The nights are drawing in, Halloween is approaching and we are well into soup season.
We are also in the middle of a global pandemic and heading towards a challenging time for our personal health.
What power do we have in this situation?
What can we do to take care of ourselves ?
How can we support the health of our families?
One way we can improve our health and indeed our outcomes should we fall foul of ANY virus is by using the power of food and nutrition to boost our immune response and support our optimal health.
This gorgeous bowl of sunshine is rich in beta-carotene from pumpkin. Beta-carotene is the precursor to vitamin A which helps to keep all of our tissues healthy. This includes the mucous barriers in your eyes, lungs, gut and genitals which help trap bacteria and other infectious agents.
Vitamin A is also involved in the production and function of white blood cells, which help capture and clear bacteria and other pathogens from your bloodstream.
Stephensen CB. Vitamin A, infection, and immune function. Annu Rev Nutr. 2001;21:167-92. doi: 10.1146/annurev.nutr.21.1.167. PMID: 11375434.
This soup is flavoured richly with ginger which contains the powerful medicinal properties of gingerol. This means that ginger may actually fight harmful bacteria and viruses, which could reduce your risk for infections.
Chang JS, Wang KC, Yeh CF, Shieh DE, Chiang LC. Fresh ginger (Zingiber officinale) has anti-viral activity against human respiratory syncytial virus in human respiratory tract cell lines. J Ethnopharmacol. 2013 Jan 9;145(1):146-51. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2012.10.043. Epub 2012 Nov 1. PMID: 23123794.
Alongside the pumpkin, I sliced four large new season apples into this soup. Apples contain pectin, a type of fibre that acts as a prebiotic. Pectin feeds the good bacteria in your gut and the healthier and more diverse your good gut bacteria remain, the stronger the immunity of your body.
Antioxidant-rich apples may also help protect your lungs from oxidative damage.
A large study in more than 68,000 women found that those who ate the most apples had the lowest risk of asthma.
Hyson DA. A comprehensive review of apples and apple components and their relationship to human health. Adv Nutr. 2011;2(5):408-420. doi:10.3945/an.111.000513
Any food that supports lung health is helpful at this time.
The base of this delicious soup is bone broth, often named colloquially as ‘liquid penicillin’.
There are no clinical trials on bone broth but we know that it provides dense nutrition rich in minerals, easily absorbed amino acids and gut supportive proteins. Bone marrow, when used in making bone broth, gives you vitamin A, Vitamin K2, omega 3 fatty acids, omega-6s and minerals like iron, zinc, selenium, boron and manganese. Bone broth is also rich in the amino acid glycine which supports your liver health.
Whenever we are eating bone broth we are deeply supporting the overall health of our bodies.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot support your body and your personal health at this difficult time. You have the personal power to wake-up and move your body daily to promote your health, to get outside into daylight and maintain your vitamin D levels, to write a gratitude journal and re-wire your brain for happiness and to dive into a delicious bowl of this nourishing soup.
Now is the time to empower yourself with knowledge around food and nutrition.
Ingredients
1 medium pumpkin peeled and diced
4 tbsp olive oil
2 carrots roughly chopped
2 onions roughly diced
6 cups chicken bone broth
4 new season Honey Crisp apples sliced
1 tbsp turmeric
2” fresh ginger sliced
1 x14 oz can coconut milk
Instructions
1. Place the olive oil, onion, garlic, ginger turmeric and carrot in the Instapot and sauté until the onion softens and becomes opaque. Stir as you sauté so that the turmeric does not burn.
2. Add all the other ingredients apart from the coconut milk.
3. Close the lid and hit the setting for soup.
4. Allow the Instapot to lose pressure and remove the lid
5. Blend the soup using a hand blender to get a smooth consistency.
6. Add the coconut milk and blend again
7. Pour this liquid sunshine into a bowl and enjoy!