The Healing Power of Celery Juice - and Why it's best 'not' to consume it alone!
Video link: https://youtu.be/FAzPuept1As.
My New Podcast & Summer Wellness Newsletter #2
Dear Friends and Family 
(I've got a gift to share with you! See below for the link to the book: Live Food Juices by Dr. Kirschner. 1957)
Today I'll be sharing what I've learned over the last 45 years as it relates to Celery. I'm thrilled to see so much enlightening information coming out in the last several years about the healing power of celery juice. However, I'd like to add some information that hasn't been shared with the public too much, that I believe will help you on your journey to continue to feel great and live a superior life.
Here's the topics I'll be speaking about this week!
1. The Healing Power of Organic Celery Juice
2. Three Secrets to building a Living Kitchen
3. A Video from my Kitchen with one of my Favorite Summer Salads
Questions Coming in about Last Week's Newsletter:
From last week's newsletter, I spoke about the value of drinking carrot juice on a regular basis. If you're underweight or overweight, drinking freshly made carrot juice will help restore you back to balance.
I've been receiving lots of questions about the following:
1. How much to drink?
2. How often?
3. Why 'only' carrot juice?
4. Will it turn my skin orange?
Answers:
1. 32 ounces per day is optimal and almost necessary for good results. We need to imagine that we are thoroughly bathing the inside of our bodies with these juices and 32 ounces has proven to be the best amount, at least in the beginning of our journey towards vital health. Using our minds to visualize that these juices are helping us achieve superior health is, interestingly, very important. (more on this in later editions)
2. We recommend drinking carrot juice every other day for one month, then on the second month, three times a week, then the third month, twice a week. This also is recommended for all juices that you start with. You'll find great results this way.
3. We believe when we're drinking carrot juice alone, you'll discover much better results. The reason behind this is because carrots are almost identical to our human blood as I spoke about last week. When we combine freshly made carrot juice with other veggies or greens, it's not like we're diluting the carrot juice, but we're using 'less' of the carrot. We want you to start off juicing only carrot juices for a while so that the concentration of the carrot juices bathe (as i said above) the cells of the body; so that our blood can recognize the carrot juice's structure and begin to purify the blood and ultimately cleanse the waste matter out of the organs of our bodies.
4. There's many reasons why our skin turns orange. Jay used to say that isn't it amazing our entire body turns a little orange when we consume carrot juice? The palms of our hands and the bottom of our feet is where we recognize it the most. This is proof that the carrot juice is reaching every single cell of our body! Our skin is our largest organ of our body, which tells us that these juices are doing their job. Secondly, the reasons why the pigments of carrots turn our skin a little orange is because there are incredible healing properties in the pigments of carrots. (known as carotenemia).
Our small intestine converts this beta-carotene into PRO vitamin A, (as I was discussing last week) and some of it stays in our bloodstream, which is completely harmless. Jay used to say that it's better to have our skin turn a little orangish or yellowish because we have more protection against the harmful (oxidative-harmful rays) of the sun. So, please don't feel that since your skin is turning this color, you've begun to get jaundice or that it's going to be this color forever. This couldn't be farther from the truth. This is a temporary symptom and will disappear within several months.
Don't forget to read this book: Live Food Juices, written by Dr. Kirschner back in the late 1950s. I have shared this link below:
Ok, let's get to this week's newsletter! There's lots to cover.
How to Pick Celery to Purchase:
Try to find celery that is not so light in color.
Do not purchase if ribs are limp (soft or rubbery)
Try to find celery that is tight to the feel and protected with a cover for freshness
Pick celery where the ribs are straight, not bent
Lastly, try to always use organic Celery
When I'm picking celery, I always look for these factors and also the entire stalk should feel heavy. This is a sign it will be great for juicing.
How to Store Celery:
When I come home from the grocery store, I thoroughly wash my organic celery and pull off each rib to clean so that I'm ready to juice when the feeling hits me, lol... I store them together inside paper towels, then put them into large plastic zip lock bags. (More on organizing produce, effectively, in a future issue)
What about the Leaves?
There's great benefit in the whiter part of the end of the stalk of celery as well in the leaves. The whiter part (which is the bottom of the stalk) is sweeter than the rest of the entire stalk and absolutely should be juiced. So juice the entire celery stalk when you can. Usually an entire stalk will have around 15 ribs to it, including its leaves which are located at the tips of the ribs. Just make sure to wash the entire stalk because dirt can lodge itself into the bottom part of the celery stalk.
The leaves are bitter for sure but remember this - always - ok? "Any vegetable that is bitter is fabulous for helping our Liver stay healthy." The leaves should not be yellow or have holes, or spots on them. The leaves have more nutrients in them than the actual ribs of the celery stalks. More iron, vitamin C and potassium. They should also be much darker than the ribs of the celery stalk.
We don't Recommend Juicing "ONLY" Celery Juice
Consuming freshly made celery juice is something Jay and I have been touting and promoting for over 40 years, and especially more than that with the 6 decades Jay's been teaching juice therapy. However, it's become very popular over the last six years, and there's several good reasons why! Freshly made celery juice is full of fabulous anti-inflammatory properties as well as containing some powerhouse compounds that make celery juice stand out. Drinking celery juices also helps hydrate the body in a very powerful way. However, we don't recommend juicing celery all by itself. We like to combine it: better taste, it's too alkaline and combining them with other veggies such as carrot, which as I said in the first newsletter, that carrot is the best 'carrier' to distribute all these wonderful macro/micro nutrients including enzymes, vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and the yet 'unknown' elements of life and growth. (that was a quote from Jay!)
Jay and I have a celery juice therapy combo we've been teaching for many decades to help with the following:
*Dehydration
*Muscle cramps (relaxes blood vessel muscles)
*After workouts (potassium/sodium balance in celery/apple juice is stellar)
*Helps relax our nervous system when combined with apples. 50/50* (see recipe below)
However, be careful, because celery juice can also (when consumed too much or too often) can make our skin sensitive to light,which in turn, can create sun damage to our skin. This is precisely why we never recommended juicing "celery" alone. (Interestingly, we recommend drinking carrot juice alone! But celery juice and carrot juice are distinctly different in structure.)
Here's the BEST combination to use with Celery: (32 ounces)
12 ribs Celery (or the entire stalk)
1 large cup of fresh Fennel (or half a bulb of a large Fennel)*
1 large Apple (red delicious is recommended)
8 medium sized Carrots
*Fennel has 22% more calcium, two and three times more vitamin C, K, Potassium, Choline and 2 times more protein. Plus it really tastes better than the Celery 'if' celery taste bothers you, which for many of us, it does.
Juice this combination and consume either before a workout or afterwards. We also, interestingly, recommend this tonic before bedtime. Celery juice has a calming effect on our nervous system when combined with either pear or apple.
From a juice therapy point of view, apples would be recommended, however, if you're having trouble sleeping, combining with pears helps a bit more.
Another Great Benefit for Relieving Constipation: 
If you have a tendency towards constipation, drinking this tonic with Celery/Apple before bedtime helps relax the bowels and proper elimination is much easier to achieve.
Part 2 - A few tips to Restore our Kitchens into our Living Kitchens - 3 Secrets!
The most important part to sustaining a long term relationship with preparing natural foods, fresh juices, smoothies, super salads and the like is to be in charge of your kitchen. Why? Because as you probably know, being a natural food advocate and fresh food meal provider, the kitchen can become crazy messy! Lol...and it's true. It's a daily challenge but the truth is, I'm going to share some little secrets I have discovered over the decades that have helped me keep my own kitchen from getting out of control. (I'll be sharing more in upcoming wellness newsletters).
Secret #1: Clean, Store and Organize (plus recipe)
Once you come home from the grocery store, it's imperative to clean your produce thoroughly in cold water and with the following, natural pesticide remover: Fill sink up with cold water then add 1/2 cup Baking Soda to the water and swish it around. To add more benefit, add 2 tablespoons of seasalt to it. This helps remove up to 98% of the surface sprays. We've been doing this with non-organic produce for many decades. Soak for two minutes, then rinse thoroughly.
Next, wrap all your dark greens in (natural) paper towels then put them into large zip lock bags. This will keep your dark leafy greens good for a few weeks.
Cut your carrots into sizes that work best for your future juicing adventures. I like to cut off the large ends. I never peel them, nor do I work too hard to rub off the surface of the carrots because a large amount of nutrients (believe it or not) actually lie on the surface of veggies and fruits. I then store the carrots in my bins in the fridge, but put down paper towels in the bottom of the bins to keep them fresh. Carrots will last at least two weeks this way.
This can be said for harder veggies like zucchini, fennel, beets and other root veggies.
I also refrigerate ripe avocados in the fridge. They'll last for ten days without going bad this way. However, try not to cut them open as they won't last too long in that condition. They turn brown quickly.
I usually refrigerate fruits in the fridge. However, I leave them as is when refrigerating them. In other words, do not cut them in half unless you're going to use them the next day, otherwise they become brown and will grow bad bacteria on the surface. Stone fruits in particular, pears and apples are good examples. If the fruit is not ripe after you buy it, then put the fruit in a large bowl in your kitchen until you can see they're ready to juice or eat.
Secret #2: CAWG
I learned this many decades ago back in 1966. My mother was an advocate of natural foods back when everybody thought we were quite eccentric, lol. She had a way of always keeping her kitchen clean and organized which somehow fascinated me, considering how much food came out of her kitchen. Little did I know I would be using some of her techniques for the rest of my adult life, and teaching them as well! No wonder I was so intrigued.
CAWG means: "Clean As We Go" 
When we're getting five to six veggies, greens or fruits out of the fridge to make a salad, a juice or a smoothie, it can get messy. CAWG really comes in handy. The key to this is to use what you've going to use, then immediately put it back into the refrigerator the way you found it. If you use all of it, then throw out the residues to the food so that your countertop is clean and ready for the next veg or fruit you'll be using. This CAWG also works well with cooking any foods. Once you've got your meal prepared, do not sit down to eat until all of the residues from the foods you've used are put away, and if they're dirty, put them into the sink or back into the fridge - or in the places where you found them. This way, when you eat your meal, all you have to do is clean 'up' the dishes and pans you've used.
Secret #3: Putting our Kitchens to Bed 
Is there anything worse than waking up to a messy kitchen from the night or day before? It's a real stopper to good momentum as we move into a natural kitchen lifestyle. Meaning, we will really find it hard to juice or make smoothies in the morning, or even prepare a healthy breakfast when it's dirty. It's VITAL to clean the kitchen the night before we go to bed, even if we have to drag our teenager kids or partner in to help us accomplish this. It may take some doing... right? But it's 'so' well worth it! It may take 30 days of a personal promise to do this, before it becomes a natural chore before bedtime. For us, we do it right after our meal. Then if we get involved in something after dinnertime, we don't have to worry about the kitchen. My mother used to say, Linda... remember to put your kitchen to bed at night! That's what gave me the idea to share with you today. It's a cute saying, and it is also a good little visual. 
Part 3 - Recipe for My Fennel Fruit Salad
I love this salad. And what makes this salad so great, is these are remnants from the juice recipe I showed you above. As you make your juice, now you can use the rest of the ingredients that were not juiced, into a salad. Now you've got two beautiful ways to fuel your body with these fruits which will bring you great natural energy as well as bring water rich foods into your bloodstream, including valuable fibers.
I'll be showing this salad in my video. Link shown below.
Since it's summertime, how could we not show this delicious fruit salad? Fruit is one of the most cleansing, delicious foods we can put into our bodies. Fruit is the perfect food for man. I just recently ended a 10 day fruit cleanse with sprouted Adzuki and Mung Beans. (I'll share this later). Jay always used to be a huge fruit lover and would consume up to 4 pounds of fresh fruit in the summertime as well as, during Fall, Winter and Spring. Since we lived in San Diego, California for most of our marriage, it was easy to get many fruits. However, we were and still are big believers in eating fruits in season. Summertime, we have melons, stone fruits, cherries, berries...the list goes on right? In the Fall we have apples and pears, grapes and cranberries that are in season. In wintertime we've got Pomegranates, Pears, Valencia Oranges, Lemons, Pineapple, and yes...Grapes...wow! Then of course in Spring we've got Strawberries, Berries, Grapefruits and all Citrus....so you see, there's just a plethora of great fruits for us to consume on a daily basis, no matter the season. Don't let the cold weather stop you during Wintertime. Even when it's super cold outside, we can always put fresh fruit on top of our oatmeal or on super healthy cereals.
Here's the LINK to my Video: https://youtu.be/FAzPuept1As
Need to reach me?