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

Chinese Medicine Detox Soup Recipe

As the weather changes, its a good idea to give your body a day or so to adjust by feeding it something that will not only clear some toxins, but also nourish it.  You can do this by fasting for a day (or four), “eating” only clear liquids that include chicken broth.  Or you can try the Heavenly Bodies Clinic’s legendary Chinese Medicine Detox Soup Recipe. It will fill you up, nourish you, satisfy the five flavors, and get your ready for the next season.

Chinese Medicine Detox Soup Recipe

• ½ C dried barley (sweet, salty)
• ½ C fox nuts* (bitter)
• 6 large green onions  (use white and green part although cleansing property is in white only) (pungent)
• 1-2 cans of tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes if preferred, or omit if you hate tomatoes) (sweet, sour)
• 1 head of bok choy (pungent)
• 1 green pepper (pungeant)
• 1 celery bunch (salty)
• ½ C fresh parsley (pungent)

1. Combine barley and fox nuts in a pan, bring to a boil in 3C water, then simmer, covered, until soft (about 30 minutes).
2. Chop vegetables (make the pieces quite small) and put in a large pot.
3. When barley and fox nuts are soft, add them, and their cooking water, to the vegetables.  Add more water to cover the vegetables.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

*If you can’t find fox nuts in your local eastern food store, let us know so we can get some in the mail to you.

Tags: detox, detox soup, fox nuts, seasons, soup