Blender Celery Juice ((and Why))
I've got a hot new wellness tip to add to my roster of Witch Doctor potions and I am shouting it from the rooftops, what is new?!
It came about when I was freshly back from a bachelorette weekend in Miami. A wild time to be sure, but eating clean, we were NOT. I came back with great memories, sleep deprivation, and a fully inflamed digestive system. Fun, right? I had ingested many of the ingredients I am supposed to be avoiding in order to heal my poor little gut, and now I was in trouble. I immediately put an end to gluten + dairy ((again.... *eye roll*)), marched my little butt over to Whole Foods for some clean ingreds, referenced this post many times, but still felt like I needed more.
Then I remembered what I had been told when I was first diagnosed with my tummy troubs. Celery Juice. Every morning on an empty stomach. I had ignored it at the time because it kinda seemed like a big effort ((aka NOT ready in five minutes)), buttt desperate times!! I promptly ordered this cheese cloth strainer bag and went BACK to Whole Foods for some ORGANIC celery.
THE HOW
It's pretty simple. You blend celery with water, then strain it. 3 cups of cubed, chopped celery and 1/2-1ish cups of water make 2 servings for me. So you can do it every other day!
- Make sure your celery is ORGANIC + WASHED. Celery is on the Dirty Dozen list, so I only ever buy organic, but you gotta wash it. I use this stuff.
- Chop up the celery just to make it easy on your blender
- Use filtered water
- Drink on an EMPTY stomach, first thing in the morning, 45-ish minutes before you eat anything else
- It works best when you drink it consistently. My hot tip is to buy one bunch of celery and wash and chop the whole thing up. I store my clean little celery cubes in a bag in the fridge for when I'm ready to make a batch. Then when you want to make a batch, dump 3 cups of the cubed up celery and 1/2-1 cup of water into the blender, and you have enough for two days! Or two people ;) This gets us reallll close to being ready in five minutes, since you only have to do the prep one time.
THE WHY
It's SOOOO gut healing due to it's highly anti-inflammatory nature. It balances the friendly and unfriendly bacteria in your gut, improves digestion, banishes bloat, and has some goodies like Vitamin K, potassium, and B12. It's also kind of like nature's Gatorade... it replenishes mineral salts in your bod.
THE VERDICT
HIGHLY recommend. It's amazing for any gut related/stomach issues. But I recommend it even if your gut is in fighting form. They say your gut is like your second brain, because it supports so many other functions in the bod. So it's best to keep it in tip top shape!
Since coming back from Miami, I have had it every single day, for just over a week. I noticed a difference in about 3 days, maybe less, it was right away. My bloating is subsiding significantly, my digestive system seems to have gotten a kick in the pants, and I'm starting to feel just generally less inflamed all around, ya know? LOV-ING this and don't see myself stopping anytime soon!
OTHER HELPFUL HEALTH GUT TIPS
I've been eating a lot of other pro- and pre-biotic foods.
- Kefir in the mornings with some GF, fiber + protein heavy granola ((this granola)), ((this kefir))
- Saurkraut
- Asparagus - I usually roast or steam it and blend it with bone broth for an easy soup ((see below)) or dip it in cilantro sauce yummmm
- Bone Broth - I sip it with a squeeze of lemon + garlic, or make a veggie soup
- Kombucha - I LOVE sipping it on ice and pretending it's a cocktail ;) Make sure to get one low in sugar ((they really sneak it in there)), and only have 1 serving ((usually half the bottle or less!)) I love this kind.
WHAT TO DO WITH THE PULP
I mean, I'm open to ideas....? It's all fiber, so it's sad for it to go to waste. I make veggie soup pretty often, so if I remember to plan, I'll throw it in that. I know people also throw it in green smoothies, but smoothies haven't been part of my routine as of late.
For this little cup of soup, I sauteed asparagus and onion together, then threw it in the blender with the celery pulp, bone broth, turmeric, salt and pepper. Topped it with green onion and raw sunflower seeds. Easy peasy!
Now we can all have healthy guts!
