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Research analysis: CleanseJoy Editorial Team |
Overview | Side effects | How to prevent | Detox diet | Constipation | Benefits | References
Did you drink celery juice on an empty stomach and think you have celery juice detox symptoms?
Many people are surprised to learn that this trendy cleanse causes a detox reaction. After all, it’s just…celery juice. Healthy, nutritious, with many benefits. What could possibly go wrong? Even more, out of all these testimonials and celebrities, why nobody is talking about all these side effects?
Celery Juice Detox, Is There Anything Wrong With My Body?
No, it’s completely not your fault. It’s just another example of health fads that gain popularity over the internet and spread like wildfire.
The medical medium celery juice book by Anthony William made the celery juice cleanse become viral. Suddenly, everybody was talking about this miracle juice that heals just about everything. But, just like so many things in life, there is another less glamorous side of the story.
So, while celery juice has its benefits, there are also the side effects. The good news, you can prevent the celery juice detox symptoms with a few basic steps which will cover in the review.
Also, it’s time to demystify the detox reaction.
Detox symptoms are not necessary when you detox or cleanse. In fact, they are not signs that whatever you do is working. Simply put, your body releases too much toxins at a pace it can’t safely handle. So, you may feel sick.
The other option, is that you can be sensitive to the ingredients. In our case, the celery. In any case, your goal with any cleanse or juice should be to improve the way you feel, not to make you feel worse.
Common Celery Juice Detox Symptoms May Include
- Skin rash, acne
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Digestive issues, in particular: gas, diarrhea, and bloating
- Fatigue
- Feeling tired
- Headache
- Flu-like symptoms
Drinking Celery Juice Is Not The Same As Eating Celery
With the celery juice challenge, you drink 16 ounces of celery juice on an empty stomach every morning for a week. To make that much juice, you usually need one large bunch celery. In other words, about 1 pound, 8 or 9 medium ribbed celery stalks.
Drinking celery juice is very different from eating celery. There’s a lot of medicinal properties in a quick acting juice form. In fact, this is where the food can very well act as a powerful medicine. After all, not a lot of people can eat 1 pound of celery every day.
What Does the Celery Juice Cleanse Do?
When you make the celery juice, you remove the fiber. So, you end up with a liquid that contains most of the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Since the fiber slows down the digestion and the release of nutrients in the body, your body can absorb the nutrients from the juice much quicker.
Now, the question is whether your body needs that much “medicine” so quickly. Some of these medicinal properties can nourish the body. Others, may kill bacteria, parasites, or release toxins. In other words, “cleanse”.
Similarly to other juices such as wheatgrass, this cleansing effect can benefit you in many way, but, can also cause detox symptoms.
Prevent Celery Juice Detox Symptoms (and Boost Your Health)
Here are five ways to help prevent celery juice side effects that can help you get the most out of your cleanse.
1. Clean your diet
The following simple plan below can do more than just preventing a detox reaction. It can change your life. In fact, we guarantee it will do much more to your health than any amount of celery juice.
We wish there would be more challenges that involved this type of simple healthy eating. Unfortunately, it’s not very glamorous, sexy, or viral.
Many people are often surprised to learn how good they feel when they clean their diet. Even more, not only they feel better, very quickly they start to enjoy the taste of real simple whole foods without all these additives.
To summarize this point, the cleaner your diet, the less toxins you will have. Thus, the less chances of a detox reaction. Then take full advantage of the benefits celery juice and other natural remedies may have. Without having to worry about detox symptoms.
More importantly, just like it doesn’t make sense to smoke and take antioxidants, you don’t want to juice and do all these healthy things on one hand, but keep putting junk into your body.
It’s time to take an honest look into the health and wellness of our nation.
Despite all the advances in modern medicine, people are sicker than ever. In fact, almost 50% of the U.S. population use prescription drugs. If you think it’s only elderly people, think again. Almost 20% of children under age 12 years use prescription drugs.[1]
And, a big part of the problem is the standard american diet. So many studies have shown a link between modern diets to chronic disease, health issues, including depression and mental illnesses. All these processed foods, artificial chemicals and other toxins we call “foods” take a toll on our body. It’s a huge burden that our entire system constantly need to process every day. Ironically, processed foods lack essential nutrients are body needs to properly function .
So, as a first step, a week before you start the celery juice detox, remove the top toxins from your diet. In particular:
-
- Processed foods & beverages
- Refined sugars, in particular: high-fructose corn syrup (read the label of your “healthy” energy bars or drinks. The average American consumes 150 pounds of sugar in one year. Can you believe it? This means 3 pounds of sugar every week.
- Proceed grains, cereals. Again, these are not healthy foods. Just look at the list of the ingredients and see how many of them are actually foods.
- Fried foods
- Processed or commercial meat. These poor animals! Not only they are often treated poorly and are kept in horrible conditions, they are also fed with a diet that contains hormones, antibiotics, and chemicals to make them grow quicker. Quicker growth means more money for these industries but, when you eat the meat, you also consume all these toxins.
- Limit gluten and dairy. Most people can’t tolerate at least one of them. As a result, you may end up with inflammation in the gut and body. And easy way to tell is to limit them for a few weeks. If you have dairy or gluten sensitivity, expect to feel a big difference after you eliminate these.
Eat:
- Eat from the rainbow. Plenty of colorful fresh whole fruits, vegetables and dark leafy greens. Each color in plants represents a different plant pigment that offers different nutrients and antioxidants. As a good rule of thumb, vegetables and greens should take three quarters of your plate.
- Fiber. Did you know that fiber can bind to certain toxins in the gut and also supports healthy bowel movements? Simply put, fiber is one of the best natural ingredients to detox your body! The fiber intake recommendations range from 19 grams to 38 grams per day.[2]
On average, 30 grams for men and 25 grams for women (from whole foods, not supplements) is a great place to start.
An easy way to boost your fiber intake: eat one medium avocado (13 grams fiber), and 1 oz of chia seeds soaked in water (10 grams fiber) everyday.
2. Eat celery a week before you drink celery juice
Celery juice tastes way better than whole celery, we know. With that said, you want to start and eat celery first, to see if you have a reaction to it. This safe approach can save you a lot of trouble, before you consume the fast acting concentrated juice form.
So, start and eat a few ribbed celery stalks for 2-3 days and see how you feel. Celery stalks with carrots are great healthy snacks. Use humus or salsa as a dip.
3. Address Constipation
The following tip is true for any detox or cleanse, not just the celery juice cleanse. If you experience constipation, it is absolutely essential you regulate your bowels before you start.
If your colon is congested or constipated, toxins my stay in your body longer. Even worse, some of the toxins may re-absorbed back into the circulation.
So easy to prevent. Some useful home remedies for constipation include:
- Overnight colon cleanse (with apple cider vinegar, lemon, oxygen).
- Oxy-Powder. Releases natural oxygen in your colon that dissolves colon waste buildup. The waste is then flushed out through normal bowel movements. As a result, your body can eliminate toxins quicker. Thus, minimize or prevent potential celery juice detox symptoms.
4. How much celery juice should you drink a day? go low and slow
There’s no universal serving size of celery juice that works best for everyone. A 120 pounds female may need a different amount than a 250 pounds male. Furthermore, some people have more toxins in their body than others. Genetics can also play a role as it may affect the body’s ability to eliminate toxins.
So, play it safe, and go low and slow. To minimize the celery juice detox symptoms, start with a smaller amount and work your way up. For example:
- Drink 1 oz of celery juice in the morning on an empty stomach. Do you notice any of the celery juice detox symptoms we mentioned? If so, perhaps it’s better to respect your body and listen. Celery juice may not agree with your body right now.
- If everything goes well, however, increase to 2 oz the next day. Similarly, listen to your body, stop if you experience a detox reaction, or double the amount. So the next day jump from 2 oz to 4 oz.
- Continue with this protocol and be mindful about how you feel after you drink the celery juice. For example: did you feel more energized from 8 oz compared to 2 oz, or did you feel a little tired and lightheaded?
- Always first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.
- Stop until you feel that you have had enough juice or reach 16 oz.
5. Use organic celery
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has published a list of twelve fruits and vegetables that are exposed to the most pesticides. Also called “dirty dozen”, if you can’t find these organic, it is better to avoid them altogether.
As of 2020, celery is on that list. When you make celery juice, you filter the fiber, but do you also remove the pesticides? It is not clear.
So, to minimize side effects due to a reaction to pesticides in the celery, it is much better to use organic celery.
On that note, it is best to educate yourself about pesticides in foods, and shop wisely. See the EWG’s complete report: Dirty dozen list.
Celery Juice Benefits
Below are some of the main benefits of celery according to the medical literature. Keep in mind, the data doesn’t show that celery juice will heal these conditions. The studies simply found that celery has medicinal properties that can play a role.
So, with that said, celery main medicinal properties includes[3]:
- Antibacterial
- Antifungal
- Antioxidants
- Anti-inflammatory
Celery can prevent or help with[4]:
- Elevated blood glucose and serum lipid levels
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Jaundice and liver function
- Urinary tract obstruction
- Gout
- Rheumatic disease
- Blood pressure
- Chronic skin disorders (celery seeds).
Celery main compounds include caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, apigenin, luteolin, tannin, saponin, and kaempferol.
In Conclusion: Should I Do The Celery Juice Cleanse?
Celery juice can be a powerful tool for health and wellness. The juice is shown to have medicinal properties with some impressive potential benefits. But, just like any medicine, it can also cause side effects.
So, use this information and safety guideline, and hopefully, you will experience the benefits. Keep in mind, the idea in any juice or cleanse is to compliment a healthy diet and lifestyle, not replace them.
We hope you find this review helpful, and wish you all the best in your journey to better health.
References
- Prescription Drug Use in the United States, 2015–2016
- Closing America’s Fiber Intake Gap
- Advances in the Research of Celery, an Important Apiaceae Vegetable Crop
- A Review of the Antioxidant Activity of Celery (Apium graveolens L).
