Almost all water, genuinely high in sodium for a vegetable, and not negative-calorie.
Celery is roughly 95% water and very low in calories, which is where the "negative calorie"
myth comes from. It is a myth — digesting celery uses a small fraction of the energy it
provides, not more.
What is real is that celery is unusually high in sodium for a
vegetable, and that it contains nitrates. Celery juice has been marketed heavily on very
little evidence.
Its actual value is bulk and crunch for almost no calories, plus
potassium and vitamin K.
Per 100g raw.
Based on the nutrients and fibre this food supplies. These are supporting foods, not treatments.
Keep the leaves. They carry more flavour and more nutrients than the
stalks and are usually thrown away.
Cold water revives limp celery
— stand the stalks in it for an hour.
It is a base, not a
star. Celery's real job is in mirepoix and stock, where it adds savoury depth nothing
else provides.
Celery juice is not medicine. The claims made for it
online are not supported by evidence.
The negative-calorie idea fails simple arithmetic. The thermic effect of food — the
energy used to digest it — is roughly 5–10% for carbohydrate. Celery's 16 calories
per 100g are not cancelled out by digesting them.
That does not make celery useless.
Foods that provide volume for almost no energy genuinely help with fullness, and that is a
real mechanism even if the popular explanation is wrong.
Celery allergy is a recognised and sometimes severe allergy, and celery is
a labelled allergen in the EU.
Kidney disease: potassium may need limiting. Ask your doctor for your
numbers.
IBS: several vegetables are high-FODMAP and commonly trigger
symptoms — tolerance is personal.
This is information, not a prescription. If you are managing a diagnosed condition or taking medication, talk to your doctor before making a large change to your diet.
Nutrition figures on this page come from standard food composition data. These links let you check the numbers and read the underlying research yourself rather than taking our word for it.