Could you swallow the new fad for celery juice?
CLAUDIA CONNELL tries the A-list wellness trend — and ends up green around the gills . . .
The verse by American poet Ogden Nash declared: ‘Celery, raw, develops the jaw, but celery, stewed, is more quietly chewed.’
As he wrote that more than 70 years ago, he never addressed the benefits of juicing celery. But, thankfully, another American gentleman is here to fill in the gaps.
Step forward Anthony William, the middle-aged, ponytailed founder of the rather sinistersounding Global Celery Juice Movement. he can’t get enough of the stringy green stuff.
According to him, it’s a ‘miraculous healing remedy’ and he’s got the social media and celebrity following to prove it.
On Instagram, Anthony goes by the name ‘Medical Medium’ because he claims to have detected his grandmother’s cancer when he was just four years old and before she had any symptoms.
he believes that celery juice can alleviate the symptoms of more than two dozen conditions, covering everything from migraines and ADhD to gout and multiple sclerosis.
But
the area in which his followers claim most success is skin conditions. his social media feed is awash with before and after pictures from people who believe that getting their celery juice fix has cured their eczema and psoriasis.
the latest star to try the Medical Medium’s method is Kim Kardashian, who told her 128 million Instagram followers of her battle with psoriasis on her face and legs.
Sylvester Stallone is another devotee, as is tennis champion Novak Djokovic. It almost goes without saying that Gwyneth queen-of-the-cleanse Paltrow is part of the celery movement.
Australian model Miranda Kerr has claimed that drinking celery juice every morning for six months has given her renewed energy and helped with digestion problems.
Supermodel Naomi Campbell has said: ‘Anthony is not only a warm, compassionate healer, he is also authentic and accurate with God-given skills. he has been a total blessing in my life.’
With such ringing endorsements, I felt compelled to join the Global Celery Juice Movement from my little corner of Brighton.
the first thing I had to do was purchase a juicer. I did have one about 15 years ago, but I got tired of it after realising that it takes ten times longer to dismantle and clean the wretched machine than it does to make a glass of juice.
But if the Medical Medium can give me more energy in the morning and maybe help clear up the dry skin I get every winter on my nose, then that’s got to be worth a bit of cleaning.
Anthony is very strict when it comes to how and when you drink your celery juice. It must be first thing in the morning and on an empty stomach. And you cannot add anything to it.
In a Youtube video, he is very animated and cross to hear that people have been adding lemon juice to the concoction. that cancels out the magical healing powers of celery. As do ice cubes.
typically I start my morning with a bucket of coffee, but on this occasion, I reach for my head of celery.
usually it’s one of those foods I never bother with because it’s so bland. It may be good for you, but at least other green veg, like spinach and rocket, has some taste.
And it’s not just a quick shot I have to drink. Oh no. Anthony wants me to knock back a whopping 16oz of the stuff, which is close to a pint.
A pint of warm celery juice on an empty stomach? I’d much prefer a latte and a sausage roll, but I bravely go with the green slime instead.
I use my entire bag of celery, but still manage to produce only 400ml.
the first mouthful is not too bad, but as I reach the half-pint stage I can feel my stomach make strange gurgling sounds. I manage to finish the whole thing and then must wait another half an hour before I can eat or drink anything else, as, according to Anthony, other foods can reduce the medicinal properties of celery juice.
Walking to my office, my stomach churns like there’s someone working a mangle in there. In fact, it’s so noisy that I’m sure people can hear it from half a mile away.
On his website, Anthony says he first became aware of the wonders of celery 40 years ago, as a child. ever since then, he has been guided by spirits.
‘the gift is relentless,’ he says. ‘ Sometimes their voices don’t stop because there’s such an overwhelming demand out there for health solutions.’
twenty minutes after downing my pint of celery juice, the voices are telling me not to stray too far from a bathroom for the rest of the day.
On the Medical Medium website there are videos in which Anthony evangelises about what he calls an ‘undiscovered cluster salt’ in celery that ‘strips pathogens [the bacteria that causes disease] and destroys them’.
‘Cluster salts’ is the name he gives to what he says is celery’s unique salt, which differs from the usual mineral sodiums found in food. he says this wonder- salt ‘ revives liver cells, flushes out old pharmaceuticals from your body and metals and petrochemicals’.
So, is it a miracle cure? Should we all stock up on celery in order to have clear skin, bags of energy and the Rolls-Royce of digestive systems?
‘I’d like to see the evidence,’ says Dr Deborah Pufal, a lecturer on nutrition at the university of huddersfield. ‘ People in my field hear about miracle foods all the time, but they never stand up to scrutiny.
‘the problem is that people fall for the idea of extreme cures. It’s understandable that it’s more appealing than just eating a balanced diet and maintaining a healthy weight.’ But what about the undiscovered cluster salt that kills off pathogens?
‘that’s another technique . . . to blind you with what sounds like science, but is actually meaningless,’ says Dr Pufal.
‘there’s very little in celery apart from water. I honestly don’t see how it can possibly cure skin conditions — or anything else.’
Call me a quitter, but it takes only two days for me to leave the Global Celery Juice Movement. I don’t feel any better and my stomach groans in protest after I drink it.
Naturally the movement will march on without me, but it certainly felt good to start the next day with a coffee.