Healthy Soups for Every Season: Delicious Soup Recipes for the Whole Year Based on the Principles of Chinese Nutrition Therapy

By Miranda Black

This is a cookbook of 20 delicious, healthy, and unique soup recipes created to suit the five seasons of the year according to the theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine. All of the soup recipes in this book are to be made entirely from scratch, and many are catered to specific nutritional needs like gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, or calorie-conscious. On the other hand, many of the recipes are very hearty and filling, recognizing that good nutrition comes from including whole foods, not from limiting flavor. Examples of the creative concoctions included in this book are Buffalo White Chili, Peanut Curry Soup with Beef, Chilled Cucumber Avocado, and Tomatillo Ceviche Soup.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781105805226

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Healthy Soups for Every Season: Delicious Soup Recipes for the Whole Year Based on the Principles of Chinese Nutrition Therapy

Healthy Soups for Every Season

Delicious Soup Recipes for the Whole Year Based on the Principles of Chinese Nutrition Therapy

Miranda Black

http://www.healthandgratitude.com

Copyright ©2012 Miranda Black

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-105-80522-6

What Does Healthy Mean?

I have a master’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine and years of clinical experience counseling people from all over the world about food and nutrition. One of qualities I love most about Chinese medicine is the acknowledgement that we are individuals. There is no one diet for us all. We all have different body types, unique lifestyles, and different nutritional needs. What is healthy for one person may certainly not be healthy for another.

Yet this traditional medicine I practice must take into consideration modern life and conventional food preparation. Perhaps the fact that you have purchased this cookbook indicates that you are operating outside conventional methods of food preparation—or at least are intending to be.

Most people do very minimal cooking. And what cooking is done is often augmented with pre-packaged ingredients and processed food shortcuts in order to make their lives easier. Many people I talk to have been so distant from cooking their own food from scratch that they are nervous to try and make their own food. There is so much fear: fear of time commitment, fear of purchasing the ingredients, fear of making it wrong, fear of it not tasting good to themselves or their families.

It is essential that food preparation become a priority in our lives. Store-bought, pre-packaged, and processed foods are essentially unhealthy, no matter who you are. This is the universality of how the soups in this cookbook are all healthy. They are all prepared entirely from scratch, using whole ingredients.

The other option is packaged broths, spice cubes, or soup from a can. When we take the easier route, it is harder in the long run. Store-bought foodstuffs are loaded with things we are slowly learning the need to avoid: preservatives, unidentifiable flavorings, sweeteners, and adulterated fats.

The increase in obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer necessitate our awareness. If you are one of the many people who have been required to keep an eye on their diet due to a health concern, you may have begun to read labels in the supermarket. This daunting task illustrates just how pervasive chemical additives are and how difficult it is to avoid substances like sugar, corn syrup, and hydrogenated oils. Trying to find any store-bought food with less than five ingredients, all of which are comprehensible, is nearly impossible.

The only food you can truly trust is the food you prepare yourself from whole ingredients. Enjoy the soups in this book not only for their flavor and nourishment, but for the beneficial impact it makes on your health to be preparing food that is genuinely whole, pure, and healthy.

Why Are There Five Seasons?

The five come from concepts within Traditional Chinese Medicine. Each of these five seasons is paired with a particular internal organ system and a particular pattern of trends with our health. Chinese Nutrition Therapy places an emphasis on eating in harmony with the season. This can range