Celery can help to reduce fat buildup throughout your body, including accumulated buildup in your arteries.

Eat celery!

Celery is the ultimate cleanser. It is full of anti cancer compounds and can help to reduce excess fat and cholesterol and provides alkaline minerals.

A study at the National University of Singapore fed rats a high fat diet for eight weeks, then supplemented half of the rat’s diets with celery extract. A significant reduction in serum total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides was noted (1995, Tsi, Das, Tan).

Celery and its seeds have been used in Chinese Medicine for centuries, to lower high blood pressure. Phthalides are phytochemicals present in celery work to lower stress hormones and relax muscle tissue in your arteries, improving blood flow.

Celery has a high silicon content which makes it an important nutrient for rebuilding your bones, joints, connective tissues and arteries.

Celery is also high in acetylenics and phenolic acids, natural compounds, which reduce the growth of cancer cells and cancerous tumors (2007, Bowden).

The seeds and stalks are known to reduce uric acid levels, relieving symptoms of Gout, such as joint discomfort and immobility (1997, Duke).

Celery is rich in B-Complex vitamins, adding to its stress reducing and sedative qualities. It is rich in vitamins A and C, and is indicated in arthritis and kidney problems (1997, Balch).

Here is an easy and delicious way to use celery for all its incredible healing benefits:

Celery Apple and Cranberry Salad

Crunchy, tart and sweet, sprinkled with the gutsy heat of slivered shallots.

This salad has four simple and nutritious ingredients, which are most likely in your pantry right now: Celery, apple, shallot (substitute: red onion) and dried cranberries.

The dressing is a simple vinaigrette, its makeup can depend on your preferences and what you have on hand.

The Vinaigrette

Oil

Hemp Oil

Flax Oil

Olive Oil

Sour

Apple Cider Vinegar (always with ‘Mother’ ~ having active beneficial bacterial culture ~ the fermenting stuff in the bottom of the jar!)

White Wine Vinegar

Red Wine Vinegar

Lemon or lime juice

Combine the oil and sour in a glass jar and shake. Add a squirt of raw Agave Nectar or a spoonful of unpasteurized honey to take the edge off the vinegar if desired.

The rule is two-thirds oil to one-third sour. Choose your oil (or mix two together), then choose your sour. For 1/3 cup of vinegar, use 2/3 cup of oil. The dressing will stay refrigerated for up to two weeks, sealed in a glass jar.

If you are making a salad for one, just sprinkle on your vinegar first, then sprinkle on, up to two times as much oil as vinegar, and toss your salad. That’s it!

Assemble the Salad

Chop the celery and apple in very small chunks. Sliver the shallot. Toss together with dressing and scatter cranberries on top.

This quick salad refrigerates well and is a perfect lunch for packing and taking with you.

 Tip about Flax and Hemp Oils

Flax and Hemp oils are very beneficial, highly unsaturated, essential oils which makes them a key ingredient in your healthy life.

Learn to use healing oils in your smoothies and salad dressings to improve the viscosity of your blood, rebuild your nervous system, improve the integrity of your cell walls, burn fat buildup, and fight cancer growth.

*Flax oil has a very short fresh span, once it is removed from its seed. If your flax oil has an off smell ~ don’t eat it ~ throw it out! Purchase your flax oil fresh from the refrigerator in your health food store or grocer. Mix two or three tablespoons of flax oil or hemp oil with olive oil in your dressings.

There are many delicious recipes, using ground flax and whole flax, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and raw nuts, like cashew, almond, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts and macadamia which is an excellent way to get the fresh highly unsaturated fats on a regular basis. Eat them whole, add them to Raw Nut and Dried Fruit Nosh, sprinkle seeds or chop nuts into salads and throw a handful in smoothies – lots of ways to get these delicious healing foods into your body on a regular basis.

References

Balch, James F., M.D., Balch, Phyllis A., C.N.C. Prescription for Nutritional Healing. 1997. Avery Publishing Group, New York.

Bowden, Jonny., Ph.D., C.N.S. The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. 2007. Fair Winds, Massachusetts.

Duke, James A., Ph.D. The Green Pharmacy. 1997. Rodale Press, Pennsylvania.

Tsi, D., Das, N.P., Tan, B.K.H. Effects of Aqueous Celery (Apium graveolens) Extract on Lipid Parameters of Rats Fed a High Fat Diet. Thieme eJournals, Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart, New York. Planta Med 1995; 61(1): 18-21. Accessed online March 8, 2011, at www.thieme-connect.com/ejournals/abstract/plantamedica/doi/10.1055/s-2006-957990