By Jyoti Jain┃Posted: December 23, 2018
Who isn’t guilty of a little indulgence during the holidays? An extra piece of holiday pie, a heaping helping of your favorite scalloped potatoes dish, and before you know it, you’ve packed on some unwanted holiday pounds. But the parties and festivities are now a blur. You have rung in the New Year, and are renewing your commitment to eating healthfully again. To help you keep this resolution, in addition to addressing any improper eating habits and exercising regularly, you might want to consider incorporating vegetarian soups into your diet year-round.
Vegetarian soups can be made using a variety of organic grains, lentils, seasonal vegetables, and spices. The possibilities are endless. They can be prepared raw or cooked, chunky or well blended, and served warm or cool. According to Ayurveda, most soups are light and easy on the digestive system, and are ideal to have at the beginning of a lunch meal or as a light dinner. If taken as a part of a liquid diet, they could also help with weight reduction.
While choosing which soup is suitable for you, do take into consideration your dosha composition and the season. An example of a soup that pacifies Vata, for instance, would be a well-blended warm mung bean soup made with root vegetables and spiced with cumin and ginger, perfect for the cold autumn season. An example of a soup that pacifies Pitta would be a raw cucumber soup with cilantro garnish, perfect for a hot summer day. Kaphas would enjoy lighter hot soups made with green leafy vegetables and lighter grains like quinoa, millet and barley, perfect for the cold winter and early spring season and served chunky and well spiced.
Here is a perfect raw cleansing green soup recipe to help you detoxify and is ideal for rejiggering those not-so-great eating habits. This 100% plant-based soup is packed with seasonal greens and uses ample amounts of lemon and ginger, my two favorite ingredients to help flush toxins from the body. Additionally, the Aloe Vera juice supports good bowel movements and keeps wastes and toxins moving out of our systems.
“Raw” Cleansing Green Soup
Ingredients (everything organic)
2 cups organic seasonal greens (kale, chard, tatsoi, dandelions, arugula etc.)
¼ cup aloe vera juice
1 cup warm water
¼ cup raw almonds
½ cup organic apple
2 tbsp Flaxseed meal
1 inch piece of fresh ginger
1 small carrot
½ lemon, juiced
Salt and Pepper to taste
Method
Blend all ingredients in the Vitamix and enjoy.
A sensible diet and exercise regimen, combined with a light and nutritious soup for dinner, will help you on your way to establishing and maintaining good healthy habits year round.
Jyoti Jain is a culinary instructor, food blogger, and food photography enthusiast and has been teaching the Art of Wholesome Eating (AWE) class through the Art of Living Foundation for over 12 years. She also taught Indian vegetarian, vegan and raw cuisine at Whole Foods Salud Cooking & Lifestyles School in San Mateo and Los Altos for over 5 years.
