My SOUP FEVER CATCHES ON.....

As you may know I've been making healthy soups daily and freezing them to supplement our daily meals. I buy whatever is on sale and boil it with some healthy beans then grind half the batch to give it a thicker consistency. Below is one I made with lentils, carrots and cauliflower.  Luke, my 4-year-old came up to me yesterday and said, "mom, I want to make a soup."  I helped him get himself set up, he cut a bunch of potatoes and tomatoes and carrots.  We let it cool when done and ground up the whole thing. He has yet to taste it, yet I was amazed at how very excited he was about making his soup, his way.....

This one above is mine

this one above is Luke's before we ground it up......smelled delicious. 

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Soup Diet....AN UPDATE

Okay, so it's been a week since I started my conviction to make and have 3 servings of soup a day.  I've had a hard time trying to make each recipe very different than the last so as to not get boring. But I have a few very positive changes I've noticed. 

1. I have so much energy. I am naturally very energetic, but man am I flying lately.

2. I am not needing coffee. I usually go through a caffeine "need" at around 2pm every day.  I have not even thought about it. 

3. When sleeping, my arm had been falling asleep for over a year, even during times when I would not be laying on it. I have not had that happen AT ALL this whole week. I have slept like a baby all week. It could be that because the soups are so filling that it allowed me to cut down or stop eating bloating foods such as pasta and bread. 

4. My face looks less bloated. You would not notice...but I can tell. 

5. I am less hungry for sweets or other bad foods. I just feel a normal sense of satisfaction....

so, where from here....?

I will continue to make my soups daily, freeze them for later and think about how we are what we eat....I do not want to be junk.....I deserve better. 

Today I made a soup with split peas, potatoes, yam and cauliflower and then blended the whole thing. It was absolutely delicious.....I froze 1-person servings and drank one serving for lunch. Now what can I do next?  Any ideas?

My Shift in Food Thought......Soup to the rescue!

The soup craze began when I started to get a little sick, was again addicted to coffee or fearing the dreaded "coffee headache" and was not able to wear my favorite ring. I realized then I needed to start taking care of myself more. I've always been more instinctual when trying to figure out what is right for my health. You will never catch me memorizing, and following to the letter someone else's idea of how to be healthy. I think ultimately it's trust thing. I do not trust others more than myself in terms of what is good for ME. 

Now I've never been that unhealthy to begin with. I don't drink soda ever, I grill, I rarely eat meat, I don't ever drink juice of any kind unless it's pressed or juiced from a juicer, etc, etc. To me the issue has always been nervous eating. With all the natural chaos that a normal day with two kids brings, comes a lot of high-pressure moments. Food has somehow provided a sense of relaxation. My goal is to totally stop associating with food emotionally in any way. For example, celebrations do not need to always be associated with foods.  I'm slowly learning that "good times" can be surrounded by other celebratory items. Hugs, paying attention to what one is saying, playing with kids, focusing on just BEING with family, dancing, taking pictures.

So out of all this I decide to make soup. I was searching online and there are easily millions of recipes just for low-fat vegetable soups. You have a whole spectrum from hot, cold, red, creamy, heavy, light, chunky...and the list goes on. I then thought, what would happen if I just ate soup for a while just to clean out my system? I love soup and from the looks of the recipes, are super-easy to make. So for 2 days now I've had amazing mixed vegetable soups for breakfast, lunch and dinner with an assortment of beans and I immediately felt better, have not needed coffee, and now feel full of energy! I do eat other things in between by the way. One day I made thick banana-milk shake in between, but I just make sure 70% of my intake was soup. 

Now, amazingly, I do not have to think about food for it's incredibly filling and because most of it is frozen I just need to defrost. Also, you don't get bored because I made all sort of flavors. One has potatoes, hominy and cabbage and another might be less dense and have assorted beans, onions and kale. Amazingly, when I get a craving I just defrost and eat or make a tea, decaf coffee, or a decaf earl grey. The great things are that it's super healthy, absolutely yummy, filling and never boring. 

Would love to know any healthy diet changes you have made...have a great day!!