Project Glow 2010: Cooler Cleanse Day 3 and A Little Soup Detour

My Healing Miso Soup, perfect for cold and flu season

Today is my third day on the Cooler Cleanse, and it has definitely been the hardest day yet. This is through no fault of the cleanse, but because I seem to have caught a little cold that I am trying my darndest to cut off at the pass. I woke up with a sore throat yesterday morning and immediately went into immune boosting mode which involved: a large dose of Vitamin D (I do this for 3 days, then back to my regular dose of 5,000 IU every day as blood tests showed I’m deficient), Vitamin C, using the Neti Pot, gargling with salt water, taking a hot bath, and drinking hot tea with lemon. I feel good knowing that I’m already flooding my body with lots of healing nutrients with this cleanse. It’s also nice not to have to worry much about food prep, when I want to use all my spare time to rest (rest is best!).

In addition to the aforementioned healing practices, my scratchy throat had me craving something savory and warm and more green vegetables and garlic (nature’s healers!). So I decided to go off plan just a bit. The Cooler Cleanse people do not recommend this, and the point of a juice cleanse is to give the digestive system a total rest, which I do think is valuable. But for me, today, the desire for some additional nutrition outweighed my desire for digestive rest, and I choose to go with my intuition about what my body needs (as long as it was healthy). To invent the right soup, I basically just went into the organic grocery store and got what called out to me. I knew that I definitely wanted green vegetables, onion (I read once that you should eat a whole onion when you’re getting sick and it can make it go away–who knows, but it’s become a bit of a ritual), and some miso, which is full of beneficial and immune boosting bacteria. The rest was chosen because it seemed like a good idea. I don’t measure anything, I just eyeball everything and adjust to taste. Here’s my non-recipe:

The pot ‘o veggies before the miso addition. Just remember, never boil your miso!

Andrea’s Healing Miso Soup

• Add olive oil to soup pot and sauté garlic, bok choy and thinly sliced kale (I used Lacinto/Dinosaur and eat the stems and all)
• Once those are nicely sauteed add a little water and the following veggies:
  • Shredded daikon radish
  • Scallions
  • Shitake mushrooms
  • Wakame (this is the seaweed usually in miso soup, prepare per package directions)
• Add as much water as you like depending on how much soup you want and let it bubble and steam for a little bit (not too long, all of these things can be lightly cooked and will be delicious)
• Boil a big mug’s worth of water and once it is no longer boiling, stir in miso paste. I used mild white miso.
• Take the big pot of soup off the stove, and once it is no longer boiling add in the miso. Miso should never be boiled.
• Optional: I sauteed half an onion in a separate pan until it was well carmalized and added it to the soup at the end. It was a really great addition–slightly sweet, and melty, highly recommended.
• Seasoning: Salt and pepper to taste (I went heavy on the pepper) and cayenne or hot sauce if you want the added sinus clearing benefits.

Nothing left to do but enjoy!

As for day 3 of the Cooler Cleanse, juice #2 today was Grapefruit Mint. I’m not a fan of grapefruit juice, it’s just never been my thing. That said, I can’t imagine how it could have been any better, and it didn’t even cause me to make the face I typically make when I have a sip of grapefruit juice. Despite wishing I had the Pineapple Ginger or Watermelon Lime instead, I did think that this juice was probably perfect for my coming-down-with-a-cold-ness, and for that I was grateful. I have the red juice and almond milk left for this evening, and am looking forward to them both. It’s early to bed for me, and hey, I’m over half way done!