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Chop onions. Slice potato, carrots, beets and cabbage thinly. Place all ingredients in a pot and cover twice the height with water. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for one hour of more.
Variations include garlic and parsley.
How Can This Ayurvedic Recipe Make You Feel Great?
AYURVEDIC ANALYSIS
This colorful fuchsia soup will have you asking, Is this really just a wintertime food? Beet soup has brightened the cold days for countless generations in Central Europe eastward. Originally from Ukraine, this hearty soup made of beet broth has as many varieties as it does spellings (borsht, barszcz or borshch).
Liver Bitterness
February comes at the bitter end of winter, the time of ashes. The natural environment offers slim pickings this time of year. For most traditional cultures, root cellars was nearly bare by February. Early spring is the hardest month for animals in the wild.
You may experience waves of bitterness, discouragement and a sense of failure in February. Try not to take these 'liver' emotions too seriously. Instead, these emotions offer an important cue.
Rich Blood
As soon as temperatures start to rise in early February, the body begins to metabolize some of the winter fats in preparation for Spring. The blood becomes rich and congested with these fats which aggravates Kapha. It becomes thick and hard to circulate. Fatty blood makes February heart attack month. The fatty blood congests the liver as well. Much like a stuffed goose, your stuffed liver start to look as fatty as foie gras. You may have even noticed a week or two of dark, loose stools.
These important cues are signs your body is ready for cleansing. Ayurvedically, it is a critical time to cleanse the liver and jump-start the body's fat metabolism.
Liver Cleansing in the Spring
This recipe pairs winter root vegetables like potatoes and beets with the cleansing spring flavors of dill and vinegar, helping your body transition into spring. Beets and vinegar are a perfect addition to an early spring diet. They offer a healthy remedy to a congested spring blood and liver. As they stimulate the gall bladder to release bile, they flush out burdensome fats and toxins leftover from holiday celebrations, reducing triglyceride levels. Bile is also a major pathway of cholesterol metabolism. The mild laxative qualities of beets and vinegar help flush the digestive tract as well. The beta-carotene in beets is an excellent liver tonic.
Brightening the Skin
Spices like dill and black pepper get your sluggish blood moving, causing a much-needed sweating action, much like a sauna in a bowl. Dill flushes water weight. Black pepper stimulates circulation, counteracting the sedentary effects of winter's short days. By cleansing the blood and lymphatic system, and by bringing heat to the surface of the skin, borscht helps restore a healthy, vibrant glow to dull wintertime skin.
WHY EAT AN AYURVEDIC DIET?
Eating Ayurvedically makes you feel nourished and energized. An Ayurvedic diet is
tailored to your individual body type and the specific imbalances you are working with
at any given time. Ayurveda shows you your specific body type’s needs and what
should be favored in your Ayurvedic menu. Watch as you eat less but feel more satisfied because what you
are eating truly nourishes you. Since Ayurveda believes all disease begins in the digestive
tract, food is your first medicine. By eating a healthy diet that’s ideal for your body, you
experience optimal health.
Functional Ayurveda helps you assess imbalances through 20 main biocharacteristics
(gunas).
Aggravating these characteristics weakens your body and causes imbalance.
By knowing which characteristics are habitually imbalanced in your body, you will be able to identify and correct imbalances before you get sick.
Every characteristic has an opposite which balances it (i.e. hot balances cold).
You restore balance by favoring diet and lifestyle choices that increase the opposite characteristic.
Taste is used to sense the most basic properties and effects of food.
Each taste has a specific medicinal effect on your body.
Cravings for food with certain tastes indicate your body is craving specific medicinal results from food.
Taste is experienced on the tongue and represents your body's reaction to foods.
Sweet taste causes physical satisfaction and attraction whereas bitter taste causes discomfort and aversion.
Kapha should use less sweet taste while Vata and Pitta would benefit from using more sweet taste.
One of the first signs of illness is that your taste and appetite for food changes.
The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.
Do you crave foods with any of the tastes below?
According to the biocharacteristic theory of medicine,
people tend to get sick, over and over again, due to habitual causes and imbalances that are unique to the person.
Your body type summarizes this tendency, showing you the 'type' of conditions and imbalances that frequently challenge your health & wellness.
Using body type, you can also identify remedies likely to improve your strength and resiliency.
Your body type identifies physical and mental characteristics as well as your personal strengths and weaknesses.
The calculation of your body type is based on your medical history.
The 3 functional body types
(doshas),
are Catabolic (Vata), Metabolic (Pitta), and Anabolic (Kapha).
Catabolic individuals tend to break down body mass into energy.
Metabolic individuals tend to burn or use energy.
Anabolic individuals tend to store energy as body mass.
Catabolic people tend to be easily stimulated, hyperactive, underweight and dry.
Metabolic people tend to be rosy-cheeked, easily irritated, focused, driven, and easily inflamed.
Anabolic people are heavy, stable and grounded, but if they store too much energy, they could gain weight easily and have congestion.
Herbs or spices with volatile essential oils that present strong aromas. Aromatic oils shock, refresh and numb tissue, with the end result of relaxing, opening and clearing stagnant fluids in tissues.
Experiences vary according to the person and constitution. Individual results may vary.
The list of herbal-actions below has not be approved by the FDA and should not be used to treat a medical condition.
Here are the herbal actions of Beet Cleanse Soup (Borscht):
Stimulates the release of gas. Helpful for bloating or cramping abdominal pain. Propels food downward. Carminatives typically expel gas by relaxing the muscles of the intestines.
An herb that increases appetite or settles a nauseas or nervous stomach. These generally increase the digestive fire, therefore relieving symptoms of sluggish or difficult digestion.
A vasodilator is an herb that widens the blood vessels by the relaxation of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls, thereby increasing circulation systemically or to a local area.
John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a
healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda biocharacteristics.
His approach to Ayurveda is clinical, yet exudes an ease which many find enjoyable and insightful.
John also directs Joyful Belly's School of Ayurveda,
offering professional clinical training in Ayurveda for over 15 years.
John's interest in Ayurveda and specialization in digestive tract pathology was inspired by a complex digestive disorder acquired from years of international travel,
as well as public service work in South Asia.
John's commitment to the detailed study of digestive disorders reflects his zeal to get down to the roots of the problem.
His hope and belief in the capacity of each & every client to improve their quality of life is nothing short of a personal passion.
John's creativity in the kitchen and delight in cooking for others comes from his family oriented upbringing.
In addition to his certification in Ayurveda, John holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University.
John enjoys sharing Ayurveda within the context of his Catholic roots,
and finds Ayurveda gives him an opportunity to participate in the healing mission of the Church.
Jesus expressed God's love by feeding and healing the sick.
That kindness is the fundamental ministry of Ayurveda as well.
Outside of work, John enjoys spending time with his wife and 6 kids, and pursuing his love of theology, philosophy, and language.
Comments & Impressions of 'Beet Cleanse Soup (borscht)'
Do you like 'beet cleanse soup (borscht)'?
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Dear Monica, The cabbage does not need to be pre-cooked. It is labeled 'cooked' because the Ayurvedic properties of cooked and raw cabbage are different.
Tried this today as a a snack. I omitted the spices, potato, onion, and subtituted lemon juice for the vinegar. The result tasted very much like tomato soup! I imagine if I pureed it it the consistency would've been spot on as well! What a great tomato soup substitute this is. :)
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any
disease.
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