As I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before, I’m a living experiment. Over the years, I’ve tried many supplements and regiments to try and correct certain things wrong with my body. I truly believe it is up to each of us to determine what works best for ourselves. I’m also against the whole idea of certain aliments strictly being hereditary. Not to say there aren’t certain ones that are, but overall, I think we train our brains to believe we’re predisposed to these ailments. We have to always take into consideration that we’re completely unique combinations of our ancestors. I’m not my parents, nor am I, my sibling. I’m a unique percentage of all the DNA that comprises me. Look it up, it’s been determined that even siblings are completely unique percentages of their nationalities.
In my seemingly never-ending quest to make myself as healthy as possible (without literally going insane), I recently stumbled upon celery juice from Medical Medium. I will be the first to say, I am not a celery fan. I’ve never understood the hype as far as taste goes. It tastes like gross water to me, but nevertheless, after reading account after account after account of people having success with a multitude of problems, I decided to give it a go. Now, I suck it down in the morning like it's a chocolate shake. Not because it's the best tasting thing in the world, but because I'm seeing real results.
First, let me explain what I was trying to correct. Time to get personal!
SKIN
I’ve had hormonal issues with my skin since I was about 19. I never had breakouts before then, and I’ve unfortunately had to deal with some form of that all the way until 33. I’ve been on and off birth control for 15 years, with the longest stretch on being 8 years.
A year ago, I decided to ditch that for a while and see what happened to my 33-year-old body. It literally has taken a year for it to subside and although some of my old issues seem to be creeping back (mainly the time between periods getting longer and longer), I have been seeing tremendous improvement with my acne. This gave me some hope already, but adding the celery juice has accelerated the improvement. My acne has never been as bad as most, I know this, but this has always been something that has really bothered me. I’m already seeing it basically disappear, which is something I never thought I’d see at this point.
I also had started, in the past few years, to experience Keratosis Pilaris on my arms. This is also known as “chicken skin” and it’s not cute. I have tried all kinds of lotions, coconut oil, essential oils, but nothing seemed to help. Why? Well, I don’t think anything topical is going to work.
I’ve read “Keratosis Pilaris is hereditary, inherited as an autosomal dominant gene. This is similar to the brown versus blue eye color phenomenon.” I personally call bullshit on that, and this is why. Within about 4 days I noticed mine was beginning to disappear. I’m on day 14 of the celery juice as I write this, and it has noticeably lessened every single day. As of now, it’s almost gone. If this were just hereditary it would not be disappearing like that. Also, there are no known cases of people in my family having this issue.
I’m pretty sure KP is from some form of toxicity. We’re inundated with poisons every day, and what is the number one way our body tries to rid itself of those toxins? Through our skin.
Let me put it this way, they don’t really know what KP is. Some experts say it’s hereditary, deal with it. Others say it’s a build up of keratin under the skin, but there’s no explanation as to why this happens. I’ve also seen gluten intolerance possibly being the cause, which is more likely in my opinion. There’s a belief that the pesticides used on wheat are what we’re really reacting to, not the gluten. At this point, there’s no real answer, but it’s a real problem.
I’ve seen topical “treatments”, scrubbing it (which I’ve found is useless and possibly irritating the skin more), lessening gluten intake, hydrating, and a multitude of other suggestions, but so far, this is the only thing I’ve gotten to work. I’ve even seen people suggest tanning or spray tans to mask the redness…yeah, that’s ridiculous.
One last thing to add here, I think it’s accelerating the rate my skin heals, too. I had a scratch on my arm that has almost completely disappeared way faster than previous scratches have.
STOMACH ISSUES
For the past few months, I’ve been experiencing stomach issues. Everything was irritating my stomach and I could not pinpoint what exactly it was. I was worrying that I might be developing an ulcer. I tried taking more probiotics, I tried French Green Clay (which I highly recommend for facials and occasional internal ingestion—they do it in Europe, research and determine if you want to, I do and I only use this brand), I tried black walnut supplements (also recommend this, just wasn't the answer for this particular problem), I tried all kinds of detox drinks and supplements—nothing was helping. Within 2 days of the celery juice, no stomach issues. No hurting, no feeling like I’d rather just throw up, no digestive problems, no bloating. This makes me so happy because I could not figure it out. I was worried maybe all my supplements (I take a shitload of supplements) were combining and causing a problem. That was disconcerting seeing I need those, and it might have taken months of altering that to see any improvement.
I was also bloated. I’ve always had a pretty flat stomach, and I’m a huge fan of “sucking it in” to work those stomach muscles and not look like a loaf, but I could definitely tell something was up. I knew I hadn’t acquired more fat there, and bloating seemed to be what was happening. After two weeks of the celery juice, I have zero bloat. I even went through my lady woes with minimal bloating. I’m so thankful because this was something else that was indicative of a problem, but I had yet to solve it.
OVERALL HEALTH
I feel clearer. I feel lighter. I haven’t even been eating all that well. Overall, I eat healthy, but I haven’t really done anything differently and I’ve definitely let myself indulge.
I also feel like I have more energy, and that I’m able to focus better. I have a lot of work I have to constantly do, and I was starting to feel so drained and unmotivated it worried me. Freelancing is my livelihood currently, and I couldn’t afford to screw that up, yet every day I was tired. To top it off I have a lot of other irons in the fire that I’ve completely been neglecting due to fatigue. Now, I’m getting back to them (like, blogging).
CELERY JUICING
If you have a juicer, it’s easy. Juice stalks of celery until you reach 16 oz of fresh juice.
If you don’t have a juicer, it’s also pretty easy! I currently do not have a juicer (although this baby is on my want list), so what do I use?
I have a Ninja, and I just blend up 5 cups of chopped celery (which equals about a small to medium sized bunch).
I add 1/2 a cup of filtered water.
Then you can strain it through cheesecloth or a fine strainer, and you’re done!
Do this first thing in the morning, drink it on an empty stomach, and wait 20-30 minutes before eating or taking your supplements.
This is such a simple thing to add into your routine, and I’m telling you, I’ve never felt better, my acne is basically gone, and my KP (chicken skin) is 97% gone in 14 days.
Also, if you don't have time to juice every morning, premake it the night before. Yes, it's best to have it fresh, but it's also better than not having it at all.
WHAT ELSE DOES CELERY JUICE HELP?
Purifies the bloodstream.
Relaxes nerves.
Improves gut health.
Reduces blood pressure.
Clears skin issues (acne, eczema, KP, etc).
Prevents dehydration.
Maintains the body's acid balance.
Aids in weight loss.
Diuretic.
Prevents cancer.
Rich in vitamin A, K, and C, flavonoids, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, beta-carotene, phytonutrients, and phosphorus.
For more information, check out Medical Medium. He’s the guy who started this all, and there are so many testimonials from real people via social media that have experienced real healing of a variety of ailments. There’s something to it, and I’m excited to explore more of Medical Medium’s recipes and his books including Medical Medium, Life Changing Foods, Thyroid Healing, and Liver Rescue.
Just to be clear, this is my personal experience and I'm sharing it to help others make better decisions in their lives. Don't do anything someone says just because they said it. Instead, do your own research and let other people's experiences help guide you to find what works for you.
