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Health Home> Health Experts> Dr. Mao's Secrets of Longevity>Soup Therapy: Detoxify, Lose
Weight, and Boost Immunity
Soup Therapy: Detoxify, Lose Weight, and
Boost Immunity
By Dr. Maoshing Ni - Posted on Fri, Jan 15, 2010, 5:59 pm PST
Dr. Mao's Secrets of Longevity
by Dr. Maoshing Ni a Yahoo! Health Expert for Alternative Medicine
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The healing power of soup: something that both scientists and grandmothers can agree on. From
helping you lose weight to warming you up from the inside out to boosting your immunity, soup
is a winter staple that you shouldn’t be without. Maybe that is one reason that it is celebrated this
month with its very own National Soup Month. Here's a closer look at what you can do to benefit
from soup's amazing healing powers.
The healing power of soup
An ancient Chinese proverb states that a good doctor uses food first, then resorts to medicine. A
healing soup can be your first step in maintaining your health and preventing illness. The
therapeutic value of soup comes from the ease with which your body can assimilate the nutrients
from the ingredients, which have been broken down by simmering.
Here are some healing soup tips that will preserve your wellness and longevity:
1. Lose weight with soup
Obesity is on the rise throughout the industrialized world, resulting in a startling increase in the
rates of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. You can count yourself out of the statistics if
you eat a bowl of soup at least once a day. Nutritious low-salt soups will nourish you as they
flush excess wastes from your body. It has been found that people who eat one serving of soup
per day lose more weight than those who eat the same amount of calories, but don’t eat soup.
Homemade soup is your best bet, because canned soups tend to be loaded with salt and
chemicals. My advice is to use organic vegetables whenever possible. The herbicides and
pesticides that can be present in conventional produce can assault the immune system and
overload it with toxins.
2. Build your immunity
Your immune system needs a lot of minerals to function properly and the typical Western diet
does not always hit the mark. When you slowly simmer foods over low heat, you gently leach
out the energetic and therapeutic properties of the foods, preserving the nutritional value of the
foods. Keep in mind that boiling can destroy half of the vitamins found in vegetables, so cook
soup over a low heat.
Immune-Boosting Soup
Simmer these ingredients for 30 minutes: cabbage, carrots, fresh ginger, onion, oregano, shiitake
mushrooms (if dried, they must be soaked first), the seaweed of your choice, and any type of
squash in chicken or vegetable stock. Cabbage can increase your body’s ability to fight infection,
ginger supports healthy digestion, and seaweed cleanses the body. Shiitake mushrooms contain
coumarin, polysaccharides, and sterols, as well as vitamins and minerals that increase your
immune function, and the remaining ingredients promote general health and well-being. Eat this
soup every other day to build a strong and healthy immune system.
3. Detoxify your body
As a liquid, soup is already helping you flush waste from your body. When you choose
detoxifying ingredients, such as the ones featured in the recipe below, you are really treating
your body to an internal cleanse. The broth below boasts many benefits: it supports the liver in
detoxification, increases circulation, reduces inflammation, and replenishes your body with
essential minerals.
Super Detoxifying Broth
Simmer the following for 1–2 hours over a low flame: anise, brussels sprouts, cabbage, Swiss
chard, cilantro, collards, dandelion, fennel, garlic, ginger, kale, leeks, shiitake mushrooms,
mustard greens, daikon radish, seaweed, turmeric, and watercress. Drink 8 to 12 ounces twice a
day. You can keep this broth in your fridge for up to one week; however, it is always best to
serve soups when fresh because each day, the therapeutic value decreases.
In addition to using cleansing herbs in soups, you can take cleansing herbs in supplements. For a
gentle but powerful cleanse using Chinese herbs, Internal Cleanse increases the ability of the
liver to cleanse the body of internal and environmental toxins.
4. Warm up with a hearty soup
You always want to eat for the season. Soups provide something the body craves in cold
weather. When you cook foods into a soup, you are adding a lot of what Chinese nutrition would
call “warming energy” into the food. Warming foods to feature in your soups include: leeks,
onions, turnips, spinach, kale, broccoli, quinoa, yams, squash, garlic, scallions, and parsley. As a
spice, turmeric aids with circulation, a great boost against the cold weather.
5. Get well faster
As you mother may have instinctively known, when you are sick, there is no better healing food
than soup. The reason for this is that soups and stews don’t require as much energy to digest,
freeing your body up to fight the infection.
It would be impossible to talk about soup’s healing abilities without putting the spotlight on
homemade chicken noodle soup. Studies have found that chicken noodle soup does seem to
relieve the common cold by inhibiting inflammation -- helping to break up congestion and ease
the flow of nasal secretions.
While chicken soup may not cure a cold outright, it does help alleviate some of the symptoms
and can help as a preventative measure. Many of my patient’s keep the herbal formula Cold &
Flu in their medicine cabinets so its there to support recovery when a cold strikes.
In Chinese medicine, you would traditionally be given a tonic soup specifically tailored to your
needs, and for that level of personal care, it is a good idea to consult a health practitioner
knowledgeable in Chinese nutrition.
I hope you have gotten a taste of the healing power of soup! I invite you to visit often and share
your own personal health and longevity tips with me.
May you live long, live strong, and live happy!
—Dr. Mao
This blog is meant to educate, but it should not be used as a substitute for personal medical
advice. The reader should consult his or her physician or clinician for specific information
concerning specific medical conditions. While all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure
that all information presented is accurate, as research and development in the medical field is
ongoing, it is possible that new findings may supersede some data presented.
---------Transform your health and bring quality to your years with Dr. Mao's natural health products
from the Tao of Wellness.
Discover a high-quality water filtration system that will provide you with pure, healthy water.
Order Dr. Mao's new book Second Spring: Hundreds of Natural Secrets for Women to Revitalize
and Regenerate at Any Age.
Learn hundreds of ways for living a long and happy life with Dr. Mao's book Secrets of
Longevity.
Find out amazing ways you can naturally increase your energy and heal common ailments in
Secrets of Self-Healing, Dr. Mao's landmark book on natural healing.
-------------
To learn more about Dr. Mao and other natural health tips, go to askdrmao.com.
To purchase Dr. Mao's book, "Second Spring," click here.
More from Dr. Maoshing Ni
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