6. Celery – is like cucumber is a favourite because it’s alkaline AND really high water content, so is used very frequently as a base in juices and soups (not so much smoothies as you have to juice it first…and then you have double the washing up).
One of celery’s big benefits is it’s vitamin C level, which has the well known benefits – but two of it’s lesser known nutrients are phthalides which have been shown to lower cholesterol and coumarins which have been shown to inhibit several cancers.
The beauty of vitamin C rich foods are that they help with the most common and most challenging health concerns – they support the immune system, inflammation (so helps with arthritis, osteoporosis, asthma etc), and vitamin C also helps significantly with cardiovascular health.
If you are on a weight loss journey, you’ll also be happy to hear that this alkaline staple contains plenty of potassium and sodium and so is a diuretic – meaning it helps rid the body of excess fluids.
Nutrients Per 1 Cup (as an RDA):
Vitamin K: 37%
Folate: 9%
Vitamin A: 9%
Potassium: 8%
Molybdenum: 7%
Dietary Fiber: 6%
Vitamin C: 5%
Manganese: 5%
Calcium: 4%
Vitamin B2: 3.5%
Vitamin B6: 4%
Magnesium: 3%
Vitamin B5: 3%
Energise Alkaline Diet Recipes Containing Celery:
Vegetable Bean Soup
Research on Celery:
- Celery and Hypertension: Kurl S, Tuomainen TP, Laukkanen JA et al. Plasma vitamin C modifies the association between hypertension and risk of stroke. Stroke 2002 Jun;33(6):1568-73 2002.
- Celery & Cholesterol: Tsi D, Tan BK. The mechanism underlying the hypocholesterolaemic activity of aqueous celery extract, its butanol and aqueous fractions in genetically hypercholesterolaemic RICO rats. Life Sci 2000 Jan 14;66(8):755-67 2000.
