Why You Should Eat More Soup
“Epidemiological studies have revealed that soup consumption is associated with a lower risk of obesity.”
Soup is a big pot of hot vegetables and meat all cooked together and broken down so that its easier for your body to digest it (in case you didn’t know).
Soup is amazing because you can include medicinal plants, such as roots like peony root and Chinese angelica root, and mushrooms like wood ear mushroom and reishi mushroom, in the broth. You can also top your soup with medicinal plants for added flavor and health bonus, use aromatic leaves like mint or perilla!
Every health food brand throws around the Hippocrates quote “let thy food be thy medicine” but why not eat your medicine as food?!
When you look at countries that have maintained a connection to traditional foods, you see far less disease and much longer lifespans.
Before you order pizza, make a soup! There are countless options when it comes to tasty plants to build a broth with.
When we include medicinal herbs into our soup, we are effectively building the broth to be an herbal decoction.
The upside to this, we can check the “drank our herbal decoction” box for the day.
There are many herbs that taste great and only add a small difference in flavor.
For example this recipe for a Cantonese chicken soup:
- 1 chicken
- 2 tbsp goji berries
- 3 red dates
- 2 honey dates
- 20g Codonopsis root
- 20g Chinese wild yam
- 20g Astragalus root
- 10g Chinese Angelica root
- 10g Soloman’s seal
There are three different classes of herbs that are included in this soup:
Tonify Qi: Red dates (jujube), honey dates, Codonopsis root, wild yam, Astragalus root
Tonify Blood: Angelica root, goji berries
Tonify Yin: Soloman’s seal
In just one cup of soup, you are consuming the benefits of three classes of herbs! This soup would be great to have in the fall and winter. These herbs work to moisten the skin and lungs, keep you warm, and give you energy for the day.
All those benefits, just from eating delicious soup!
What do you like in your soup?
If you want to read more about food, check out my articles here and here!