Is It Better To Drink Celery Juice Or Eat Celery?

celery juice
(Image credit: Unknown)

Let’s go ahead and start by saying it’s rarely a great idea to get advice about a healthy diet from Instagram, and you should be especially cautious for getting advice from celebrities on Instagram who have no background in nutrition, and may or may not be getting paid to say something is good for you.

However, of all the questionable things that you might start chomping or quaffing based on advice from social media, celery juice is one of the least offensive, because blending up some celery and drinking it isn’t going to harm you.

That is until you discover the origin behind the current fad – Anthony William, aka the Medical Medium – who wrote on that gospel of ill-informed nutribabble Goop that “if people knew all the potent healing properties of celery juice, it would be widely hailed as a miraculous superfood.”

We won’t go into the exact reasons Parker believes this to be the case, because we reckon once you reach the phrase “concentrated undiscovered cluster salts” in any article it’s safe to assume there’s going to be no real science in it. So instead of quoting more Parker, here’s Emily Robinson, assistant nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, with her take on the phenomenon of celery juice.

“Although mainly water, celery is naturally low in fat and calories, can count towards one of your five-a-day, and is a source of potassium,” says Robinson. “However, when we juice a whole fruit or vegetable it loses most of the fibre, and no matter how much celery juice you drink, only a maximum of one glass of juice – 150ml of 100% unsweetened – can count towards one of your five-a-day.

“Celery juice can be included as part of a healthy, balanced diet, if you like the taste. However, having celery in whole-food form will provide extra fibre and it can be a great addition to salads, soups and stir-fries, as well as a snack when paired with some hummus.”

Long story short: celery is good for you, celery juice slightly less so. And no-one needs to be at all worried about whether their diet contains enough concentrated undiscovered cluster salts.

Nick Harris-Fry
Senior writer

Nick Harris-Fry is a journalist who has been covering health and fitness since 2015. Nick is an avid runner, covering 70-110km a week, which gives him ample opportunity to test a wide range of running shoes and running gear. He is also the chief tester for fitness trackers and running watches, treadmills and exercise bikes, and workout headphones.