Celery Juice and Self Care – Bariatric Edition

Last Sunday I posted a picture of my plan for the week.  I wanted to jump on the “celery juice boat”.  It is something I wanted to do for some time and finally, that time had come and I found celery on sale at my local supermarket.  Good timing! (LOL – true story).

Others were interested in my plan to drink celery juice.  They reached out to me and the questions started coming in … will it help me lose weight?  will it help me sleep better? will it help with my high blood pressure? 

I don’t have all those answers but I have a healthy curiosity and I wanted to give it a try.

I dug out my juicer, gave it a good clean and then washed and prepped 4 big bags of celery for the juicing process.  My husband doesn’t have a choice this week.  He is going to drink celery juice at 11.30am with me and he’s going to like it (poor guy).  I am fortunate because he doesn’t complain and likes these kinds of challenges or hacks that I introduce on a pretty frequent basis.

So why juicing? And why celery? 

I retired my juicer a few years ago.  I believe that juicing removes the fiber from the beautiful vegetable (I don’t juice fruit ever … too high in fructose) and I want to eat my vegetables and not drink them. 

Juicing held a time and place in my life and it was great but as food nutrition science changes, we also need to be open to the new research so I read, learn, and initiate new routines into my life to try to stay on top of the information that is coming at us at warp speed.

Celery is the new “super” food or fad of the moment.  It’s kind of like the new “avocado” or “chia seed”.

#celeryjuice is actually a real hashtag and it has over 100,000 tags on IG.  Everybody is buzzing about celery juice today. 

Look, this is celery.  This isn’t something that somebody is trying to sell you or scam you into buying. It’s not a pill or a powder.  It’s just celery so let’s just get that out of the way.  It’s not something that somebody is trying to push on you to make a profit.  It’s not a supplement that comes in a bottle.  It’s not unsafe.  I mean, what’s there to lose besides a bit of time cleaning and prepping all those celery stalks.

“It’s not a supplement that comes in a bottle” …. After I wrote that in the above paragraph, I went online to check.  Guess what … it comes in a bottle now.  Please do not buy celery in a bottle.  It is not the same thing.  Somebody decided to cash in on the celery craze.  They don’t care about your good health.  They just want to sell you something. 

I don’t buy into the celery craze 100%.  But, I am going to try it.  My background is in nutrition and I know that drinking celery juice once a day on an empty stomach is not going to do me any harm.  It is also not going to save the world.

We have scientific data today that suggests that celery juice contains antioxidant compounds called flavones.  These flavones could reduce or stop specific reactions in the body that lead to chronic inflammation.  This would mean that it could potentially lower your risk of chronic disease. Notice how I use the words “could” and “potentially”.  More research is required.

Speaking of inflammation, I have eczema on my hands.  I hate it. It itches and bothers me and I know it comes from the “inside”.  It’s not something that I can slap a cream on and fix. It is a symptom of something going on inside of my body.  I will raise a glass of celery juice each day and clean up my diet to see if I can also clean up my eczema.  No harm in trying right? 

Here are the nutritional facts for celery juice for 8 ounces, in case you are wondering: 

• Total Fat 0g
• Total Carbohydrate 2.8g
• Vitamin C 2.2mg
• Vitamin A 270ug
• Vitamin K 24.3ug

It also contains magnesium, phthalates, and potassium which may potentially help those with high blood pressure.

And it’s worth it to mention that it contains bioactive flavonoids.

Obviously, more research is required and we are all biochemical individuals and what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for the next person.

I don’t expect celery to save the world.  I am very realistic in my expectations but what kind of nutritionist would I be if I didn’t try some of these things out for you and give you my honest opinion.

Self-Care …. what do you think of when you read that word?  I used to think it was manicures and pedicures.  Getting your hair done is “self-care” right?  Taking a bubble bath is self-care right?  For some people, it just may be.  It used to be for me also.

Today “self-care” has a new meaning for me.  It is doing a food prep on a Sunday when I don’t feel like it or turning the lights out and sleeping when I am in the middle of a Netflix binge.  

Self-care is working out because I know I need to.  Self-care is forgiving somebody who has wronged me.  Forgiveness is not for them, it’s for me and my mental health and well-being.

This week “self-care” for me is drinking celery juice.  I raise my green glass and I wish you a beautiful week and I hope that you take some time for your self care also.

Green Celery Hugs … coming your way xo