Immune-Boosting Soup Recipe

Help prevent the winter cold and flu with this vegetarian soup that features shiitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, goji berries, and more.

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by AdobeStock/studioflara
4 SERVINGS

Ingredients

  • 1 red onion, minced
  • 1 green chile, minced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2-inch piece fresh gingerroot, minced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, diced, skins left on
  • 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 handfuls goji berries
  • vegetable stock, to cover
  • salt and black pepper

Directions

  • Put the onion, chile, garlic, and ginger in a large pan with the olive oil. Cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until the onion softens.
  • Add the sweet potatoes and mushrooms to the pan along with the goji berries. Stir well, then add enough vegetable stock to cover all the ingredients. Simmer well for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potato is soft. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Carefully add the soup to a blender in batches, and blend into a smooth, vivid orange, spicy soup.
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Help prevent the winter cold and flu with this immune-boosting soup recipe — featuring shiitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, goji berries, and more.

Many of us view food simply as the fuel we need to consume to keep us going. Things like carbohydrates and proteins — the macronutrients — are just that, providing energy and materials for growth and repair. But the thing is that food is so much more. As well as the macronutrients, there are the micronutrients: the vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and essential fatty acids. These are the keys that allow chemical events to take place in the body. Zinc, for example, is used to regulate our white blood cells and the way the brain uses and responds to its own chemistry; it even creates proteins that regulate inflammation. Essential fatty acids are the building blocks for hormones and a whole group of communication molecules that work to regulate pain and inflammation. The B vitamins turn food into energy, and magnesium is essential for more than 1,000 chemical reactions in the body. So it’s clear that getting enough vitamins and minerals will have a huge impact on our daily health.

Things get really exciting, however, when we start to look at the compounds in many ingredients that aren’t strictly nutrients, since none of them are essential for health, but which can deliver medicinal effects in their own right. Enter the phytonutrients. These are chemicals in plants such as color pigments, hormones and structural compounds. They are starting to be widely researched and are proving to have some wondrous effects. Chemicals in cherries can help beat insomnia. Chocolate can lower blood pressure. Red wine can protect us from heart disease. And that is just the beginning! When we put these things together, it becomes clear that what we eat can have a very profound effect upon our capacity to get better.

Goji Berries

Immune system health

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