The root cause of most chronic disease often starts with inflammation that has been present in the body for longer periods of time.
While inflammation is the body’s first attempt at self-protection, if it becomes chronic, then major issues start to arise. It can cause rheumatoid arthritis, some cancers, atherosclerosis, periodontitis, and hay fever to name a few.
Fortunately for us, we do, to a certain extent, have control over how much inflammation we expose our bodies to. And it all starts with diet. While we can work at improving our diets, we also need to take special care to avoid ingredients like dairy, GMO corn, fried foods, wheat, refined sugar and red meats.
Healing Ingredients
This soup contains many ingredients that help fight disease and heal the body.
Turmeric contains the active compound, curcumin, which has powerful anti-cancer benefits, and can even stop the progression of breast cancer, colon cancer, leukaemia and melanoma (1).
It helps protect the brain from inflammation, and promotes brain regeneration, which is promising for individuals suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Black pepper helps increase the bioavailability of curcumin by up to 2000%, so it is an important ingredient when combining with turmeric.
Tomatoes are another total-body healer, as they contain a special antioxidant called lycopene, which helps regulate the inflammatory response in the body (2). But that isn’t the only compound in tomatoes that helps fight disease in the body.
Naringenin, a compound found in the skin of tomatoes, helps fight inflammation, while quercetin, another flavonoid, helps fight free radicals and cancerous cells (3).
Make sure you use organic ingredients whenever you can!
Ingredients:
– 2 large diced onions
– 4 cloves of garlic, minced
– 1 tbsp. coconut oil
– 15 sun-ripened tomatoes with skin, quartered
– 4 tsp. turmeric powder
– 1/2 can organic tomato paste
– 2 tbsp. lemon juice or apple cider vinegar (ACV)
– 2 tsp. Celtic sea salt or Himalayan sea salt
– 1 cup low-sodium vegetable stock
– freshly ground black pepper
– optional: dash of cayenne powder and a small handful of fresh basil, thyme or chives
Method:
1. Over medium heat, in a medium-sized saucepan, fry the onion and garlic in coconut oil for about 1 minute.
2. Add the turmeric and chopped tomatoes, then stir. Let this cook at medium-high heat and wait for the tomatoes to soften.
3. Add in the tomato paste, lemon juice or ACV, salt, vegetable stock and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a boil.
4. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes, and then remove from heat.
5. Once it has cooled a bit, blend until smooth, and then season to your taste.
