RECIPE: Detox Veggie Soup

Okay, so you've overeaten and you feel awful, right. I feel your pain, literally. When I overeat, my stomach goes into crisis mode and blows up about double its current size. This causes the slightly herniated discs in my lower spine to shift which results in tremendous pain. My legs go out because the discs hits on the sciatic nerve running down my left leg. Do you know that drill? Perhaps, you have a drill of your own.

One of the first things that I do to stop this madness is to make a veggie soup in the slow cooker. Soup is perfect because it is 1) highly nutritious, 2) comforting and 3) promotes healing.  This is my formula for a powerful Detox Veggie Soup.





NUTRITIOUS means that I can load this soup up with ingredients that will nourish my body and bring it back into balance.

COMFORTING means that the food is easy to digest and doesn't stress an already stressed digestive and nervous system.

HEALING means that the food soothes and heals what ails your body. In addition, the food feeds your soul and calms your mind.

So, here's how I do my Detox Veggie Soup:

Ingredients:

3/4 bag of organic baby carrots
1/2 stalk of celery
1/2 bulb of garlic (This is 5-6 garlic cloves.)
1 small onion
3 cups of greens (choose: kale, spinach, bok choy, soft cabbage like napa, baby green)
1 can low-sodium chicken or veggie broth
2 can of filtered or bottled water (* I use a Brita filter for my water)

Seasonings: 

parsley (to taste)
chives (to taste; I LOVE these)
ground black pepper (to taste)
thyme or bay leaf (to taste)

 
Instructions:

1) Loosely chop (lengthwise) up the carrots, celery, onions. (*I like a julienne cut on my carrots and a loose chop so that I have to chew a bit; this stimulates the saliva glands to promote digestion.)
 

2) Peel the garlic cloves but leave them whole.

3) Load veggies into your slow cooker. I use this 6-quart one by Crock-Pot.

4) Add the broth to the slow cooker.

5) Add the water to the slow cooker.

6) Add spices to the slow cooker.

7) Set the slow-cooker to 4-hours on "slow" speed.

*Serve in your favorite pretty bowl and you are DONE!  When you are feeling better from overeating, have this with the  Healthy Green Salad until your system gets underway again.