Is Celery Good For You
Celery is one of the most alkaline vegetables. For this reason, tt is great for getting rid of body acidity. It is also a marvellous blood cleanser and rejuvenator.
Celery can be used to help remove dangerous toxins from the body, and help to restore a person;s health if they have been exposed to damaging poisons.
But remember that expectant mothers should not take too much celery.
The botanical name for celery is Apium graveolens.
Celery belongs to the Carrot Family, Apiaceae.
Celery stalks and leaves are an appetizer, a diuretic and an emmenagogue. The seeds are carminative and have a mild sedative effect.
A diet which consisted mainly of celery, garlic, and tuna fish in oil saved my life once when I almost died due to asbestos and heavy metal poisoning. I believe that this was because the celery neutralized the poisons and the extreme acidic state caused by this poisoning. It helped cleanse the blood and restore it to a healthy state. The high fiber content cleansed the digestive tract and the blood. It provided essential vitamins and minerals, along with the tuna fish nutrients and garlic, to restore the health.
Note: This celery diet worked for me because of the addition of tuna fish and garlic. I have since read about other people having success in reducing heavy metal poisons in the body by using a tuna fish diet in combination with alkaline greens.
Candida Infections: Celery is the very best vegetable to eat raw for the treatment of candida infections. This is because celery is alkaline and has an antibiotic effect. Its high fiber make it great for cleaning out the intestines, which is usually needed in candida infections.
Weight Loss: Celery is recommended for weight loss, and overeating. John Lust lists it as a weight-reducing herb. Try eating a stalk of celery with lunch and dinner every day to help with weight loss.
Vitamin C and Skin Conditions: Nicolas Culpeper, the 17th Century herbalist, said that the leaves, when eaten in the spring, ‘sweeten and purify the blood and help the scurvy’. Celery stalks and leaves, eaten on a daily basis, is helpful for treating skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.
Celery has been used over the centuries as a herb to help gout, rheumatism and dropsy and cases of water retention.
Contra-indications of Celery: Its diuretic effect make it good for these above conditions. However, John Lust advises that you do not use large amounts of celery if you have acute kidney disease, although he says that ‘moderate use is allowable when kidney problems are chronic’. He also warns that expectant mothers should take only moderate amounts of celery during their pregnancy. Celery has the ability to hasten menstruation, known as an emmenagogue, and any herb of vegetable which does this is usually best avoided during pregnancy. Pregnant women tend to urinate more than usual, so eating a lot of celery will accentuate this aspect of pregnancy.
Celery and Blood Pressure: John Lust also advises that people with high blood pressure should not consume too much celery, because celery has a high sodium content.
The effect of celery as a diuretic – one which makes you urinate more – is interesting, because celery grows naturally in wet and damp places, as it absorbs a lot of water in its stems. This is an example of a ‘like treats like’ effect – a water plant to cure a water problem in the body. The Reader’s Digest ‘Magic and Medicine of Plants’ says that the Latin name ‘Apium’ could be derived from a prehistoric Indo-European word for water. (p.151)
Celery is also beneficial to the health because it is one of the most alkaline vegetables of all our culinary vegetables. Alfalfa sprouts are probably the only thing that compares with celery in alkalinity. Celery’s extremely alkaline nature make it excellent for correcting acidic states of the body: Gout, rheumatism, arthritis and dropsy are often caused by acidic diets – too much wheat, bread, pasta, potatoes, dairy products,meats and fried and fatty foods, and not enough of the alkaline vegetables to balance the diet out.
Uses of Celery Seed:
Homemade Celery Salt: Save that celery seed. It is a valuable culinary and medicinal item. You can make celery salt by using a 50/50 mixture of sea salt and celery seed.
To Use Medicinally: John Lust recommends one tablespoon of fresh celery juice be taken an hour before each meal. This will help the digestion.
Decoction of Celery Seed: John Lust says that 1/2 teaspoon of seed should be boiled for 10 minutes in 1/2 cup of water. Strain and take the decoction for bronchitis, colds and flu. (OF course see your doctor or health practitioner to check out any lung condition and to see if celery is right for you as an addition to your treatment)