Getting Juicy: Anti-Anxiety Green Juice

Anxiety is a fairly common psychological condition characterized by a sense of dread, fear, or chronic worry over present of future life situations. In addition to its psychological symptoms, anxiety can also result in a variety of physical symptoms. These include breathing difficulties and/or shortness of breath, cold flashes, increased heart rate, perspiration, and skin flushing. Gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea can also occur, as can dizziness, dry mouth, fatigue, irritability, impaired mental function, and sleep disorders such as insomnia.

Although anxiety is considered primarily a psychological condition, dietary and nutritional imbalances and deficiencies can also be contributing factors. Restoring proper nutritional balance should always be considered as part of an overall treatment program for anxiety. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, wrote that celery could be used to calm the nerves, and, indeed its very high calcium level is likely to be the reason for this phenomenon. Celery is best eaten raw, and the juice is particularly useful.

Health Benefits of Celery  

• Good for digestion, reducing spasm in the muscles of the intestinal tract.
• Purifies the blood.
• May help in the treatment of arthritis and rheumatoid disorders; in Japan, rheumatoid patients are sometimes put on a celery-only diet.
• Celery seeds have anti-inflammatory properties.
• Stimulates the thyroid and pituitary glands.
• Celery clears uric acid from painful joints.
• Acts on the kidneys and is a mild diuretic.
• Eat celery seeds to reduce muscle spasm.
• Grated, raw celery can be used as a poultice to apply to swollen glands.
• Raw, whole celery can be eaten regularly to reduce high blood pressure.
• Acts as tonic to the liver.
• Celery juice helps alleviate sciatica.
• Drink celery juice before meals to suppress the appetite.

Anti-Anxiety Green Juice

1 green apple
6 stalks celery
4 bundles kale (take one leaf kale and fold it into itself so that it goes through your juicers feeder tube easily)
1/2 lemon (optional, it takes out the "green" taste that not everyone loves!)

Juice each ingredient separately, combine and enjoy!