“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)
I can’t believe that it’s Thanksgiving in one week and Hanukkah begins December 1. That has really caught me off-guard. I already have a husband who’s ill with some kind of influenza, it seems, and I am trying to get him on-the-mend. Everything is always in flux; now it’s even more so. What to do? How can diabetics weather the peaks and valleys and stresses of this spate of seasonal celebrations?
I do it by being organized, which is why it’s a little more scary this year. Another thing I do is trust to my experience, which I will definitely need this year. One more tip, is that I am always paying attention and gathering through the year. I never wait until just Holiday Time.
So, I took my husband to the clinic 2 days ago and will bring him back today. Hopefully, the physician will see some progress, as we really want to avoid him getting pneumonia from the grungy, small cough that appeared 2 weeks ago, just after he got his flu shot. It has just slowly progressed to show some lung changes on Wednesday’s x-ray. So, yesterday, I made him a mighty healing soup.
I am including the recipe here, as I do not want you to get ill if you stress or obsess over the holidays. My soup recipe will help give your immune system the ammunition it needs to kick into high-gear.
My husband is not diabetic, but has other health issues which I have to be careful of, too, which share diabetics’ usual “concerns”.
As Hippocrates said, “Let Food Be Thy Medicine“. That’s a treatment your body knows how to use and you have to be knowledgeable these days or get counsel. I have been taught by family experience and my own use of Food As Cure has been for multiple decades. Now that I am without medical insurance, it’s even more critical knowledge.
One consistent place to find a tradition of using Food As Cure, is in the Chinese Culture. You will be able to find many recipes, some of which may have been used as food cures for thousands of years. I have many Chinese Food Cure books on my shelves, and hopefully you have some family traditions, too.
Many of the things called “old wives tales” in the past are being shown to have a solid basis when science catches up. The grandmothers and mothers of the past were the Healers, and they were good at observing what worked. Even what we think of now as “witchcraft” and “herbalism” were female scientific endeavors which males either didn’t understand or didn’t like handing over any Power to a woman. That’s true, let’s face it.
But, now, it is everyone’s responsibility to be a Healer — and that’s especially true when American medicine and much of western medicine is going in the wrong direction, becoming a spineless shill for Big Pharma. If you can find a more holistic physician, you are lucky.
I’ll be suspending my series about a few of the good doctors out there while we talk about the holidays, and I may resume the series sometime on the New Year. I will return to a couple of the first few physicians, too, Dr. Timothy Harlan, MD, especially, who is just starting to produce a TV series, so he may get wider exposure as “Dr. Gourmet”.
Pay attention to whom you get counsel from, but be proactive and DO learn what you need to know.
Now, on to today’s recipe.
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Em’s Mighty Healing Soup
For 4 servings — in a large soup pot, combine:
1 1/2 cartons of free-range, organic chicken broth – about 1 1/2 quarts
1 medium sweet potato, scrubbed, peeled, diced in 1/2″ slices
1 medium Yukon Gold potato, scrubbed well with peel on, 1/2″ dice
3 large beet leaves and stems, shredded, then diced 1/2″ lengths
about 1/2t each of dried: garlic powder*, turmeric, oregano, thyme
1/4 C Turkish red lentils, rinsed
1 large piece of kombu seaweed (Eden brand)
1 large piece of Nori seaweed, (Eden Brand)
Add these and bring to the boil, then immediately reduce heat and simmer for approximately 30 minutes.
Then add:
1/2 C well washed organic quinoa
(1) 20+ ounce can organic diced tomatoes (Muir Glen Brand^)
Cook another 10-15 minutes once the pot has returned to heat. You may have to turn it up to boil again and immediately return it then to a good simmer.
Because I kept the heat low for most of the time, I did not need to stand and stir the soup. In fact, I just kept an eye on it while I did more things in the kitchen.
At the end, place the following in a bowl:
about 1 t – 2t of organic extra-virgin olive oil (bowl size determines how much to use)
same amount of Organic, apple cider vinegar with the “mother” enzymes (Eden or Bragg’s or Spectrum Brand)
a tiny pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
splash of lemon juice
about 1/4t Kelp Granules (Maine Sea Vegetables Brand)
Pour in the desired amount of soup and enjoy!
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* I will be explaining why I use each ingredient, and I want to say that I will also be adding fresh garlic cloves next time, and I had wanted to add finely diced fresh onion as garnish, but had used my last one! Onions provide quercetin, an important factor.
If you take coumadin or warfarin or another blood thinner, then pay attention as seaweed will affect your numbers. Seaweed is Nature’s blood thinner. You will need less medicine if you use seaweed regularly. See my previous articles about Seaweed, and Iodine, in the Titles Archive, above.
Many of the ingredients that you can’t find in your local stores, especially if you live outside the United States, you can buy at the companies’ websites.
___ Free-range Organic Chicken Broth – is the best form of “Jewish penicillin”. Science has found many immune-stimulating or modulating substances in chicken soup — as Jewish Mamas have always known!
___ organic sweet potato - this is a very alkaline pH food which will help to “neutralize” some of the pH acidic tissues which is where pathogens hide. Viruses and bacteria require an acidic pH environment to live. If you remain pH alkaline, you are not a host. Sweet potatoes also have good fiber to try to help the gut keep moving even though you may not be physically active as much, if unwell. They are filled with pro-Vitamin A phytosterols which help your body to fight (and protect your eyes).
___ organic Yukon Gold Potato (or white potato) - again, another pH alkaline food, if eaten with the skin and there’s actually a fair amount of Vitamin C in them, too.
___ organic beet greens - these dark green leafies have lots of Vitamin B’s to help us handle stress, which being ill certainly is. They also have lots of Vitamin A which is being covered up by their dark color. I was also hoping that there’s still naturally-occurring nitrates in the leaves and stems, not just the beet bulb. Natural nitrates help to produce nitrous oxide, needed to dilate your vascular system which means more oxygen can be brought deeply into tissues. Oxygen is another “killer” of most pathogens – which tend to be anaerobic organisms. (Natural nitrates are very different as opposed to man-made ones in deli meats, which are cancer-causing.)
___ specific dry herbs: garlic, thyme, oregano and turmeric are all either antivirals, antibacterials or both. Don’t underestimate the power of these plants. They’ve been used by herbalists for millennia because they work. Science is now just catching up. Fresh herbs are best, but you can use dried to lesser effect.
___ Turkish red lentils - these are acidic pH, as all beans are, in varying degrees, but I needed to add more protein to help tissues repair themselves in the battle with the pathogens, so the pH alkaline foods will help neutralize these beans, too. I chose these lentils because they cook very quickly, but true French green lentils have some remarkable qualities, due to the volcanic soil they are grown in, so I might consider using them, too.
___ organic seaweeds — I used kombu and nori – large leaf portions. They provide Iodine, an essential anti-viral and anti-bacterial and also the full range of minerals. The key here is to use a brand like Eden which is fastidious about the cleanliness and safety of the ocean water where these are harvested. Do not buy Chinese products.
___ organic quinoa — a high protein food to aid tissue renewal and it’s a very alkaline food to help raise pH to levels where pathogens cannot survive. It is also the original alkaline fast-food, as it cooks in about 10 minutes. Use it as a substitute for grains, all of which are pH acidic foods.
___ organic tomatoes — source of lycopene and lutein — important phytonutrients to help with immunity and eye health, and there’s some Vitamin C, but, again, that’s being lost when exposed to heating — so I try to keep the cooking temperature as low as possible and add the Vitamin C foods as late in the process as possible. ^ I use Muir Glen because it has an enameled interior to the can. Most companies use Bispenol A treated liners for canned food, especially tomatoes, which are sub-acidic fruits and can corrode the can. Bisphenol A is now banned in Canada and should be, everywhere. Children, especially, should not be exposed to Bisphenol A.
___ olive oil — source of important essential fatty acids and it’s a healthy food to help with joint pain and heart health — both of which are stressed when dealing with the flu. I prefer organic, but that can be hard to find. Make sure the oil is in a dark glass bottle, and buy a small size. Keep refrigerated or in a cool spot.
___ organic apple cider vinegar with the “mother of vinegar” enzymes — it leaves alkaline ash, so it is considered to bring alkalinity in your body. It is the only vinegar which does this. This vinegar is very good for diabetics and it it aids digestion, so the food value is more available with less work for the ill person
___ Celtic Sea Salt — supplies the full range of ocean minerals, and it is the only one which is assured to have been harvested in truly pristine ocean waters. Get it at Trader Joe’s or from the original preferred source – The Grain and Salt Society. Look them up in Asheville, NC.
___ splash of organic lemon juice – again, lemons may have citric acid, but they leave alkaline ash after metabolism is complete, so they are an alkalizer. Of course they are also a source of Vitamin C, but it is best not exposed to heat. You’re better off having a real, organic lemon squeezed into pure spring water to drink before your soup or along side – sweeten with a little stevia.
___ kelp granules — more iodine in an easy to use anywhere, anytime format. Even though heat does not deactivate Iodine, I wanted some fresh, just at serving. Iodine is a potent pathogen killer.
Put some of my Mighty Healing Soup into a thermos to take to work if your co-workers are hacking and coughing. And, if you decide to take an Echinacea preparation, which IS effective (contrary to the “science” “reported” in the media where it is being “studied” for “off-label” uses), then be sure to take Echinacea for a maximum of 2 weeks on, then 2 weeks off. Your thymus has to rest and not be constantly stimulated. The traditional use adheres to that timetable and Russian research confirms that wisdom.
Well, I hope you stay well, and we’ll see if I get a post done next week — maybe on Friday. Have a great Thanksgiving!
Best to all — Em
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