Inside HBC

How to eat your soup: learning the 5 Flavors

A week of practicing the 5 Flavors will bring up your awareness of how you eat and how you feel after you eat.  Sometimes just learning the flavors can bring this awareness and allow us to focus on foods that make us well. Here is a plan you can follow that will train your taste buds to easily identify the flavors of food on your own.

The batch of soup you make is enough for 3 meals for 7 days; some days you will eat other meals as well, so your soup portion may vary.  If its easier for you, you can portion it out at the beginning of the week into small containers, one for each day, or one for each meal.

Day 1: Add one or all of the following to your soup

1. Roasted or sautéed garlic
2. Thyme
3. Tumeric

Three snacks of SOUR with SWEET flavors

• For all: dark berries (blueberries, blackberris, strawberries)
• If you have heat symptoms (hot flashes, skin rash, spontaneous sweating): watermelon
• If you have abdominal bloating, gas, or pain: grapefruit

Day 2: Add one or all of the following to your soup

1. Italian herb mix
2. Fenugreek seed

Three side serving dishes with BITTER flavors

• For all: dark leafy greens such as dandelion, kale, collards, spinach, broccoli, and watercress

Day 3: Add one or all of the following flavors to your soup

1. Sour cream
2. Balsamic vinegar

Three servings (1/2 cup each) of SOUR flavors

• For all: unsweetened yogurt with chopped pistachios (sweeten your yogurt with Stevia, if you must)

Day 4: Season your soup however you wish today, and focus on a BALANCE OF OILS: Omega 3 and Omega 6

• For all: salmon prepared with lemons; or any oily fish; or any fish

Day 5: Add one or all of the following to your soup

1. Peanut butter
2. Coconut milk

Three snack-sized servings of SWEET flavors, prepared with dark leafy greens for the vegetable

• Chicken
• Beef
• Soy (all protein is sweet by nature)

Day 6: Add one or all of the following to your soup

1. Tamari
2. Shoyu

Three 1/2 to 1 cup servings of SALTY flavors

• Almonds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds
• Celery
• If you have a diagnosis to avoid salt, eat unsalted nuts and celery

Day 7: Add one or all of the following to your soup

1. Curry
2. Hot sauce

Three snack-sized servings of PUNGENT/HOT flavors

• For all, prepare a curry dinner, or other spicy meal of your choice, and portion it
• If you have a heat condition, have your hot meal in temperature only (not in hot spices). You most likely have also been heating your soup, so this counts for “hot” as well

Tags: detox soup

Flatbread with Leeks, Capers, and Asiago Cheese

In the springtime, add leafy greens, onions, leeks, and other early vegetables to your meals. Looking at Food as Medicine in Traditional Chinese Medicine (and maybe just by common sense?) eating seasonal foods is the way to go! The foods that arrive in the spring, tender green vegetables and herbs, provide energy as directly from the sun as possible and support us as we become more active and the days get longer.

Here’s an easy recipe for flatbread that can be adjusted to use your favorite seasonal toppings all year long.

• 2 cups GWF Baking Mix (sweet, salty)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup olive oil (sweet)
• 1 medium leek, white and light green parts, cut into long thin strips (pungent)
• 3 oz cheese, shredded or cut into 1/4 cubes (sour, salty)
• 2 TBS capers (salty)
• Freshly ground pepper (bitter)
• Olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Place 2 cups of GWF Baking Mix in a large bowl and add water and oil.  Mix well.
3. Press dough onto a lightly oiled baking sheet to about 1/4 in thick.  Drizzle about 1 tsp olive oil over top of dough and spread leeks evenly over the top. Generously spread cheese and capers over the leeks.  Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper, and drizzle again with olive oil.
4. Bake in oven for 25 minutes.  Remove, slice and enjoy!

Tags: food as medicine, GWF Baking Mix, Main dish, pungent, salty, spring

Irish Soda Bread

Saint Patrick’s Day always included Irish Soda bread when I was growing up. Sometimes my sister even made it green with a few drops of food coloring.  Here’s an adaptation that even the greenest leprechaun in your house will love, and it will love him right back with plenty of protein but without the sugar and wheat flour.

• 1 cup *GWF Baking Mix (sweet, salty)
• 1 cup rolled oats (sweet)
• 6 TBS chilled salted butter, cut into squares (sweet)
• 1 beaten egg (sweet)
• 1/3 cup cream, buttermilk or soy milk (sweet)
• 1/2 cup dried currants (sweet)
• 1 TBS caraway seeds (bitter, pungent)
• About 1/8 cup oat flour for kneading

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mix the GWF baking mix and oats in a large bowl.  Cut in 6 TBS butter (an electric mixer makes it easy, but a fork or fingers work fine as well).  The lumps should be about pea-sized.
3. Combine the milk and the beaten egg, and then add to the flour mixture along with the dried currants and caraway seeds.  Mix only until combined.
4. Turn out onto a floured board and knead gently until the dough is a bit stiff, but not crumbly.  Cut dough into 4 sections and form into 4 balls.  Cut those into 4 pieces, and retain shape (a little wedge).  Place onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for approximately 20 – 25 minutes, or until they are golden brown.

*GWF baking mix is available at the Heavenly Bodies Clinic, and our online store!

Tags: GWF Baking Mix