Celery Juice: Why You Should Love It More
A lot of people hate the taste of celery. In fact, surveys in Japan and the UK uncovered that it is one of the top ten least favorite vegetables in their countries.
However, celery is packed with nutritious benefits that you should not take for granted. If you see yourself not wanting to eat it alone, you can add it to your everyday recipes at home to add flavour to your meals. Another great way to mask its taste is by adding it to your juice or smoothie.
Celery Juice Benefits
Celery juice is the latest fad and one of the many ways to consume the vegetable. But what does this humble vegetable have to offer? Let’s explore its benefits.
High Nutritional Value
Remember when you were young and your parents reminded you to eat celery because it's nutritious? As it turns out, it isn’t just a ruse for you to finish your veggies. Celery does pack in quite a lot of nutrients.
Some of the essential nutrients that you get from celery include:
- Vitamin A: Helps protect your eyes from age-related vision decline
- Vitamin B6: Reduces the risk of inflammation and heart-related diseases
- Vitamin C: Boosts immunity and reduces the risk of chronic disease
- Vitamin K: Helps strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis
- Magnesium: Improves exercise performance and fights depression
- Phosphorus: Filters waste from the kidneys and improves muscle contractions
- Sodium: Balances fluids in the body
- Potassium: Vital for improved cardiovascular health and regulates fluid balance, muscle contractions, and nerve signals
Celery has all of these nutrients in substantial amounts. That guarantees you will be getting a significant portion of your daily recommended allowance for these nutrients from just a few celery sticks.
Turning your celery sticks into celery juice improves how well you absorb these nutrients. Since most of the fibers have been extracted during the juicing process, you get a higher concentration of nutrients. For instance, two cups of celery juice will have the same amount of nutrients as 12 sticks.
To get the most nutrients out of the plant, you would want to juice the full stalk and leaves. Consuming the juice with other vegetables will also help you meet your recommended allowances better.
Hydrating Effect
Not getting the right amount of water daily can lead to a variety of health issues like fatigue, headaches, and skin problems. With that in mind, you want to get as much water as possible daily. Consuming celery can help you a lot on that, providing half a cup of water in a 1-cup serving.
Beyond its hydrating properties, celery juice can also help you maintain the balance of fluids in your body. It helps activate your gut by increasing the release of stomach acid. This is vital for improving your digestion, which is crucial if you are following a high-protein diet. Additionally, it helps in restoring the amount of mucus in the stomach and prevents ulcers and acid reflux.
Great for Fighting Diseases
Consuming celery will also help you fight off a variety of illnesses. The vegetable contains at least 12 different antioxidants, many of which have important functions. One of these is the flavonoid apigenin, which has the potential to fend off the formation of cancer cells.
Alongside these antioxidants, celery has anti-inflammatory properties. Experts have shown that inflammation in different parts of your body can lead to chronic diseases like joint pains, gout, and rheumatoid arthritis. You can find over 25 different anti-inflammatory compounds in celery. Luteolin is one of the most important of these compounds, as it also has the potential for delaying cancer growth.
Celery also has antimicrobial properties that further protect us from disease. It reduces the amount of uric acid in the body and increases urine production. This helps in removing harmful toxins and preventing diseases like urinary tract infections, and bladder and kidney ailments. Meanwhile, you can use celery seeds in treating skin diseases like psoriasis.
Demystifying Celery Juice
With all the benefits of celery juice listed above, it is not surprising that many tout it as some sort of miracle elixir. But you might want to hold back on that thought for a bit. Like other foods hyped as such, some of the claims might be a bit overblown. Knowing what the deal is exactly about these claims will help you appreciate celery juice more and consume it better.
One of the biggest claims is that it will prevent cancer. While celery does have nutrients that decrease the risk of cancer, these do not completely eliminate it. Consuming celery with a healthy mix of other fruits and vegetables will help increase your protection against cancer-causing agents.
Another claim is that drinking celery juice on an empty stomach would provide you with the best results. However, there is no scientific study confirming this would be the case. That means you can consume it anytime that you want.
Drinking a celery juice smoothie during meals might be even more advantageous. Since you are eating a whole meal, you get all of the essential nutrients that your body needs in one go. In particular, you get back the fiber lost from the celery juicing process through other foods.
Other Useful Celery Juice Tips
Some people drinking celery juice for the first time might encounter loose bowel movements. This is a normal reaction that will gradually lessen as you get accustomed to the diet. Because of this, you might not want to drink it if you plan on traveling.
You would also want to take careful note of your nutrient intake. Celery has a relatively significant amount of sodium (30 milligrams sodium/40 grams celery). While eating it daily will not cause issues for most people, you still need to balance it with other food to meet your recommended daily allowance.
Love Celery Juice and Enjoy Its Benefits
Celery definitely lives up to its newfound status as a superfood. It packs in plenty of nutrients that will help strengthen your body. And its hydrating effect will keep your body well-balanced, further protecting you from sickness.
But if you don’t have the time to extract all the celery juice from those stalks, there is a solution for you. Our cold-pressed organic juices contain the right mix of celery and other healthy ingredients to give you the nutrients you need. Grab a bottle today and sip your way to a healthy diet.