Kale and White Bean Soup

Vegetable based soup is not only delicious; it can also help heal your gut. Gluten and dairy cause damage, but vegetables and bone broth have nutrients that your body needs to heal the gut wall, and boiled veggies are easier to digest. Soup with vegetables is one of the top foods for gut health.

Vegetable soup also supports those New Years weight loss goals. Anything with a high water content is shown to support quicker weight loss, because it helps you get full faster. This helps you consume fewer overall calories. Vegetable soup is wonderful because not only does it have all of the vitamins, minerals and phyto-nutrients from the vegetables, and nutrients in the broth, but it also has pure hydration (water!) to support a healthy weight. For example, if you eat a small bowl of soup before a meal, it's shown to reduce overall calorie intake (for the day) by about 200 calories.

So here's a recipe to get you going. Make this on the weekend and stick it in the fridge to enjoy all week!



Kale and White Bean Soup

1 tbsp coconut or olive oil
1/2 small white onion
2 cloves of fresh garlic
1 zucchini chopped into small chunks
4 cups organic chicken bone broth
1-2 cups water or more broth (doesn't need to be bone broth)
1 can white beans (pureed if you like a creamy soup)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 cups of chopped kale
1 cup of chopped mushrooms
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the coconut (or olive) oil over medium heat in large soup pot
2. Add onions and saute until clear
3. Add garlic and saute 1-2 minutes
4. Add zucchini and saute 5-7 minutes
5. Add bone broth and chicken broth, stir
6. Add white beans and vinegar,soy sauce and add salt/pepper to taste
7. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes
8. Add kale and mushrooms cook for 5-10 more minutes (don't over cook the kale!)

You can also add other vegetables if you feel like it. I added green peas and it helped the flavor. You could also add cauliflower and turmeric for advanced gut healing.