Can Soup Improve Nutrient Status of Those with AFib? Why Not?
What type of soups would be helpful for you if you have atrial fibrillation? The answer would be a complete variety of vegetable soups, which would provide you with thousands of heart healthy nutrients and phytochemicals. The greater diversity of foods you have in your diet, the more benefits you can expect.
The basic problem is that we are all deficient in something. Besides this, many foods contain substances that help nourish the body and promote increased health.
Although many medically-oriented professionals are looking for pharmaceutical ways to reverse the affects of AFib, the bottom line is that foods can do it too. However, if you use foods, you're going to have to change your diet for atrial fibrillation.
Getting Started
It's relatively easy to begin to incorporate soups with different vegetables into your diet, and far easier than it is to start juicing or even eating salads daily. Soups may be blended and you can easily heat up a cup of soup before two meals of the day.
You could take some to work in a thermos and then eat soup as a first course when you get home from work. This way the soup rejuvenates you before you eat the main course.
Researchers studied cyclists and found that you could have chicken soup before you go work out – and when you do, it will help improve fluid balance, increase your water intake and improve cognitive performance.
Other studies show that gazpacho soup raises the vitamin C plasma level in the body and that 15 days of eating tomato soup or V8 tomato juice is enough to more than triple the lycopene level in the body. Gazpacho soup was even tested in a study with 3995 people who were at risk of heart attack due to high blood pressure and a half cup of the soup a few times a week lowered their risk of hypertension by up to 27%. What foods should you focus on when making your own soups from scratch?
Try those that are nutrient dense, such as spinach, carrots, kale, tomatoes and broccoli. Don't be shy about adding meat to them and making a complete meal out of them.
You own your body. You own your will to eat different foods. You make choices about what to eat daily. Try soups once daily for a full 8 to 12 weeks and you may notice and increased feeling of health and well-being.
Healthy Soup Recipes for Those with Afib
The next step is to get in the kitchen and start creating nourishing soups for yourself with these healthy soup recipes.
Here are two great-tasting healthy soup recipes you can get started with:
Beef Barley Vegetable Soup
This soup contains every imaginable nutrient...
Ingredients:
- 1 large beef bone, about 4 inches long by 1 inch thick
- 2 pounds beef, diced or sliced into cubes that are bite-sized
- 1 white onion, diced
- 1 bunch green onions
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 4 carrots, shredded
- 2 leaves kale, sliced
- 1 bunch parsley, sliced
- 1 bunch watercress
- 3 ribs celery, diced
- 1 bell peppers, cored and diced
- Juice of one lemon
- 1 cup barley, washed and preferably soaked overnight, then rinsed
- 3 quarts water
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- In a small saute pan, saute the onions and garlic in olive oil until done. Add to large soup pot.
- Next add the beef bone.
- In a separate large saute pan, sear the beef cubes long enough so the outside is brown but the inside still remains raw. This will take about 5 minutes. Add the beef to the soup pot.
- Next add the vegetables, barley and water. Squeeze a lemon into the soup to help pull the minerals out of the bone.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Simmer on low for about 45 minutes, covered.
Here are a few other ideas to pump up this soup with even more nutrients:
- If you have any pumpkins around near the fall harvest festivals, add cubed pumpkin. This will give you plenty of beta carotene.
- Yams are another good addition, as these vegetables contain greater amounts of beta-carotene than carrots, like pumpkins.
- You could try substituting einkorn wheat for the barley. Einkorn wheat is the original wheat that people ate thousands of years ago. It's available online.
Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Ingredients:
- 4 red peppers
- 1 yellow peppers
- 1 green peppers
- 1 bunch green onions, sliced
- 1 sweet red onion, sliced
- 3 carrots, sliced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 quarts water
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Preheat your broiler and while it is heating, remove seeds from bell peppers. Cut the peppers in strips.
- Place stips on broiler pan and broil for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- In a small saute pan, place onions and olive oil. Saute until cooked.
- In a medium-sized soup pot, mix peppers, sauteed vegetables, carrots and water. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook on low heat, simmering for 30 minutes.
Soup's on!