better off with a sprig of broccoli and an apple. Some people claim the chlorophyll in wheatgrass juice is salubrious, but that molecule breaks down in your stomach, so it really does nothing for you.
Plus, wheatgrass clearly tastes yucky. Now, Michael didn’t seem to mind it, but it was hard for me to even hold it near my face. I thought my olfactory system was going to tear itself out of my head and run away sniffling.
And that’s one anecdote you can believe in.
