Blatteis Angela - The Soup Cleanse: A Revolutionary Detox of Nourishing Soups and Healing Broths from the Founders of Soupure

I dont know anyone who doesnt want to eat better, feel better, sleep better, and have more energy. We all want to be at our physical, mental, and spiritual best every day, even though we know many of our long-term habits throw up roadblocks that inhibit both our will and our ability to maintain optimal health.

Like you, Ive read many books on diet, health, and fitness; like you, Ive seen scores of articles bemoaning the rise of obesity, diabetes, stress, and all of the attendant health threats these trends represent. Unfortunately, the complexity of our homeostatic systemsthe internal food consumption and regulation signals our bodies send to our brainsmakes it difficult for many people to maintain a healthy weight. To make things worse, we often fail to incorporate enough of the right foods that maximize the process of heat production in the body, which can enhance energy levels and metabolism by supporting more efficient calorie burning and lower fat stores.

It is important at every age to find balance among body, mind, and behavior to reduce the burden of chronic ailments and benefit holistic health. And as with so many things in life, prevention is indeed nine-tenths of the cure. Since 2010, I have been working with my colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School to further the field of integrative medicine research, specifically in adolescents with anxiety and stress conditions. In my private practice, I use functional medicine treatments to address a host of other common and chronic medical complaints. What we often discover is that a series of small adjustments can support long-term change and a healthier overall lifestyle.

Souping is one such adjustment. One of the things I love about this book is its focus on balance; soup is no mere four-letter word. Vivienne and Angela offer tips that are meant to be prescriptive rather than prohibitive, although certainly all of the usual culprits behind unhealthy habits are discouragedalcohol, processed foods, refined sugars, GMOs (genetically modified organisms), and the like. Its helpful to think of the foods and strategies here as evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Theres nothing in this book designed to shock your system or starve you into your clothes, neither of which promotes healthy eating habits.

I often remind my patients that no one is perfect, and this book is not about perfection; its about balance and common sense, about boosting our bodys own healing and restorative systems, about supporting health at the cellular level. Its about incorporating more of the best protein, fiber, and whole foods into our diets for maximum nutrient absorption.

If youre asking yourself what all of this means from a practical standpoint, think of souping as an easy and cost-effective way to combat inflammation, heart disease, weight gain, fatigue, and joint pain while promoting glowing skin and hair, improved memory, reduced stress, organ regeneration, and more natural energy. Incorporating these delicious and easy-to-prepare foods into your diet is a meaningful first step toward improving both intermittent and chronic health conditions. Real food. Real nutrition. Real health. Enjoy!

Nada Milosavljevic, MD, JD,

director, Integrative Health Program,

Massachusetts General Hospital;

instructor, Harvard Medical School,

Boston, Massachusetts, May 2015

We didnt start our soup company, Soupure, with the sole intention of offering a better way to cleanse. In fact, we dont believe our bodies are inherently toxic or that a reasonably healthy person needs to be forced to flush their arteries and intestines of some horrible buildup of plaque or sludge. We wanted to, quite simply, offer a better soup and healthier way of eating. We both loved soupit could be healing, satisfying, warming, cooling, sweet, savory, and, best of all, completely portable. But we were fed up with trying to find one from the grocery store or a restaurant that wasnt packed with salt, sugar, cream, fillers, preservatives, and other funky stuff. Or, if we did manage to find one that wasnt mucked up with additives, it tasted like ground-up and watered-down vegetables. And while we love our veggies, not even the most hard-core herbivore wants to eat a bowlful of sad, unseasoned, unloved plants or, worst of all, a bowl of what tastes like dirty hot water.

Oddly enough, wed both reached the conclusion that we were dissatisfied with the current state of our quick-and-easy meal options at the same timeand felt strongly enough to do something about it. Angela was working in private equity at the time, Vivienne in law. Wed met almost fifteen years before when our oldest children went to the same nursery school, and wed kept in touch ever sincea lunch here, a play date there. It was at one of those get-togethers (coincidentally, over a disappointing bowl of soup) that we discovered we value the same tenets of health: moderation, being in touch with your own body, and not making anything strictly taboo. We lamented the challenge it had become to get tasty, nutritious soups, and marveled at why no one was offering them. We both believed in the healing power of nutrient-rich superfoods, particularly bone broths, and felt it more necessary than ever to give those foods to our bodies. And we wanted to give our kids the tools to make good choices too.

Six months later, wed both left the security of our jobs to create health in a bottle, as Vivienne likes to say, otherwise known as truly delicious, non-dairy, non-GMO (genetically modified organismsee What About GMOs? for why we think this is important), preservative-free, 100 percent good-for-you, whole foodbased soups, with no bad stuff added. We wanted to offer options that were sweet and savory, chilled and hot. They could be used to cleanse (for one day, three days, or five), or as supplements in peoples everyday diets, whether as a post-workout tonic or a better option for lunch or dinner. Above all, we wanted to make a nourishing, healthful, superior, easily transportable product that our families, friends, andhopefullyjust about everyone else could enjoy.

One of the biggest reasons we created Soupure was because weve always had the nagging suspicion that our food plays a big part in our healthboth in alleviating certain conditions and in causing them. Viviennes father was an identical twin, and he got cancer, but his twin didnt, thus suggesting the lack of a genetic predisposition. It led her to wonder if theres something about our environment and how it affects the body that played a role. Also, as middle-aged women, we couldnt believe how many of our peers felt it was too late to feel their best after being married with children and inactive for some years. It wasnt just that they felt they looked tired or overweight or generally zapped of life, it was that they had mentally submitted to aging and believed it was normal to be out of shape after forty. Theyd say things like, Back in my day But its still your day! Flooding your body with nutrients, minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals is the foundation for staying resilient, well into your twilight years.