A cancer-fighting anti-hypertensive veggie tale

Celery isn’t the most exciting vegetable. In fact, it might be one of the blandest vegetables known to man. But what it lacks in taste, it more than makes up for in health benefits…

Not only is it the single best food for treating your high blood pressure, but it has anti-cancer powers to boot. I’d say that’s more than enough reason to give this bland vegetable another chance.

Celery’s unbelievable blood pressure benefits

Celery’s blood pressure benefits can be traced back to phytochemicals called phthalides. These phytochemicals relax the muscles in your artery walls and allow blood to flow more freely. They also decrease stress hormones in your body.

Celery contains fiber, magnesium and potassium too… all of which are known blood pressure regulators. Basically, celery attacks high blood pressure from multiple angles, and that makes it pretty powerful…

In one animal study, animals injected with celery experienced a 12 to 14 percent drop in blood pressure. And in a small human study, eating celery helped study participants significantly lower their blood pressure too.

Now, if you want to duplicate the results of these studies yourself, you should eat about four stalks of celery per day. If you do, you’ll not only lower your blood pressure, you’ll decrease your cancer risk too…

Cut your cancer risk (and more) with celery

Celery also contains acetylenic compounds, which are known to halt cancer cell growth. And it contains phenolic acids, which can help your body’s immune system find and destroy cancer cells while simultaneously starving tumors of the blood they need to survive.

But you know what else celery can do for you? It can relieve joint pain, improve bone health and strengthen arteries because of its high silicon content.

Getting your daily dose of celery

Convinced it’s time to make celery part of your daily diet? I hope so, but I have just one suggestion to help you bite off as much health-boosting goodness as possible from our crunchy friend…

Celery is often a member of the dirty dozen — the twelve fruits and vegetables with the highest amounts of pesticides on them. So if you want to enjoy celery’s health benefits without adding health risks to the equation, buy organic.

And since celery isn’t the most flavorful vegetable, there are some ways to jazz it up and make it pretty delicious. You can try a classic: celery slathered with a nut butter of your choice (with or without raisins). You can have celery with your favorite vegetable dip. You can eat your celery smeared with cream cheese and a dash of paprika. Or you could get more creative and make celery salsa.

But if you really want to cut your stroke risk if you’re hypertensive, try a smoothie blending celery with the root juice that makes your arteries loose.

No matter how you cut it — it’s a good idea to get a regular daily dose of this super healthy vegetable stalk.

Sources:

1. Bowden, Jonny. The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why. Beverly, MA: Fair Winds Press, 2007.

2. “Celery May Help Bring Your High Blood Pressure Down.” The Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org. Retrieved September 18, 2016.

3. “Top 10 Ways to Enjoy Celery.” Fruits & Veggies–More Matters. http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/. Retrieved September 18, 2016.