The Benefits of Juicing for Healthy Diets...

Secret Benefits of Celery Juice

Belonging to the Umbelliferae family (along with parsley and fennel), celery is a highly nutritious food product, which was in fact considered to be a medicinal herb in ancient times. When you think of celery, juicing celery might not come readily to mind. But research has shown time and time again that celery juice is extremely healthy, and in fact one of the best detoxifying juices that you can add to the body and your juicing diet. Due to the fact that celery juice has an alkalizing effect, it balances the PH level of the body, which is greatly beneficial.

 

Nutritional Benefits

The nutritional benefits of juicing celery are very abundant. In fact research has shown that 1 glass of juiced celery is actually worth five cups of it chopped! It contains plenty of nutrients, minerals and vitamins, which make a celery juicing diet extremely good for the body. The leaves are a great source of vitamin A, while the stems are great sources of Vitamin B and C, apart from being extremely rich in various minerals such as calcium, iron, sodium, potassium, and amino acids. Hence celery is a great source if you are interested in juicing for health or even juicing for weight loss.

Juicing also helps release the nutrients trapped in the fiber, which as a result helps in ensuring better digestion and bowel movements. Celery juice is also rich in organic sodium, which is good for the body. This is not the normal table salt that one uses; therefore people suffering from conditions such as high blood pressure should not have a problem with including celery into their juicing diet.

 

Other Health Benefits

The benefits of juicing celery are not only limited to aiding digestion, but it is also very useful to shed some of those extra pounds. Since it is rich in fiber it is quite a filling option. Additionally, the calorie count of celery is almost zero, thereby making it a great juicing diet option that can be easily added to any healthy diet you are following.

Another benefit of juicing celery is the high intake of calcium, which is extremely vital for our bones and teeth. It can be a great juicing for health option for children in particular. Low calcium intake might lead to weak bones, and in worse cases might even result in osteoporosis. Additionally, calcium is also often considered to be a highly relaxing nutrient. A major reason for that being that it helps in lowering blood pressure and calming the nerves as it aids muscular expansion and contraction.

Celery juice can be a great juicing for health option for pregnant women as well, since a good amount of calcium is extremely vital in ensuring you give birth to a healthy child.

Celery also contains eight types of anti-cancer compounds, which further increases the benefits of juicing celery. Just to give a glimpse of the anti-cancer properties of celery, it contains beneficial compounds that play a major role in blocking the growth of tumor cells, and even preventing radicals from damaging the cells.

It is believed that one glass of celery juice constitutes 40% of your daily vitamin A requirement. Vitamin A is essential in maintaining good eyesight; and even plays a significant role in the preservation of our skin and soft tissues. Additionally, it also has antioxidant properties which block free radicals that result in quicker aging and even certain types of cancer.

 

Preserving Celery

There is little doubt that celery has a ton of health benefits, but in order to maintain the flavor and crispness of celery is of vital importance to preserve it successfully. There are a number of things you can do to ensure it is well preserved, some of which are mentioned below:

• If you are picking up celery from the grocery store, you should remember the fresher the celery the easier to preserve. Make sure to choose the firmer ones.
• The ideal way to preserve celery would be to freeze it in the refrigerator. One way to do that would be to wrap the celery in moist paper towels and then freeze. Alternatively, use sandwich bags or something similar to do so.
• You could also opt to cut the celery into smaller pieces, put it in a tray with little water, and then store the tray in the fridge. Freezing celery will ensure it stays crisp, and that is important if you want to enjoy the benefits for juicing celery.
• On the other hand if you are picking up celery from your garden, make sure to pull the stalk by the roots, and ideally store it in cellars. It is important to water the roots and keep it moist. This method should preserve your celery for about a month.

 

Juicing Celery Successfully

There are a wealth of health benefits of juicing celery, and you would be glad to know that juicing celery is quite a hassle-free task. You have the option of juicing them individually or even combing them into interesting and healthy juicing recipes. Whichever way you choose to do, you will need to wash the celery and cut the stalks in such a manner that they easily fit into the juicer/blender you are using. You could also slice them into thin strips. Celery has a high percentage of water; so juicing it shouldn’t be a problem at all.

If you are wondering which juicer to use, you should be glad to know that any decent juicer will do the job. Whether use a centrifugal juicer or a masticating one, you should not have any issues, but of course the latter would do a better job.

There are a number of different interesting juicing recipes that includes celery juice. For instance you could combine it with carrots and apple; or make a sweet and salty concoction by combing it with apples, broccoli and a dash of lemon! Or if you wish to put on your experimenting hat on, you could go ahead and make your own recipe, because you should be rest assured that in whichever way you include it in your juicing diet, there are truly lots of benefits to juicing celery!