Eat for Brain Health - Add Celery to Your Daily Diet

If you'd like to protect your brain health, lower your risk of getting cancer or lower blood pressure and cholesterol, eat celery! Snacking on celery gives your body luteolin, which is found in green veggies, and can help prevent the inflammation in our brain that is thought to cause aging of the brain and so-called "age related" diseases, like Alzheimers.

The nutrient luteolin found in celery is also believed to help protect the brain from multiple sclerosis, according to researchers at the University of Illinois.

More Health Benefits of Celery

Celery also contains fiber, vitamin C and several other active compounds for health, including phthalides, which may help lower cholesterol, and coumarins, which help prevent free radicals from damaging our cells and causing cancer to grow.

Celery contains active compounds called phthalides, which have the potential for reducing high blood pressure. Celery has long been used in Chinese Medicine for this purpose.

Here are some tips on storing and using celery:

I get a big stock of organic celery many times in my organic food coop order. Keeping it fresh was a challenge until I read that if you wrap celery in foil, it will stay fresh for weeks. This food tip works!

How to Get Celery into Your Daily Diet

Cut up a few stocks of celery and store in your frig in a zip loc plastic bag. That way, when you're looking for a quick snack, it will be prepared and cut up, ready to grab.

• Add celery to soups, stews, stir fry, casseroles and salads.
  

• Eat celery with hummus for added protein and nutrition, or make peanut butter.
  

• Add a stock of celery to your juicer, mixed with carrots.

For optimum health and wellness, try to get 5 to 9 servings of fruits and veggies every day. One way to increase the fruits and veggies you get in your diet is to go to the store once a week, purchase a week's supply of these and wash and bag them up for use. Veggies stay fresh in zip loc plastic bags in your frig and they are always handy for snacks or for adding to recipes.