Celery Juice Diet – What is it? And is it worth trying?

The celery juice trend has been taking the wellness space by storm, I’ve heard of places even selling out of the vegetable. You would be forgiven for thinking that everyone is doing it. So what’s it all about? Is it really a miracle cure? Or another fad?

So, what is it exactly?

The claims for this diet is that drinking between 16 oz and 32 oz of celery juice first thing in the morning on an empty stomach will restore gut health and support your gut. There are claims that it can reduce inflammation, rebalance gut flora, support skin health, eliminate migraines, have a positive effect for anyone suffering from depression/anxiety, basically the claims make it a miracle cure… yeah, I don’t think it’s so easy!

Here’s the thing, if it sounds too good to be true – it probably is. But for this post I wanted to dive a little deeper into the facts.

Celery:

Everyone is familiar with this vegetable, 100g of the stalk would give you about 1.6 grams of fiber. Vitamin K (about 35% of your RDA) 5-10% of your vitamin A, C and B9. Celery also has potassium and manganese and then lesser amounts (but still significant) of B vitamins, vitamin E, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorous and zinc and you get all this for only 20 calories.

Celery contains a lot of nutrients, as you can see but nothing out of the ordinary compared to other vegetables. In addition to micronutrients celery is very high in antioxidants – compounds that help fight disease-causing free radicals, these protect against cell damage. These things are in no way unique to celery it’s quite impressive how much “bang for your buck” you get on so few calories.

What Can the Celery Juice Diet do? (According to the enthusiasts)

Reduce inflammation: there are phytochemicals in celery that do have a strong link to anti-inflammatory and immune regulating effects.

Cancer Fighting Properties: some of the antioxidants in celery are shown to slow the growth of cancer cells

Gut Health: celery has anti-fungal properties to help balance gut flora and manage any bad bacteria.

Hydration: Because of its high water content, celery can be extremely beneficial the help with your hydration status.

When you look at it like that you can see why it’s so appealing, there are a lot of benefits here. But it’s important to point out that this is not the miracle cure it’s been advertised to be, remembering that your current diet and lifestyle need to be considered.

As with anything that is health related it’s not just one thing that will equal healthy but the sum of all the small things that you’re doing. I don’t see this particular diet (although I don’t understand why it’s called a “diet”) a bad thing just as long as you have other areas of your health in check you may just find this beneficial.

And going on the saying of “don’t knock it until you’ve tried it” I may just give this a whirl for a few weeks.