Vanessa: 0:02

Hey, Em.

Emily: 0:05

So today we're talking about something that I'm really excited to talk about. I mean, this is like my favorite topic that we've chosen so far.

Vanessa: 0:15

Emily has been absolutely chomping at the bit. To talk about this. Like every time a different trend or subject comes up, she's like, but celery juice, we have to do celery juice, but I get it after, after doing my research, I kind of felt like that too. So I get

Emily: 0:36

Yeah. You, you were like, okay, we'll do it. Like relax. But then once you looked it up too, you're like, wait, no, I want to do this right now. Like, I'm really excited.

Vanessa: 0:48

it, it deserves a lot of discussions. There's a lot of, um, interesting pieces.

Emily: 0:55

Yeah, I think there's so much that people don't know about this. And I can't wait to tell everybody.

Vanessa: 1:02

Let's get into it. Welcome to wellness myths. If you are a previous listener, welcome back. If you are a new listener welcome. Emily and I are both registered dieticians and we started this podcast to talk more about trends in the wellness industry and which ones have validity and which ones maybe don't. There's a lot of discussions surrounding whether they have validity, because there's always pieces that are valid and pieces that are not.

Emily: 1:39

Yeah. So today, when we talk about celery juice, I feel like there's. So many different aspects to this, and there is positive. Maybe there's benefits for celery juice, maybe there's negatives for celery juice. And we're definitely gonna talk about the origin. That's probably my favorite part about this whole topic.

Vanessa: 2:00

Yeah. The origin is definitely interesting and probably something that people don't really realize, or maybe they realize some of it, but not the whole picture. Because I don't know if it would be quite so popular if they knew the whole picture.

Emily: 2:17

Yeah, definitely. So, okay. My first question, did you know this origin before we started researching?

Vanessa: 2:25

I did.

Emily: 2:26

Okay. Good. So for those of you who've done it, I'm like, I'm going to talk about this. Cause it's like my favorite thing. So the whole reason, celery juice, even. Is a trend at all is because of someone called the medical medium. And his name is Anthony William. He is basically someone that he claims to be born. This is from his website. He's born with the unique ability to converse with the spirit of compassion who provides him with extraordinarily accurate health information. That's far ahead of its time. So. Like this, guy's talking to ghosts. That's that's the main thing to understand right here.

Vanessa: 3:08

The spirit, Emily.

Emily: 3:09

Yeah. The spirit. Right? So he

Vanessa: 3:12

I'm all into, you know, some things that are a little out there. I can be into that. This is, is a little past that for me,

Emily: 3:23

Yeah. And you know, like I'm a yoga teacher. I love all this stuff. You know, there's a lot of things that are beneficial that haven't been super proven, in my spare time that I enjoy to do, but this is just kind of a next level type of thing. This man, Anthony William medical medium. His trademark name? He has no conventional medical training at all. There's really, he has zero background. It's just the spirits come to him and they tell him, you know, this is the way celery juice is going to be this magic cure all. And everyone has kind of just went along with this

Vanessa: 4:03

Yeah. And also, I think it's important to know. So he, like Emily said, he has no background in medicine or nutrition and he's a self. Proclaimed health expert. Now, when we think about a self-proclaimed health expert, I mean, I think some people could probably think of an aunt that is a self-proclaimed health expert

Emily: 4:28

Or like a guy you went to high school with some of that suddenly has like extensive biology degrees on Facebook. Yeah.

Vanessa: 4:37

So when you read things that he's written. Or written about, for example, celery juice. A lot of the, his claim start with, I believe which is wonderful when you believe something. But if you're telling, you know, the whole world that they should do something, just because you believe that's the right thing to do. Um, I, I don't, I don't know about that.

Emily: 5:05

Yeah, it's hard because all of this stuff, isn't really an opinion. It's usually coming down to research and this definitely, at least at the beginning of this trend, there was. Really no huge resource and study on celery juice. And there still hasn't been. One thing that I found in my research that I thought was really interesting was this Gweneth Paltrow quote, which anyone who knows me knows I have like a inner. Problem about her brand goop . But anyway, she says, while there is most definitely an element of other worldly mystery to the work, he does much of what Anthony William shines a spotlight on. It feels inherently right. And true. What's better. Is that the protocols he recommends are natural, accessible, and easy to do. Okay. Like Gweneth, not everyone has a big old juicer in their house. I don't really understand why she thinks it's like the most easiest thing to do to spend like hours every day, drinking celery juice in the morning and making it, I mean, you're assuming a lot of privilege. So I'm not really sure if I would say that's like the most natural and accessible. Oh. And he's also very like, Very, it must be organic. Celery is not expensive or anything like that, but the act of juicing it taking the time to do so cleaning the juicer, like all of those things really add up. And I would not say that they're accessible in that way.

Vanessa: 6:35

No. And if you don't have, you know, an expensive juicer, then that leaves you to maybe buying celery juice. And that's certainly not cheap. I mean, I think anyone that's bought juice knows that you're not, you're probably spending like $8 for a bottle of juice.

Emily: 6:54

Yeah, totally. Not to mention like all the extra packaging and it's like a whole disaster. And I think that, you know, obviously being an anti diet dietician, but he definitely has like a whole list of foods that you're supposed to avoid if you're really gonna like lean into his lifestyle. So if you're, you know, really gung ho on the celery juice and trust him a lot, he wants you to give up. A lot of foods. I think he calls them pathogen inducing and you know, it's like corn grains. I mean just literally so many foods, dairy, whatever. it's a lot of fear-based. So I just noticed that and I'm like, Oh, that's prime encouragement for anyone who's at risk or who has a history of disordered eating. That's something that I noticed for sure.

Vanessa: 7:40

Yeah. And I mean, just thinking about, so if you're someone who's like, I love the taste of celery juice. I love juicing, you know, whatever. And it's this joyful activity activity for you or something that you like. That's a little bit different, but I think for most people celery juice probably isn't something that they love the taste of. If you're sitting there every morning, like choking this stuff down and you hate it, you're really, uh, eliminating maybe some of the benefits that it has because you're hating the act of doing it.

Emily: 8:16

Right.

Vanessa: 8:17

are you juicing it? And then like choking it down and then like begrudgingly, like scrubbing your juicer after every day.

Emily: 8:26

Yeah. That's not something that's going to have a net positive for your health. I feel like, yeah, I was, it's kind of funny that you bring up the taste. Cause I was just thinking about how, like in years past, when I was trying to adhere more to trends and like not really thinking about things for myself as much, um, I was drinking more green juice and I was always like choking it down because I just don't like it. It's not something that tastes good to me or whatever. But when I was thinking about that, I was thinking that you would like it because you like really bitter,

Vanessa: 9:02

I

Emily: 9:03

like harsh green stuff.

Vanessa: 9:05

Yes, I do. And so for, you know, for someone like me that does like the taste, that's a completely different situation. It's like if I wanted some celery juice in the morning, which I mean, that wouldn't be something that I would do every day, just because. I don't want to do that, but it's like, I'm like, okay, I feel like that I want it. There are going to be some benefits, you know, it's like a super hydrating drink, basically. But the funny thing is when you look at the research from from Anthony, William, he makes these claims about what celery juice is doing and. I'm guessing these are things that the spirit told him and they're completely unfounded, like a cluster salts. Did you read about clusters? Oh,

Emily: 9:59

I read so much about cluster salts.

Vanessa: 10:02

so just a little warning before we dig into cluster salts, cluster salts are not a thing at least that any one else other than Anthony knows about at this time. To be real, at least.

Emily: 10:19

Yes. And who knows maybe in 20 years, we'll all know about sodium cluster salts, but for now he's claiming it revives your stomach. So hydrochloric acid is restored. And then he's saying that your digesting gets stronger, so protein doesn't rot in your gut. I feel like we need to get into that a little bit.

Vanessa: 10:45

A lot to unpack there.

Emily: 10:47

You know, it's kind of hard. I was thinking about this. So kept appearing to me when I was looking at this research because our mole really just looking at his website is like, you can't really dispute what he's saying, because he's saying things that he allows that they're completely not real at this moment. So it's really hard to be like, well, no cluster salts don't do that because cluster salts don't even exist in modern medicine. So it's really hard when he says, Oh, cluster salts kill off pathogens that cause multiple sclerosis and Lyme disease. It's we have no way of telling him though. They don't accept that. That's just like kind of purely nonsense.

Vanessa: 11:30

Well, and that's where it starts to get a little bit insidious because, you know, you're telling people that it's going to wave off these horrible diseases. So I get a little afraid that people are going to, you know, stop going to their doctor and just drink celery juice because they think that's, what's going to cure them. So I think that's the part where. You know, celery juice itself for, and in most cases we'll talk about one case maybe where it could cause harm. You know, for the most part it's good for you. It's not gonna cause any issues, but when it's framed like that, I, I get a little worried.

Emily: 12:15

Same. I think that especially, so he's talking, your digestion gets stronger, so protein doesn't rot in your gut. You know, like protein digestion, digestion starts in the mouth with different enzymes and then goes to the stomach and then we have this hydrochloric acid that breaks it down further. So he's saying like what he's saying makes sense. Okay. If your hydrochloric acid was restored and then. Your digestion would be better. Okay. But there's just no research to prove that celery juice does that. So when we do have other tools, for example, zinc or probiotics to recommend that are heavily researched, and we know that's going to help someone, why would we recommend green juice?

Vanessa: 13:02

Right. Yeah.

Emily: 13:04

just doesn't really make sense. So let's talk about what people claim it helps them with. Okay. And we're not here to be like no celery juice did nothing for you. Everyone has a different anecdotal experience . People say that it helps them with their skin health saying that they feel more, that they have a clear complexion or their skin is more hydrated. And they feel like they have more energy and less bloating. So when it comes to the skin part, If you're more hydrated, your skin has better health. You have a positive impact on your skin when you're more hydrated. So we could attribute that. I think he says it's 32 ounces of celery juice in the morning,

Vanessa: 13:50

Yeah.

Emily: 13:50

Yeah. So 32 ounces. I mean, if you are going from drinking, no water to 32 ounces of fluid in the morning, you're probably going to get some pretty good benefits from that.

Vanessa: 14:02

Sure. I mean, that's great hydration. And then also, I mean, celery juice is packed with like vitamins a and C, which are going to be really good for your skin too.

Emily: 14:13

Yeah, definitely. And since we know water has a positive impact on digestion, it could just be the influx of 32 ounces of fluid. First thing in the morning. I think for people that, you know, maybe even listeners that have seen benefits, what were you doing before you drank celery juice? Did you replace like a fast food breakfast sandwich with 32 ounces of celery juice? Because then that would definitely make sense that you might be feeling a little better.

Vanessa: 14:42

Yeah. I definitely do not doubt at all that people are drinking celery juice and feeling really good. I think, you know, like I said, it's, like you said too, it's a super hydrating drink. That's packed with vitamins and minerals, so yeah, you probably are going to feel really good. Is it going to solve all the world's problems? Maybe not,

Emily: 15:04

Yeah. Yeah. It's not going to help you with your sodium cluster salts. That's for sure.

Vanessa: 15:10

No. Or your bile,

Emily: 15:12

Yeah.

Vanessa: 15:13

did you read about that too?

Emily: 15:15

no. What does he say about the Bible?

Vanessa: 15:17

So he says that it strengthens your bile. So what he says, so I believe that celery juice also increases and strengthens your bile strong Biles, important for breaking down fats, which is true. it's also needed to eliminate waste from your body, so true but again, we get into the, I believe statements. There is no actual evidence for celery juice strengthening your bile. This is another thing that just, he believes. So that goes into, you know how he's saying it helps with digestion.

Emily: 15:57

And I think that's something that you can apply to a lot of different wellness figures or influencers. If they're saying stuff like, I believe that's a red flag.

Vanessa: 16:08

And like Emily said too, there's nothing wrong with some anecdotal experiences or something anecdotally making you feel way better. That's great. If something makes you feel great, do it, um, you know, not like hard drugs.

Emily: 16:25

Yeah, we just had our alcohol episodes.

Vanessa: 16:33

If something is generally like healthy and you love it, keep doing it. But it, yeah, it just gets really dicey when we get into these weird claims.

Emily: 16:43

Yeah. And when we're talking about individual experiences like a lot of these anecdotes that people put out there, he has so many different success stories and all those things. I mean, placebo effect. That's huge. That's like the it's been proven time and time again, that if you think that's going to happen and going to make you feel better, you're going to experience it. And it doesn't really make it any less real. I mean, if the results the same, that's great, but we just want to watch out for the potential harm that it can cause as well, because even if things feel really good for you it might not be the right choice for somebody else.

Vanessa: 17:23

Did you want to talk a little bit about why celery juice could be potentially dangerous for some.

Emily: 17:31

So let's tell them what is warfarin. Um, when you're taking warfare and you have to make sure that you are eating about the same amount of vitamin K every day. So vitamin K normally is active in clotting factors. So your wounds don't bleed too much. Um, and then when you're taking a blood thinning drug warfarin works against vitamin K making your blood clot more slowly. Brief science break. Um, so yeah. So celery juice has a lot of vitamin K in it. So he's out here, just pedaling it to everyone. And you know, it's not just him at this point. This is not just like an Anthony Williams bash session at all. Um, there's been so many people that are implicated in this, at this point. He's just trying to make money. That's fine. Um, you know, He's not talking about that with people. We're not talking about the contraindications. I think on his website, it literally says there's no harm in being on the protocols for forever and it can only do you good. That's it's a direct quote. And so for someone who's on warfare and unbeknownst to them, and they start drinking all this celery juice after having none before that can have a really scary, negative impact on their health.

Vanessa: 18:47

Right. Exactly. And like Emily said, I mean, If we're, if we're not on blood thinners, like warfarin, vitamin K, we love vitamin K you know, like, like you said, body's going to use it for blood clotting, helping wounds heal. It's great. Um, but there are cases where, you know, we want to be a little bit more careful with it.

Emily: 19:09

Yeah. And warfarin is not a common drug for people who are less than 65 years old, but I still feel like it's worth mentioning because no one is immune to these trends. Even like your grandma. I mean, people, they see something on Facebook and they're like, Oh yeah. Even one time. My mom. My mom's a registered nurse. Right. And, um, one time I came home from college and she had all this celery in the fridge. And I was like, what? What's up with this? Like, why do we have so much, sorry. And she's like someone in the line for the changing room at Marshall's told me about it, told me to get a bunch of celery and juice every day and it would change my life. Yeah. So it's like, I mean, my mom's smarter than like 90% of people on the planet. Vanessa can concur with that.

Vanessa: 20:07

but it's like, I mean, somebody tells you something's a miracle and she was probably thinking like, why not?

Emily: 20:15

Totally. And it's, it just goes to show that like, even people who are very educated and in the medical field can still be kind of enticed by these trends.

Vanessa: 20:27

So something else interesting that I found. So I was looking into the history of celery. A little bit because celery wasn't always eaten. It was using used for medicinal purposes before it became something that I think it started in France that people actually started eating it. Um, but I was looking around and the Egyptians placed celery and King Tut's tomb.

Emily: 20:57

Oh, wow.

Vanessa: 20:59

And then they made like crowns of like celery foliage and things like that. So it had like these medical uses and, um, it was also like this highly perceived vegetation.

Emily: 21:14

Wow. That's really interesting.

Vanessa: 21:16

Yeah.

Emily: 21:18

Yeah. I think it kind of circles us back to saying that we don't think celery juice isn't inherently bad at all. There was a couple of other studies that I looked at that showed that has significant antioxidant effects. But so does every fruit and vegetable, so it's like, is it necessary to go so hard on one nutrient, one food when you could be having a variety?

Vanessa: 21:48

Right. And that's something that we always want to remember is that a variety is so important, especially when we're thinking about our gut. We want to be getting all of those different nutrients and, you know, celery is great, but there's a lot of other great veggies out there too. And so I would hate for someone to be, you know, solely focusing on that and missing out on other things.

Emily: 22:13

Yeah, definitely. I think. Two, if you're following the full protocol, if you are someone that believes in it so strongly and you trust this, man, it, the full protocol is so restricted. It can, could cause a lot of stress over foods, the language that's used. I just fear that it can cause a bit of disordered eating.

Vanessa: 22:37

I know one time. Time. And this was maybe I've listened to him on a podcast or something. Anthony William. And he was talking about eggs and eggs being the starter for every virus and just like, I don't know, it was very, very fear-based. Um, and I still remember here. That was like the only thing I remember from that particular talk was him talking about eggs? Cause it was so intense. just like creating this fear of why you shouldn't be eating eggs.

Emily: 23:18

And it's like, where is all of that information coming from? He's got a lot of emphasis on no MSG, monosodium glutamate. And that's something that has been debunked time and time again, MSG does not do anything special to our health. That's especially negative. It was actually just racism. When these white scientists were trying to blame it on that when they ate too much sweet and sour chicken at the Chinese restaurant. Um, so it's like, it just goes to show that the person who created all of this is getting their information from that kind of a source. It might mean that maybe we should look into the credentials a little more.

Vanessa: 24:04

So in summary, if you're drinking celery juice, you're not on any blood thinners, you're loving it. You're feeling great. You're not, you know, mad about cleaning your juicer every day, then. Great. Enjoy your celery juice. I would encourage you to try to create more of a variety, but I'm definitely not going to sit here and tell you that it's not good for you.

Emily: 24:32

Definitely. I think that adding in some different kinds of juices, maybe adding in some smoothies, so we're not missing out on all that fiber would be a good idea, but otherwise if you're enjoying it, keep enjoying it. Just with maybe a little bit of extra facts about it.

Vanessa: 24:58

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of wellness myths, please remember to subscribe, rate and review. Next Wednesday. We'll be releasing an episode on veganism until then you can find us on Instagram at wellness dot myths and on Facebook and Twitter at wellness myths.