It’s good to be home. I had the loveliest holiday break, but it’s good to be home. Even though I knew I was coming back to two weeks worth of mail to sift through, groceries to buy, meals to plan, piles of laundry to wash, it’s all good.
As I’ve mentioned several times, I am not much on detox diets or cleanses after the holidays even though they are all the rage. I notice a lot of people overdo it even more between Thanksgiving and New Years knowing they will “cleanse” it all off starting January 1. Eh. If you just try eliminating sugar and flour for a few weeks, your health will improve drastically. You don’t need to give up real food and sip juice for a week. But that’s just my opinion.
However I do want to share an amazing, healing and very digestible soup recipe called Bieler’s Broth. This soup is nothing new. In fact, it has been around for decades, invented by a doctor named Bieler. The soup is vegan and all vegetable-based. It is not a culinary soup in the sense that it is so delicious that you would want to serve it to your friends at your next dinner party, but more of a medicinal soup. It tastes absolutely fine though, just a little bland.
According to Sally Fallon in her book Nourishing Traditions, Dr. Bieler felt that this combination of vegetables was ideal for restoring acid-alkaline and sodium-potassium balance to organs and glands, especially the sodium-loving adrenal glands which suffer under stress. The broth is also supportive for liver function — recall that the liver is our detoxifying organ. Bieler’s broth is highly recommended for those under stress or suffering from stress-related conditions. Know anyone stressed out? Yep, I thought so.
When I have had a lot of travel combined with a chaotic schedule and less than desirable eating, I’ll make a big batch of Bieler’s broth every few days and drink a mugful either as a snack during the day or with my breakfast or dinner. I don’t function well without protein and fats, so I can’t use this as a meal replacement.
I always notice a big improvement in my overall wellbeing after supplementing daily for 2 weeks with Bieler’s broth. I made a batch yesterday which should last 3 days and I’ll make another batch on Thursday to get me through the weekend.
I know that the vegetables in Bieler’s broth are not in season in the winter. I am normally opposed to that, but in this case it’s just temporary. Be sure to buy only organic vegetables since this is supposed to be a healing soup and pesticides will just add more toxins to the body. Also, zucchini is now a common GMO crop, so buying organic ensures you will be buying non-GMO.
Here’s hoping 2016 is off to a healthy start for you. If you’ve gotten off on the wrong foot, it’s never to late to start fresh. Do check out the dinner planner I started posting on Sundays! It will change your life to plan out your meals. Promise!
Bieler's Broth: a Healing, Restorative Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 medium zucchini, ends discarded and zucchini sliced into rounds
- 1 pound string beans, ends trimmed
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1-2 bunches parsley, flat-leaf or curly, tough stems removed (you can freeze the stems for stock making)
- 4 cups water
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Skim any foam on the surface, lower the heat and simmer, covered until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Puree soup in the pot with a handheld blender or in a blender in batches.
- Eat warm.
Notes
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
one cup is a lot of butter, why butter how does it add health to this soup.
No butter in this soup. I’m a little confused by your question…???
Hi , some of the Bieler Broth recipes on the internet say you can season / add salt. Can you please clarify if this is ok or does it cancel out the nutritional benefits? I would like to try making this today as a restorative broth as I am currently experiencing poor health.
Thank you
You can add a pinch of high quality sea salt.
Buying organic doesn’t ensure it will be non-gmo just fyi. They are separate things. I feel there is a lot of fear and ignorance surrounding GMO
Except for a very few loopholes and possible cross-contamination, buying organic is supposed to imply a non-gmo food. I do agree that there is a lot of fear about GMO’s and there is so much controversial information out there. Everyone needs to educate themselves and make decisions that make sense to him or her. I have researched GMO’s for years and I am not one bit comfortable with consuming them or feeding them to my family or using them in my cooking classes. However, I do not promote an environment of fear around the subject on my blog, and in my classes I do say that I am not comfortable with them, but that everyone should make his or her own decision about them.
I think the same, thats what i do too
Pamela,
I just made this today and it’s delicious! Didn’t change the recipe and it actually feels restorative as I drink it. Just what I needed. Thank you!
Oh good! Happy to hear that. Be well.
Hi! Happy New Year! I have everything but celery in the house. Do you think it would work to substitute carrots?
Hi! Happy new year to you, too! Just omit the celery and don’t sub anything. 🙂
I have everything but celery in the house. Do you think I could substitute carrots?
Oh my gosh, I love this soup! I used to eat it years ago (pre-kids) and totally forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder and the recipe!
Really?? So cool! 🙂
so would it affect the intent of this soup to add leeks or onions, garlic, or salt for flavour? I love all of these vegetables but can see that it might need a little something for a flavour boost
Thank you-enjoy reading your blog
Hi Karin, thanks for your comment! You are definitely correct that the soup would taste better with any of those things, but this is not a culinary soup. The point of this soup is not really about being flavorful. It’s about restoring health to the adrenals and liver. That said, the soup doesn’t taste bad. It’s actually quite pleasant, but a little bland as you guessed. What is interesting though is that Dr. Bieler actually very specifically wrote never to add garlic or onions to this. I guess my point is that if you are using this soup to heal, leave it is written. If you want to serve it to guests, sauté some onion in olive oil before adding the green vegetables and add sea salt to taste. 🙂
Whoops I totally added garlic and aesofetida to my first batch!
I’ll skip them next time 🙂
I don’t know what Dr Bieler would think of that, but I’m sure there were still many health benefits in the broth.
Could I use frozen string beans for this recipe? It is very difficult for me to find fresh organic ones in the winter.
I don’t see why not!
Just what the body ordered! Looking forward to being “restored”. Thank you again for helping and inspiring us to take care of ourselves.
You’ll love it!
Both my mother and I were healed of health conditions in the mid 60”s by Dr. Bieler who was such a kind man. I don’t recall everything I ate but I remember bieler broth which is very healing, also organic beef, we steamed everything then blended it. It’s also excellent to snack on celery ribs. I am going to get his book again since I have misplaced it with too many moves! I made bieler broth when my daughter was a teenager and she enjoyed it. Going beck to old tried and true traditions 🙂 Thanks for posting the original recipe, Pamela.
That’s amazing! Thank you for sharing, Pat.