Celery: The Super Food That’s Going Unnoticed

When you talk about super foods, you’ll find many topping the list- chia seeds, green tea, flax seeds etc. Celery, however, often goes unnoticed, and deserves more credit for being what it is. Here’s uncovering what all celery packs in, and some great ways you can include more of it in your daily meals.

Celery: The Super Food That’s Going Unnoticed

Is it Really a Superfood?

Fresh celery can turn out to be an excellent super food, and adding more of it to your diet can help you boost your health in more ways than one. It offers you a range of vitamins and minerals including vitamin K, C, B6, folate, manganese, potassium and calcium.

Owing to its ability to significantly lower blood cholesterol levels, celery can also help improve liver health- so much so that it is also often recommended for those suffering from liver diseases. It actually turns out to be an effective liver cleanser. 

Being extremely low in calories, it is also great for weight loss. Plus, it is also effective against a number of infections (specifically urinary tract infections) owing to its antimicrobial properties.

Some experts also believe that this veggie could also help protect you from various forms of cancer, and offers many immune system benefits!

What Else?

For centuries, celery has been used as an anti-hypertensive agent and many current pharmacological studies have also shown how its anti-inflammatory properties could be great when it comes to offering cardiovascular benefits. Some findings have also revealed that celery could help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels owing to its anti-hypertensive action and lipid lowering effect.

Some other findings have revealed that it could help improve digestive health too, owing to its impressive amount of dietary fiber and water content. It has been found to reduce bloating, irritable bowel syndrome and constipation in particular. In fact, a particular study also found that celery helped reduce the formation of ulcers on the lining of the digestive tract.

Lastly, celery is also an amazing source of antioxidants and phytonutrients that help improve skin, liver and cognitive health. These antioxidants also help reduce free radical damage to the body, and thereby prevent the onset of chronic diseases.

Tips to Store and Consume Celery

You’ll find celery throughout the year, but make sure you pick the organic version, because this is one of the crops that tends to have the most pesticide content. Consume it before it goes limp to get the best of its nutritive value- it stays up to 5 days in a refrigerator. Avoid freezing it, because that again, reduces its nutritive value.

While other cooking methods do retain some of its nutrients, it is best to steam celery and then consume it. You can add it raw to your smoothies and soups or add it to your salad or stir fries.