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Between Meals Podcast. Episode 14: Celery Juice, How Detox Actually Works & Food as Medicine
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Celery Juice, How Detox Actually Works & Food as Medicine.
Are you curious about the celery juice trend? Is it a super food or a super fad? In episode 14, I am joined by Ali Miller, RD, LD, CDE who is hitting us with the facts with her food-as-medicine approach that is grounded in nature and supported by scientific evidence. We talk through the misinformation, the redeeming qualities of celery and why you may want to reconsider downing gallons of celery juice each and every week.
From debunking some of the massive claims to talking through why some folks may be having great results drinking daily celery juice, Ali shares more about how the body’s natural detox pathways work. Learn how you are better off consuming foods rich in sulfur, glycine, glutathione, cysteine, and nutrients that drive phase 2 encapsulation with ample fiber in the diet (that’s right celery juice contains none of these things) to support the excretion of toxins from your body to actually detox vs. prevent detox process for short-term outcomes.
Finally, Ali shares more about her food-as-medicine approach when it comes to anxiety, depression and cognitive dysfunction.
I hope you enjoy this episode and if you have anecdotal evidence or personal experiences with celery juice that you would like to share, please feel free to use the comments below, we’d love to hear from you.
Follow Ali Miller, RD:
Her website AliMillerRD.com
Instagram @AliMillerRd
The Naturally Nourished Podcast
Mentioned in this Episode:
- Ali’s IGTV episode about why she will never drink celery juice
- Celery Juice is NOT a Miracle Drink
- Rat study showing the effect of celery and parsley juices on pharmacodynamic activity of drugs involving cytochrome P450 in their metabolism
- 10 Day Real Food Detox Program
- The Anti-Anxiety Diet: A Whole Body Program to Stop Racing Thoughts, Banish Worry and Live Panic-Free
- Ali’s rebuttal to Jillian Michael’s recent rants on the Keto Diet
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New Year Reset Meal Plan // Week 4
Whether you are starting the year off with the Whole30 or a 21 Day Sugar Detox, maybe you are going paleo or gluten-free for the first time or perhaps you are simply just getting back to your usual mindful-eating ways – we could all use our regular, pre-holiday routines and definitely some healthier eats. I want to make these first weeks of 2017 a breeze for all of you, this is the final week of meal plans all month. I hope it has been helpful. All of the meals featured in the weekly meal plans, throughout this month, are gluten-free and paleo, all of the recipes are free from grains, dairy, legumes and sugar (or have very simple options to make them as such).
New Year Reset Meal Plan // Week 4
Monday: Lettuce-Wrapped Greek Lamb Burgers (for dairy-free, just leave out the optional feta and make dairy-free tzatziki). Serve with a big ‘ol Greek salad and some homemade dressing (skip the feta and the sweetener) and some kalamata olives.
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New Year Reset Meal Plan // Week 3
Whether you are starting the year off with the Whole30 or a 21 Day Sugar Detox, maybe you are going paleo or gluten-free for the first time or perhaps you are simply just getting back to your usual mindful-eating ways – we could all use our regular, pre-holiday routines and definitely some healthier eats. I want to make these first weeks of 2017 a breeze for all of you, so I have meal plans set for every week this month. All of the meals featured in the weekly meal plans, throughout this month, will be gluten-free and paleo, all of the recipes are free from grains, dairy, legumes and sugar (or have very simple options to make them as such).
New Year Reset Meal Plan // Week 3
Monday: Grab a rotisserie chicken or make your own roast chicken in the slow cooker and use the leftovers to whip up this Pot Pie Soup with Grain-free Drop Biscuits (can be made with chicken or turkey). Drop in your favorite veggies and leave off the grain-free, nut-free biscuits, if you prefer.
Tuesday: A seasonally-inspired meal, this Slow Roasted Citrus Fennel King Salmon with Crispy Fried Lentils (leave off the lentils if avoiding legumes) features winter citrus and beautiful, aromatic fennel for any easy but luscious weeknight meal. Serve with your favorite green veggie on the side!
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New Year Reset Meal Plan // Week 2
Whether you are starting the year off with the Whole30 or a 21 Day Sugar Detox, maybe you are going paleo or gluten-free for the first time or perhaps you are simply just getting back to your usual mindful-eating ways – we could all use our regular, pre-holiday routines and definitely some healthier eats. I want to make these first weeks of 2017 a breeze for all of you, so I have meal plans set for every week this month. All of the meals featured in the weekly meal plans, throughout this month, will be gluten-free and paleo, all of the recipes are free from grains, dairy, legumes and sugar (or have very simple options to make them as such).
New Year Reset Meal Plan // Week 2
Monday: Inspired by our recent travels to London and it’s amazing curry scene this Ruby Murray (Chicken Curry from Dishoom) is delicious over cauliflower rice if you are avoiding grains and if you want to add some green goodness to the dish, stir in baby spinach and frozen peas right at the end. My favorite. -
New Year Reset Meal Plan // Week 1
Whether you are starting the year off with the Whole30 or a 21 Day Sugar Detox, maybe you are going paleo or gluten-free for the first time or perhaps you are simply just getting back to your usual mindful-eating ways – we could all use our regular, pre-holiday routines and definitely some healthier eats. I want to make these first weeks of 2017 a breeze for all of you, so I have meal plans set for every week this month. All of the meals featured in the weekly meal plans, throughout this month, will be gluten-free and paleo, all of the recipes are free from grains, dairy, legumes and sugar (or have very simple options to make them as such).
New Year Reset Meal Plan // Week 1
Monday: A hearty, yet easy to make meal, this Instant Pot Beef Stew is the perfect, cozy winter dish. (Don’t have a pressure cooker? Don’t worry, I include instructions for the slow cooker)
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Roasted Cabbage Wedges with Garlic Tahini and Toasted Pepitas
There are two things that I will never tire of when it comes to food. The first is roasting. It quite literally is my favorite preparation for most veggies, bringing out their inherent sweetness and an unmatched level of comforting flavor. Second, I absolutely adore tahini. I want to put it on everything. Always.
Cabbage, now that’s a food I haven’t always been such a huge fan of. Admittedly, I used to hate the stuff. If you ask me, steamed cabbage gives this delicious, nutrient-dense veggie a very bad name. But times have changed, I love cabbage these days. Big fan. I like it in sauerkraut, that stuff has become a huge part of my every day. I also really love cabbage in a good homemade spicy slaw. But roast cabbage, this stuff is a total game changer, especially for those who swear they don’t like it.
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Orange Pomegranate Smoothie
The name of the game right now is simple and sweet. Easy peasy. The new year has kicked off strong with lots going on, I’m 5 days into a 3 week healing protocol (more on that at another time) and school is back in session for me. I am learning to balance and find comfort in the slow and steady and quick and easy. Both have their much needed place in my life right now. This week I swapped my fast paced vinyasa flow yoga classes and my intense time at the gym for yin yoga, gentle yoga and longer walks. This is what my body is crying out for. Many of our meals have been slow cooked, braised or roasted but naturally, I would run out of time if I followed this path all day every day. So whenever appropriate I have been shifting focus to easy and quick meals and snacks that are still nutrient dense and of course, yummy!
No matter the pace, just as any other time of the year is concerned, I am all about celebrating what is fresh and in season right now, even smack in the middle of winter. There is always so much abundance to focus on, no matter where you live. We have a huge orange tree in our yard that is covered in gorgeous, vibrant juicy oranges. More than two humans could ever dream of eating. So, I have been juicing many of them, giving them to friends and neighbors and getting very creative in the kitchen, with them.
I also love the beautiful fresh pomegranates in season here in California, right now. They’ve been making appearances on nearly every salad I serve and yet I still want more. Since it has been some time since I have shared a smoothie recipe here, I give you the first Tasty Yummies smoothie of 2016, in all her beautiful winter glory!
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Fennel Spinach Soup
While I am very aware that the holidays, for most of us, usually means a bit more sweets than usual, maybe a tad more alcohol and probably a few other less-than-healthy choices, I also kinda resent the idea that we should all relegate ourselves to spending the entire month of January detoxing, cleansing or Whole-whatevering.
Obviously you guys know me and my mission well enough to know that people making healthier choices and mindful lifestyle changes is always something I can get behind no matter the circumstances and in fact, I constantly encourage this. But, I don’t love this idea of post-holiday shame or guilt, that many feel we should suffer, especially after one of the best and most special times of the year. It just isn’t healthy. I also don’t love the idea often promoted every January, that 30 days of “cleansing” is going to change our lives or fix our wrongdoings and come February we can just jump back into the “old ways of eating”. Done and done.
Once again, it’s that balance I so often talk about. It’s the sustainable lifestyle choices and habit-forming, everyday changes that will endure long term and elicit real shifts in our health and overall well-being and vitality, for the long haul. Sure, more veggies and less junk is what we are all doing right now and I am certainly not condemning that, but I will feel no regret for my holiday choices. I make no apologies for the amazing, “nutritionally imperfect” homemade food I enjoyed with my family or those extra few pieces of the dark chocolate candy that my father and I made together (using my great-grandmother’s recipe) – which may have snuck into my suitcase. So what, I had a few cocktails? I also don’t feel even the slightest bit bad about the extra (of course, gluten-free) refined-carbs that seemed to follow me everywhere these past two weeks. None of these choices were really all that bad. I know, simply put, that it cannot and will not undo all the hard work I have done the rest of the year and consuming those things (or more) under the premise that I will “undo” it in the New Year, feels just plain silly to me.
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Green Mojito Smoothie
It’s pretty typical of me to start every day with a smoothie. It’s a big part of my morning rituals most days. On a typical morning I kick off my day with some sort of movement, whether that be yoga, the gym, a bike ride or a long walk. Smoothies are the best post-movement meal, they are the right amount of food to refuel and recharge me, they just get me and they work seamlessly with my lifestyle! Typically, I have my staple base ingredients that I always start with, but generally I let what is most in season and what I happen to have in my kitchen guide my smoothie adventures. It’s rare that this methodology fails me, but it is also definitely easy to get stuck in a smoothie rut, too.
Sometime last year I met the firecracker of a woman, Tess Masters. Tess, AKA “The Blender Girl”, is my smoothie guru, my smoothie sherpa, she is my smoothie Jedi Master and I, her young Padawan. OK you get it, Tess knows her way around a blender. (But you probably remember me telling you all that last year). Without exaggeration I can tell you that any time I have tasted a smoothie Tess has made or whenever I have recreated one of her recipes, I always find myself thinking ‘Ahhh! This is so good and so simple, why didn’t I think of this?’ I have learned some of my favorite smoothie recipe tricks from her. Basically most of Tess recipes come with a built in hand to forehead whack – each one just so brilliantly simple, yet so creative, that you too will be thinking ‘DUH, what haven’t I been doing this all along?’, as you sip on one of the tastiest smoothies you’ve ever had.
If you hadn’t guessed it, she’s at it again. My friend, Tess, has put out another incredible collection of recipes: The Blender Girl Smoothies – 100 Gluten-Free, Vegan, and Paleo-Friendly Recipes. The Blender Girl Smoothies book is based on The Blender Girl Smoothies app that launched in October 2014.
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Strawberry Lime Sorbet
It’s been a while since we’ve had a Foodie Friend Friday post, I can tell you this lapse in sharing definitely isn’t for lack of having incredibly talented friends put out incredibly talented books.
We are back at it today with this gem of a book, Everyday Detox, from Megan Gilmore, AKA The Detoxinista. I absolutely love Megan, her website and recipes and now this incredible book. She just “gets it”. Rather than the all-or-nothing approach of extreme short term detoxes, fasts and cleanses, diets that can set us up for failure, Megan is all about making healthy choices everyday, living life in a mindful way that we can maintain without intense deprivation followed by the post-diet binging.
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Orange Cranberry Coconut Smoothie
This time of year while most folks are looking for holiday cookies and sweets, I find myself seeking out comforting, healthy foods that I feel good about eating. Don’t get me wrong, I do indulge a little here and there, but generally speaking I find myself craving fresh fruits and vegetables and foods that will give me the energy I desperately need this time of year.
I had an abundance of fresh cranberries on hand from our Thanksgiving feast, so I thought a seasonally-inspired smoothie was the perfect way to use some of them. We have beautiful, juicy fresh oranges ready to be picked from our tree and I always have bananas and Medjool dates in the freezer ready for smoothie-making, so this sweet and tart, creamy, vegan, spiced Orange Cranberry Coconut Smoothie was born. Read the rest of this entry »
