Celery juice is a hot topic in the health world right now, with health and fitness influencers claiming it is a miracle juice that we all need to be drinking first thing in the morning.

I’m not usually a fan of fad diets, but the thing I love about this trend is that it’s not some scam product that people are trying to sell you—it’s just celery! No one is trying to push a supplement that might be unsafe for your body. So I thought to myself, why not try juicing celery for 30 days to see what the fuss is about? What do I have to lose, really? Regardless of its amazing health claims, celery juice would be upping my vegetable intake each day, if nothing else.

What Makes Celery Juice So Special?

Celery juice is extremely detoxifying, as it flushes out old toxins and poisons that have built up over time. It can help kill viruses, bad bacteria, fungi and parasites in your body. This greatly helps to maintain a healthy gut, improve digestion and reduce bloating. Celery juice also increases your body’s ability to break down protein and fat.

Oftentimes, the protein and fat we eat go undigested in our stomach and just sits there to rot. This is what causes bloating and many other digestive issues, and celery works to break down that undigested food. So if you struggle with bloating, gas or constipation, celery juice just might be the cure for you. Also, juicing celery regularly may help boost energy levels, balance hormones, reduce inflammation and alleviate skin issues (like acne, psoriasis and eczema) and many other symptoms.

How Do You Gain These Amazing Benefits?

Experts say drinking 16 ounces of celery juice a day is a great starting point. (Although if you have severe or chronic issues, you may find it beneficial to drink up to 24 or 32 ounces a day.) So how much celery is that, exactly? A lot! One bunch of celery yields about 16 ounces of juice.

There are a few other considerations to keep in mind in order to gain the full benefits of celery juice. First, celery juice needs to be consumed 100% on its own, first thing in the morning. This means you need to drink it on an empty stomach—no food or coffee beforehand. A good rule of thumb is to wait at least 20 to 30 minutes before consuming anything else.

You will also want to avoid mixing anything into your celery juice. Anthony William, also known as the Medical Medium, claims mixing it with anything—like lemon juice, collagen or apple cider vinegar—will take away from its health benefits.

It’s also important to make the distinction between juicing celery and blending celery. Some people are blending their celery rather than juicing it—when you blend it, the fiber from the pulp also takes away from its health benefits.

If you don’t have a juicer and only have a blender, there is a way to blend your celery and remove the pulp afterward. You will need to a cheesecloth, which you can order from Amazon. Put your celery in the blender, blend it all up and cover the top of the blender with the cheesecloth and use it as a strainer as you pour out the juice. Then wrap the pulp in the cheesecloth and squeeze out any extra juice from the pulp.

While drinking celery juice first thing in the morning is extremely beneficial, it’s also beneficial to drink it immediately after you juice it. Juicing a bunch at a time and then storing it in the fridge for the entire week will also cause it to lose some of its health benefits. Once you juice your celery, aim to drink it immediately or at least within 24 hours.

Also, people are trying to make celery juice simpler by buying celery juice powder and mixing it into a glass of water. This, too, simply won’t give you the same benefits as freshly juiced celery will. It won’t cause any harm, but it won’t have the same effects.

Celery Juice and Bloating

Many people start drinking celery juice to help reduce bloating, although some of these people are realizing that it’s making them more bloated. As I mentioned above, celery juice works to break down all the old, rotting, undigested food in your stomach.

What does that mean for those who are experiencing more bloating? Celery juice may cause extra bloating in someone who has a highly toxic digestive tract and has a lot of rotting, undigested food in their digestive tract. Over time, if they continue to drink celery juice, their digestive tract will become less toxic and their bloating will start to disappear. So if celery juice is causing you to bloat, this may be a sign you have a lot of built-up toxins and celery juice is exactly what you need.

I Juiced Celery for 30 Days and…

I juiced celery for 30 days straight to see if there was validity behind all these health claims. The main benefit I was looking for was to alleviate my psoriasis, which I had heard celery juice could help treat. I have psoriasis on my scalp, and it has been something I have been living with for eight years. I couldn’t find anything to help treat it because I personally try to avoid putting chemicals, or anything unnatural, into my body. This means I refused to take steroids or toxic topical creams that my doctor suggested.

I also have been struggling with gut and hormone issues and have been working with a naturopath to heal. So, I was also looking to increase my gut health and rebalance my hormones through drinking celery juice.

It’s important to note that over these 30 days, I did not change anything in my diet outside of juicing celery. I also decided to ease my way into it by beginning with 8 ounces for the first few days before committing to 16 ounces each day.

Juicing celery every other day was a lot more realistic for my life. This way, I could still ensure I was drinking it within a 24-hour period. I generally would juice two days’ worth at a time, then drink 16 ounces immediately and save the other 16 ounces for the next morning.

My first few days of drinking celery juice, I felt absolutely amazing. My digestion was great, my bloating was going down and I felt so much more energy. But once days four, five and six hit, my bloating came back (it actually worsened), and I was completely backed up. I continued to juice regardless and am so happy I did because after those few days passed, my digestion, bloating and psoriasis became better than ever before. My psoriasis didn’t completely disappear, but it has been drastically alleviated.

One question I get asked the most is, “What kind of juicer should I buy?” I personally really enjoy my Breville juicer. With all the parts being dishwasher safe, it’s extremely simple to clean. Plus, it also has an extra-wide feeder chute that allows me to juice a bunch of celery in just five seconds!

My final consensus: I now swear by celery juice and continue to drink it every morning! Yes, it’s time-consuming to prepare, but the effects it has on my health make it more than worth it. I also record a podcast episode entirely about my experince juicing celery, so you can check that out here.

My top advice? Stay consistent! As with anything in life, if you want to see results and gain optimum benefits, you have to stick with it.

Long-time client Chelsea Templin knows what it means to truly stop starting over. Below she shares her journey with weight loss and getting fit.

I used to be the person who thought, “This is who I am, this is my body and there is no changing it, this is just how my body is built.” I told myself I was happy with where I was and who I was, even though I never felt that way deep inside. I was stuck in this place of “This is just my body’s happy place and this is how I’m supposed to look. I’m not meant to be thinner/leaner/healthier”—denying the fact that I was heavier than I had ever been before. But I am no longer that person. I took control of my health and, more importantly, took control of my happiness.

My Wake-Up Call

I fell into the habit of eating out for lunch almost daily, eating out for dinner often and only working out occasionally. And to be honest, my version of working out was just a light walk here and there to stay semi-active. The weight crept up on me slowly, and I didn’t really realize how much weight I had gained until I stepped on the scale to find I weighed 220 pounds—the heaviest I had ever been in my life. What happened? Where did this come from? How did this happen? I sat there wondering, “How do I come back from this?”

After years of accepting my weight gain for just how my body was, I watched someone I knew who was about the same weight as I was go through a lifestyle change. That was my big “aha!” moment that showed me I wasn’t stuck where I was and I could change this!

I woke up one morning in 2014 and finally realized this was not who I am. I wasn’t happy and I didn’t want to lie to myself anymore. I hated getting ready in the morning, spending most of my time pulling my clinging clothes off my body to loosen them just a little bit more. It was time for me to make a change in my life.

The Beginning of My Weight Loss Journey

After my “aha!” moment, I made huge changes to my lifestyle. I signed up for a gym membership and started to be more consistent with my workouts—more than ever before. I began to watch those around me to pick up pointers, lift weights, do cardio and attend workout classes. I focused on switching up my reps, weights and exercise to ensure my body would continue to evolve. I was dedicated to eating as clean as I knew how, which personally I found to be the hardest part when starting my weight loss journey. You think, “All I can eat is chicken, rice and vegetables”—and I’ll be honest with you, that’s exactly what I did at the beginning! The combination of working out consistently and eating nothing but chicken resulted in me losing 30 pounds within just a few months.

Unfortunately, that only lasted until chicken made me sick to my stomach and I couldn’t handle it anymore. I fell down a hole: I saw the inches coming off and told myself, “Girl, you’re doing great! Eat this, eat that, you can have this, you can have that.” I couldn’t do the chicken anymore, and before I knew it, I had put back on all of the weight. I was completely devastated.

I Started Over

I cried a lot after I gained my weight back. I didn’t want to put myself back in my old shoes. I didn’t want to have to start over. What I was doing wrong? What do I eat? How do I eat? It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to overcome.

Did I overcome it fast? Definitely not. For all of 2015, I sat again at my heaviest weight—confused, questioning every day if I’d ever get to where I wanted to be. Finally, in early 2016, I said “enough is enough,” and I put on my big girl pants, wiped away the tears, stopped crying and fighting with myself, and realized nothing was going to change unless I made the changes myself. This time around, I fell in love with working out versus feeling as if working out was a chore. I learned to push myself and do things I loved! I finally found my happy place and I finally stopped starting over!

My Top Tips to Start the First 30 Days of Your Weight Loss and Fitness Journey

1. Just Start

My number one piece of advice to start your first 30 days is to just start! It is as simple as that. Just start somewhere; it doesn’t matter where, just start!

2. Never Give Up on Yourself

Not giving up on myself was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. My second time around, I learned to be more compassionate with myself, especially in the beginning. I constantly told myself that if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. I needed to be patient, because change doesn’t happen overnight. I would remind myself of what I felt like at my heaviest weight and how I promised myself I would never be there again—I would never give up on myself again, and I suggest you do the same!

3. Count Your Macros

As much as the idea sucks, start counting your macros. This doesn’t need to be a lifelong habit, but a short-term tool. It puts your eating habits into perspective. It shows you how much you are currently eating versus how much you actually should be eating. I suggest doing this for your first 30 days, or until your brain learns and understands what your body really needs and in what amounts. 

4. Be Creative

I started introducing myself to new foods, and I didn’t live off chicken, rice and veggies. I started eating a large variety of foods, like eggs, tofu, sweet potatoes, avocado, bread, chicken, ground turkey, lean beef, cabbage—the list is actually endless for healthy foods. I promise you don’t have to live on chicken and broccoli!

Eating clean does not have to be boring, and you definitely don’t need to force yourself to eat things you don’t like. For example, I don’t like beans, so anytime I make chili, I load it up with veggies instead: corn, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, celery, even edamame. I tend to keep things simple. I’m not a person to spend a lot of time on cooking. I’ll cut up some lettuce, throw in some extra veggies, some kind of protein and light dressing, and that’s a quick simple meal for me. Just find things you love and throw them together!

5. Find Healthy Alternatives

I learned I didn’t have to cut out the foods I love, but to limit them as well as make healthier alternatives. For example, if you want pizza, make two-ingredient dough—it’s so simple! It’s just Greek yogurt and self-rising flour, that’s it! You want spaghetti? Indulge in a big bowl of spaghetti squash and turkey meatballs. 

6. Meal Prep

One of the biggest things that can help you eat clean is to always be prepared. Spend a day meal prepping, where you plan out everything you’re going to eat for the week, or even just for the day. Going into your day with an established plan of exactly what you are going to eat motivates you to stay healthy the entire day and sets you up for success. 

7. Listen to Your Body

Your body is a tool—listen to it. Observe how it reacts to different foods and cut out those that don’t make you thrive physically, mentally and emotionally. For me personally, once I started listening to my body, I realized my body does not react well to dairy. It sucked at first having to eliminate it from my daily diet, but I soon realized eating it wasn’t worth how it made my body feel.

I’ve also learned how important it is to listen to my body when it’s hungry. I now know that when my body is hungry, it is giving me a sign to fuel it properly. My hunger is not a sign that I need to starve myself and restrict my eating. Listening to my body seriously has been one of the most important tools I have used to change my lifestyle, and I suggest you take advantage of it, too!

8. Don’t Let a Cheat Meal Turn into a Cheat Day

It’s really easy to let a cheat meal turn into a cheat day or even a cheat weekend. It’s fine, we’re all human, we all make mistakes, we all have done this time and time again, I promise. Almost every cheat meal turns into at least a cheat day for me, and sometimes it spills over into the next day. The best thing you can do when this happens? DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP ABOUT IT. You can’t change what you’ve already done, so why punish yourself mentally by bringing yourself down about it? That’s silly.

Instead, after you realize you make the mistake, don’t let it happen again an hour or two later. It happened, move on. Just because you messed up once, it doesn’t mean you do not have control over the rest of your day. You can make the rest of your day successful. It’s hard to get in that mindset because sometimes your brain really does want that food, but your body does not want that food, and will not thank you for it. Remind yourself of the difference you feel between when you eat whole clean foods and when you eat greasy, sugary foods. You feel better with the whole clean foods, right? So remind yourself of that and your body will thank you later.

Just remember: You do have control of how you spend the rest of your day. Just because you ate that donut this morning, it doesn’t mean you have to overindulge the rest of the day and start over tomorrow—because you will feel miserable mentally and physically. Take each day at a time and try not to hyper-focus on the overall picture of a week from now or a year from now. Look at it this way instead: “This is what I’m going to do today to create a better me.”

9. Overcome Binge Eating

I used to be a huge binger, and to be honest, I sometimes still can be. I am not nearly as bad as I was in the past, but it is something I am still fighting to overcome.

I’ve found allowing myself to enjoy “bad foods” from time to time helps limit my bingeing. By restricting yourself and saying, “You can’t have this until the weekend,” you are setting yourself up for a binge session when the weekend comes. Why do you have to wait? What is special about the weekend? Why do you think the weekend is a free-for-all? It isn’t special, and it isn’t a free-for-all. Calories still count on the weekend. This is a mindset you have to change.

For example, the other night I wanted ice cream even though it was Tuesday. Instead of thinking about ice cream and fighting my craving all week long, I went and ate ice cream and I moved on with my life. I was able to enjoy a small cup to satisfy my craving instead of letting my craving build and build throughout the week and bingeing on a whole carton over the weekend. Stop starting over and stop thinking you can eat whatever you want on the weekends.

Morgan Kline’s podcast, Coffee & Kettlebells, really put that in perspective for me recently. In the episode called “How to Stay on Track Over the Weekend,” Morgan taught me that the weekend contributes to 42% of my overall week. My mind was blown! If I allowed myself to overindulge my entire weekend, that is equivalent to overindulging for 42% of me week. Do yourself a favor and listen to this inspiring episode to overcome your weekend desires!

10. Focus on Developing Small Healthy Habits

Creating healthy habits for yourself helps lead to greater success for losing weight. Take the stairs; when that becomes easy, skip every other stair. I almost always double my stairs—it’s like walking lunges. Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is drink a glass of water. It gets my body ready for the day, replenishes any dehydration that might’ve occurred overnight and adds to my water intake for the day. Also, I make a healthy protein mug cake every night to curb my cravings (find the recipe at the bottom of the post!). Since I’ve begun adding these small habits into my life, the inches just started dropping from my waistline because it helps me not binge anymore.

11. Work on Yourself Mentally

Throughout my whole journey, I had one goal: “I need to weigh 160 pounds and then I’ll be happy.” I did hit that goal and yes, I was happy. Actually, I was ecstatic when I hit it, but I’ll tell you that feeling doesn’t last forever. Eventually I got in a downward spiral where I had worked on myself tremendously physically, but the entire time I did that I didn’t work on myself mentally. Every time I looked in the mirror, I still saw this 220-pound girl. I never saw me, I saw numbers: “I weigh this much. I need to eat this much.” It was a very unhealthy time in my life. I didn’t get obsessive and restrict myself, but I wasn’t truly happy on the inside.

Recently, I’ve learned to let go of that “number goal.” I’ve learned to let go of this unrealistic image I had in my head of what I am supposed to look like and learned to love what I actually look like. And it’s been life-changing, to say the least. I’ve fought a long and hard battle to get to where I am now. It no longer matters what that number on the scale is or how many calories I should be eating. I’ve learned to actually live life, love life, enjoy life and love me. I’ve learned to make healthy eating a habit and not a chore and that I have the privilege to fill my body with the nutrients it needs.

12. Leave Your Comfort Zone and Never Go Back

Push yourself outside the limits you believe yourself to have because the truth is, you have no limits! When you let go of your limiting beliefs, you’ll realize the world is a beautiful place outside of your comfort zone. And once you step outside, never go back and never give up on yourself! You already know what that feels like, so my advice to you is to find out what not giving up feels like.

13. If I Can Do It, You Can Do it!

Since my journey started the second time, I’ve lost 70 pounds. I started at 220 pounds and now sit around 150 to 155 pounds. I’ve successfully kept my weight off and have been maintaining my weight for the last year.

For the first time in years, I am in a place where I love who I have fought so hard to become, and I know you can get there too! I’ve opened up about my weight loss journey in hopes that it empowers at least one person who is currently fighting the same battle. I want you to know that it is possible to become who you dream to be. I challenge you to find out what can happen when you don’t give up on yourself and actually believe in yourself!

But when I consistently heard my favorite podcaster rave about something called “bulletproof coffee” as if it were a magical health elixir, I became increasingly curious about its true nutritional value. Hey, I love coffee and I love having energy—something this beverage claims to give in high doses—so I figured I’d give it a shot.

I’ve now been drinking bulletproof coffee regularly for a month and what I’ve learned is, no, it’s not a magical health elixir. But it is delicious, fat-burning, energy-giving and straight up fun to make! So I wanted to share my experience in hopes that it might inspire you to give it a try and see if it works for you.

Keep reading for my take on bulletproof coffee!

What Is Bulletproof Coffee?

First things first: What is bulletproof coffee? It’s a blend of coffee, butter (or ghee, if you’re dairy-sensitive) and MCT oil (not coconut oil, which is important to note). While the term “bulletproof coffee” originated from the brand Bulletproof, which sells its own branded coffee beans, MCT oil (what they call Brain Octane Oil) and butter, it’s now a catchall term to describe coffee made with those three key ingredients.

You don’t have to use Bulletproof’s products to make “proper” bulletproof coffee—you just have to have:

• – Your favorite brewed coffee
• – Grass-fed, unsalted butter or ghee
• – MCT oil
• – A blender

When you’re finished blending, you’re left with a foamy, frothy and creamy cup of coffee that almost looks like a latte!

What Does Bulletproof Coffee Do?

Before we dive deeper into the ingredients that make up bulletproof coffee, let’s dive into why people drink it. If you’re anything like me, you might be wondering why anyone would 1) put their coffee in a blender and 2) associate coffee and butter, in any way whatsoever. But trust me, the two pair better together than you might think!

Bulletproof coffee is essentially designed to:

• – Replace your breakfast in the morning
• – Curb your hunger and keep you full for hours
• – Promote mental clarity and focus
• – Increase your energy levels
• – Support your hormones
• – Increase fat burning
• – Taste creamy and delicious

Okay, now let’s talk about the individual ingredients.

MCT Oil

I had never heard of MCT oil until I learned about bulletproof coffee. But now that I have, I’m noticing it’s popping up everywhere!

So what exactly is this stuff? MCT is a saturated fat that stands for medium-chain triglycerides. Most dietary fats you consume are considered long-chain triglycerides and have to go through a series of chemical reactions in order to be turned into a usable source of energy. But because MCTs are shorter chains, they do not need to be broken down into smaller molecules and are readily available to be used as energy.

While it may seem like a fad, MCT oil may actually be a health product worth adding to your daily diet. Here’s what it can do:

• – Have a thermogenic effect in your body and induce calorie burn, which gives you an awesome metabolism boost
• – Support a healthy gut
• – Stabilize blood sugar
• – Curb food and sugar cravings
• – Help increase exercise performance and endurance
• – Sharpen mental clarity and provide quick, clean energy
• – Decrease fat storage
• – Improve heart health

Due to its chemical structure, MCT oil is digested faster than other fats you might be consuming regularly, such as olive oil. It’s colorless, odorless and, unlike coconut oil, stays liquid at room temperature, so it’s a great alternative to add to food, salad dressings, smoothies and—of course—coffee!

Now, let’s move on to the next ingredient: butter.

Grass-Fed Butter

Blending butter into your bulletproof coffee is what makes it so creamy, and while adding this ingredient initially freaked me out, I quickly realized why the end result is so popular.

But you shouldn’t just use any old butter—you should always choose grass-fed butter. Why grass-fed? Because regular butter from grain-fed cows has a different fat composition that doesn’t offer the same great taste as butter from pasture-raised cows. Grass-fed butter also blends more easily, which is an essential part of any bulletproof coffee recipe.

More importantly, though, cows that graze on grass produce milk that is packed with healthy fats and fat-soluble vitamins that nourish your skin, eyes, heart and brain. Grass-fed butter is also rich in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which has anti-inflammatory properties and helps to burn unwanted fat.

Ghee

If you’re dairy-sensitive or lactose-intolerant, substitute the grass-fed butter for organic, grass-fed ghee. Ghee is pure butterfat, so grass-fed ghee will have the same nutritional benefits listed above without the lactose.

The only difference you should see is the consistency of the bulletproof coffee. Since ghee is more oily than butter, you won’t get the foamy top after blending. But you’ll still get the creamy consistency!

But What About the Fat?

I’ll admit, the thought of starting my day by drinking butter left me pretty skeptical about the true nutritional value of bulletproof coffee. Wouldn’t I be consuming too much fat?

But it’s important to remember that the “fat makes you fat” claims are not all true, nor are they all backed by science. In fact, eating more fat can be a powerful way to combat your cravings, balance your hormones, gain more mental focus and even lose weight. Fat can actually be your friend, and here’s why:

• – Eating fat makes you feel more full for longer periods of time, thereby reducing your appetite.
• – Fat helps to keep your blood sugar levels under control by slowing the absorption of carbohydrates. And when you have a balanced blood sugar, this helps to lower inflammation and stress hormones.
• – High-quality fats allow your body to absorb and utilize fat-soluble vitamins, including vitamins A, D, E and K.

How to Make Bulletproof Coffee

Okay, so if you’re intrigued, why not give bulletproof coffee a try? When you’re ready, here’s the recipe!

• – Brew 8 to 16 ounces of your favorite coffee, depending on how much you normally drink
• – In a blender, pour in your coffee, 1 tablespoon of grass-fed, unsalted butter or ghee and 1 teaspoon of MCT oil. (Note: Traditional bulletproof coffee recipes often call for 1 tablespoon of MCT oil, but I’d recommend starting with 1 teaspoon and working your way up so you can determine how it makes you feel.)
• – Blend for 40 to 60 seconds, until the coffee lightens in color
• – Pour in your favorite coffee mug and enjoy!

A couple extra notes:

• – If you’re someone who likes to sip slowly and enjoy your coffee all morning (like me), make sure you pour the bulletproof coffee into a to-go mug that will keep it warm. You don’t want it to get too cool because the butter could start to harden. And that’s just not appetizing!
• – If you decide that butter and MCT oil are not for you, you can try making bulletproof coffee by simply blending coffee with coconut oil!

My Final Thoughts

I’ve now been drinking bulletproof coffee nearly every morning for the last month, and I’ve been loving it! Not only is it delicious, but it’s actually become a nice part of my morning ritual to allocate 10 minutes before heading to work to brew and blend my coffee. Doing something just for you every morning is important!

I’ve never been a big breakfast person, so it’s been extremely easy and pretty convenient for me to substitute my breakfast with bulletproof coffee. I normally make it around 7:30AM, and it keeps me full and energized for hours! I’ve found that it’s a great pre-workout beverage, too.

So, to summarize, here’s what I love about bulletproof coffee:

• – It’s creamy, delicious and fun to make
• – It tastes like a latte—but without all the sugar
• – I can drink it as a breakfast replacement but still feel full for hours
• – I’ve noticed increased focus and energy
• – It works well as a pre-workout beverage
• – It’s a nice addition to my morning routine

However, just because I’ve been loving it doesn’t mean you will. Some cons of bulletproof coffee include:

• – It requires more time—and more dishes—than making a typical cup of coffee 
• – It’s not meant to be consumed alongside food, which might be hard for those who prefer large breakfasts

I think the best way to figure out if bulletproof coffee works for you is to just try it and be consistent! Commit to drinking it for one to two weeks so that your body has time to adapt to burning fat for energy instead of sugar or carbohydrates.

When you try it, take note of how it makes your body feel. Does it increase your energy levels and improve your focus? Or does it bother your stomach and fail to curb your hunger? Either way, it’s helpful when trying something new to track how your body is reacting to it, which can help you decide if it’s something you’d like to stick with long-term.

So if you commit to trying it, let me know how you like it! We’ll swap stories.