I’m all about trying new things that can potentially contribute to health, even if celery stalks are my competition.
So for 3 weeks, I gave celery juice a try. In order to better notice any possible effects from drinking 16 oz. of celery juice, I didn’t have any Green Drink during the entire 21 days.
(Not familiar with my famous Green Drink? It’s a certified organic cold-blend of the following 7 leafy green veggies: Black Kale, Green Kale, Collard Greens, Green Leaf Lettuce, Curly Parsley, Green Chard, Dandelion Greens, sweetened with a little apple and apple juice.)
The Results
The results? Before I reveal how juicing celery stalks made me feel, let me say that if I had noticed great results, I would be recommending it whole-heartedly. I’d even consider adding it in my Green Drink recipe.
However, after 3 weeks the celery juice experiment, I only felt a couple key differences, neither of them good. First of all, immediately after drinking it, I had to pee. Truth be told, that’s also the case with my Green Drink. So that’s not a bad side effect; it means that there’s a detoxifying process.
Here’s what I didn’t like about my experimentation with juicing a small forest’s-worth of celery stalks…
One of the celery juice side effects I experienced was severe bloating the entire time. I also had a lot of gas. If I continued for another week, my husband, Brandon, would have made me sleep on the couch.
Within two days after stopping this celery juicing madness, I’ve already lost all the bloat and gas. Brandon couldn’t be happier.
The happiest part of my experiment being over was the dreadful cleaning of my juicer each morning. I really wanted the celery juice to do something magical, but for me it just didn’t have a noticeable positive effect. So back to my daily Green Drink—No shopping, washing, juicing, and worst of all cleaning up the damn juicer!
Green Drink vs Celery Juice
If your diet consists of lots of processed foods and sugar, I have no doubt that drinking celery juice will make you profoundly healthier. (Although keep reading because one expert, whose book I just finished, thinks drinking lots of celery juice is toxic.)
Here’s the nutritional data for a 16 oz. serving of celery juice, according to MyFitnessPal:
- Carbs: 18 grams
- Sugar: 11 g
- Sodium: 430 mg
- Vitamin A: 54%
- Vitamin C: 20%
Now let’s see how just an 8-ounce serving of Chef V’s Green Drink compares. (For optimal health, I recommend consuming 16 oz a day.)
- Carbs: 6 grams
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 24 mg
- Vitamin A: 76%
- Vitamin C: 44%
As you can see, Chef V Green Drink is much lower in sugar and sodium and higher in vitamins A & C. Plus, my Green Drink also contains an incredible 263% daily recommended value of vitamin K.
If MyFitnessPal’s info is correct, to be honest, celery juice does have a decent amount of calcium, iron and fiber. But my Green Drink naturally contains these nutrients as well.
I agree with William, aka The Medical Medium, that there probably are micronutrients that have yet to be discovered. And even the ones that have been identified, we’re really not entirely sure how they contribute to health.
But if you’re comparing apples to oranges, the 7 leafy greens in my Green Drink are collectively more nutrient dense than celery stalks.
Plus, there’s no concern about toxicity with Green Drink, as there is with celery.
Speaking of which, let’s take a look at some of the unknown dangers of celery…
The Risk of Drinking Celery Juice
It goes without saying that there are a lot of people who think the Medical Medium is a quack. I’m not judging William. If juicing celery has helped improve the lives and health of his followers, all the better.
But there’s at least one person who has done the research on the potential dangers and side effects of celery juice cleanses.
Asa Hershoff is a naturopathic doctor (ND) and expert herbalist, who founded the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in 1978. In the world of natural healing, Hershoff has been around the block several times.
At the same time I ordered William’s book, “Celery Juice,” I also came across Hershoff’s book, “The Dangers of Celery: The Toxicity & Risks of Excess Celery Juice Consumption,” and ordered it as well.
In the preface of Hershoff’s book, he claims that he has studied the plant family that celery is in (Umbelliferae) extensively; he didn’t just start researching celery recently because it’s hip.
Here are some warnings Hershoff lists about excess celery consumption:
- It’s more of a medicine than a food. “It has powerful biological effects and using it in large doses as if it were a harmless everyday food is simply following bad advice.”
- It can potentially cause headaches, insomnia, fetal abnormalities, seizures, miscarriage, allergies, heavy metal poisoning, and increased cancer risk.
- In terms of nutrient density, it’s in the bottom tier of over 700 vegetables; green leafy veggies, such as those in Green Drink are 500 times more nutrient rich.
- Contains small amounts of neurotoxins.
- One of the world’s most allergenic plants and may cause deadly anaphylactic shock.
- May cause premature aging of the skin, including wrinkles and loss of skin elasticity.
Hershoff goes on to list more dangers. Perhaps Hershoff’s clarion call to avoid juicing celery in large amounts sounds just as exaggerated as William’s claim that the pale green liquid can cure virtually anything that ails you. (Can you really die from drinking copious amounts of celery juice?)
But Hershoff’s warnings seem to be a necessary, balancing counterpoint to the Medical Medium’s gospel that celery juice can cure all.
With millions of people blindly following the advice of untrained medical professionals, it’s only natural that an expert on herbal medicine would seek to discredit William’s work.
Conclusion
I wake up every morning stoked that Chef V has made a positive difference in people’s lives. If a celery juice cleanse has helped even just one person with their health, then hallelujah.
But hands down, getting a delivery of health-supporting nutrients in my Green Drink is way easier and more nutritious in comparison to the medicically-dubious and messy enterprise that is the celery juicing fad.
What do you think of celery juice? Shoot me an email at chefv@chefv.com.
