Leaderboard Banner

Beauty Is Wellness: The Fall Soup’s a Major Anti-Ager

by Jolene Hart

Welcome to Beauty Is Wellness, a column about the link between nutrition, lifestyle and beauty based on my health coaching practice of the same name. I’m thrilled to share information about my favorite beauty foods, original recipes for beautiful skin, hair and nails and nutritional tips for beautifying from the inside out in the months to come. If you have specific questions about the beauty and nutrition connection that you’d like to have answered in this column, contact me at jolene@beautyiswellness.com

To eat or not to eat? Of all the green veggies, broccoli could be the most polarizing. While it has a quiet stable of fans, it bears more than its share of insults from crinkle-nosed detractors, who, incidentally, may not be laughing when they find out how much anti-aging power they’re missing. This fall, make room for this anti-ager on your plate— or in your soup bowl, using the recipe ahead.

We’ve heard that broccoli is good for us, but why all the hype? Broccoli is an excellent source of glutathione— what, you haven’t heard of it?— an incredibly powerful antioxidant that supercharges immunity and detox in the body, defends your DNA from aging and even regenerates beauty vitamins C and E, which we could always use more of! Without glutathione, you’d be on a slippery slope toward looking and feeling older than your years.

Broccoli’s also a great source of calcium and phosphorus, promoters of strong bones, teeth and nails. And one plant chemical in broccoli lowers inflammation and redness caused by UV exposure— just in case you spent too much time in the sun last weekend. These compounds increase after gentle steaming, so don’t feel compelled to chew your way through a plate of raw florets.

In fact, broccoli doesn’t have to be crunchy at all. In this smooth Curried Broccoli Potato Soup, anti-aging spices add heat to the tasty combo of potato and broccoli. The result is a dish that warms and comforts while reducing inflammation, revving up your cold and flu defense, and treating your skin to anti-aging you can’t get in a jar.

Curried Broccoli Potato Soup

This soup is creamy, mildly spicy and loaded with anti-aging benefits. Top with pumpkin seeds for extra skin-healing, immune-boosting zinc.
Makes 6 servings

1 tsp coconut oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
3 cups filtered water
4 tsp miso paste
1 1/2 lbs organic potatoes, diced
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 head organic broccoli, large stems removed and cut into medium florets
3/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds, optional

In a soup pot, melt coconut oil over medium heat and cook onions and garlic until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add curry powder and pepper and heat for 1 minute. Add the water, miso paste, potatoes and salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until potatoes are just barely tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Add broccoli, cover and cook about 8 minutes more to lightly steam.

In a blender or food processor, puree the soup in batches until creamy. Serve topped with toasted pumpkin seeds if desired.

For more beauty nutrition news and recipes, check out beautyiswellness.com.

Text, images and recipes ©2013 Jolene Hart. All rights reserved.

BIO:

Jolene Hart, CHC, AADP is a Philadelphia-based writer and founder of Beauty Is Wellness, a natural beauty and health coaching practice. She teaches women to use nutrition and lifestyle choices to look and feel their best from the inside out. Her first book on beauty nutrition, Eat Pretty, debuts in 2014.

 

You may also like