What you should be doing instead of juicing

Many Americans, tired of wasting hundreds of dollars a month on vitamin supplements whose only noticeable benefit is turning their pee highlighter yellow, have turned to the new habit of drinking fruit and vegetable smoothies daily. Chewing and swallowing our necessary vitamins and nutrients from whole foods is not only more fun but also clinically proven to be a much more effective form than the pill-popping alternative. But what if you’re in New York in the middle of February or worse, in Alaska in the middle of any month … and you don’t want an ice-cold smoothie, but you do still want some antioxidants? What then? Here’s a hint. Drop the straw, pick up a spoon, and continue with the slurping. I’m talking about soup, the new smoothie! Let’s call it souping. Souping is a simple way to take in loads of vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants by the mouthful. Marcus Antebi, CEO and founder of the popular New York City-based juicery Juice Press agrees that it’s not a bad idea to turn up the neat on your health game. “Soups are a great alternative to smoothies in that they are both plant-based,” he told me. Plant-based foods are vital to our health because those foods are the ones that offer more nutritional density than calorically dense processed foods like bread. “Not everyone wants a smoothie in the cold,” he pointed out. “By having a hot soup you’re able to keep your ambient body temperature up and still eat clean.” In some instances, a hot cup of soup can even be more nourishing than a smoothie because certain health beneficial compounds known as phytochemicals are enhanced from vegetables once heated. A study conducted by Cornell University’s food science department informs us that cancer and heart disease-fighting antioxidant lycopene, found in tomatoes, becomes greater in concentration and bioavailability after heating. In other words, your body can absorb and use the antioxidants from the tomato better when it has been heated to a certain degree. As the healthy hippie trends of the ‘60s and ‘70s continue to resurge, people look to maximize on their health by consuming more fruits, vegetables, roots and herbs. Antebi tells us that one nutritional biggie is ginger: “It’s the magic bullet that everyone is looking for.” Ginger is a great anti-inflammatory and when you’re body is feeling inflamed from too much alcohol, not enough sleep, or the onset of flu symptoms, ginger is going to bring that inflammation down. Instead of reaching for the bull crap chem-lab medicine sold over-the-counter between the condoms and the Pepto Bismol, something like this carrot ginger soup recipe is a much better alternative. Souping can be preferable to juicing or drinking smoothies for more reasons than just keeping you warm. First off, soups typically do not contain any fruit and, therefore, have substantially less sugar. This is great for anyone who is looking to get the number on the scale to go in the same direction as the public’s current opinion of the presidential candidates… down. Since sugar is dieting kryptonite, soup cleanses can be a much more effective solution for weight loss than a juice cleanse. Also, because the pulp and fiber is not removed from soup as it is during the process of juicing, much more fiber is retained which gives eaters a greater sense of satiety. Going on a soup cleanse feels a lot less like Sylvia Plath and death poems, and more like Bob Marley and weed songs. Companies like Brooklyn-based Splendid Spoon and LA’s Soupure have emerged to capitalize on the power of soups and soup cleanses. Both companies offer prepared soups with an emphasis on health containing vegan, gluten free, and organic options. People are gravitating towards soups because of their many benefits. They are vitamin and nutrient-rich, easy on the digestive system, convenient, great for weight loss, and stimulate improved health. If you haven’t been incorporating soups into your daily diet, there has never been a better time than now. Remember, summer bodies are made in March! Via New York Post: http://nypost.com/2016/03/23/forget-that-juice-cleanse-heres-why-you-should-try-souping-instead/