Detox Vegetable Soup + A Recap of Detox Day 1

Well, hello! Welcome to my “Twelve Days of Detox” journal.

Before I get down to business I should quickly mention a couple of  things:

Firstly, I’m not a doctor. Shocking, I know. If you have any medical conditions or have never done any kind of cleanse, please run things past your GP.

Secondly, this is just a recounting of my experience. Some may think it’s too little food, other may think too much, etc. We are all unique and what works for me might not work for you. Use my detox routine as a guideline and modify it to suit your own needs/goals.

OK! Now that that’s out of the way, here we go.

It’s fitting that I used the word routine to describe my detox. For the last five years or so I have been doing regular, seasonal detoxes. I enjoy the challenge and I always come away with better eating habits because of them. They truly have become a part of my routine like spring cleaning and vacations. I can’t recommend it enough.

This time of year is especially indulgent. I heard a statistic the other day that the average person gains three to five pounds over the holidays. It doesn’t sound like that much, but if you don’t lose it those pounds can add up. Three pounds times ten years is THIRTY extra pounds. Yikes. Sneaky sneaky. It can creep up so slowly. Now, you can see why a detox is such a timely idea after Christmas/New Years. I would estimate that extra three to five will disappear in about twelve days. 😉

Here are the rules I follow: No dairy, no caffeine, no sugar, no alcohol and no grains (grains just for the first seven days). Lots of veggies, fruit and healthy fats are the staples.

I start ev-er-y day with hot water and lemon. I sprinkle in some cayenne pepper for good measure (it helps to naturally heat your body which is said to aid in detoxification ) but it’s totally optional. Stock up on those lemons!

Next, comes a piece or two of fruit. For my day one it was a couple of clementines. Yummy!

About half an hour after your fruit it’s smoothie time. For day one I enjoyed this –> Detox Green Smoothie.

Maybe an hour or two after my breakfast I had a handful of almonds and another clementine.

This kept me going while I got the preparations underway for this amazing fat flushing detoxifying vegetable soup. Other than the chopping of the veggies, this soup is uber easy. There are the usual suspects of onions, celery, carrots but the feature vegetable is chopped sweet potato. It . makes . this . soup .

The secret ingredient that ties this soup together is smoked paprika. It goes so well with the flavours of the sweet potato.

I had a generous bowl of this for lunch followed by another handful of almonds for ‘dessert’. It’s funny how absolutely luxurious almonds become during a cleanse. 😉

Another bowl of veggie soup for dinner and I was good until my evening snack. For that I thoroughly enjoyed an enormous apple sliced into wedges and sprinkled with cinnamon. I smothered it all in almond butter and practically licked my plate. I adore this snack. It will be happening every night without fail. Love it. 

Throughout the day I drank lots of water and herbal tea. I like peppermint tea and green tea with a squeeze of lemon.

So this was how day one looked:

• Hot water with lemon
• Fruit
• Green Smoothie
• Fruit/Almonds
• Detox Soup
• Almonds
• Detox Soup
• Apple with Cinnamon & Almond Butter

*I would guess -timate this to be around 1500 calories or so.

Other than a fairly bad headache (due to lack of coffee, I’m sure) for about an hour or so, I felt pretty much normal. Lots of energy. Possibly due to veggie overload. 😉

On to Day Two!

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Detox Vegetable Soup

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

45 mins

Total Time

1 hr

 

Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: detox vegetable soup

Servings: 4

Calories: 140 kcal

Author: Sharon

Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet potato peeled and cut into cubes
• 1 cup carrots sliced
• 2 stalks celery diced
• 1 small yellow onion diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 4 small yellow cocktail tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 can kidney beans rinsed and drained
• 4 cups vegetable broth plus 2 cups of water as needed
• 1 large kale leaf chopped
• 1/ 2 cup chopped parsley
• sea salt & fresh pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium
2. Stir in cubed sweet potato, carrots, celery and onion, Season with sea salt & fresh pepper and stir well. Cook until softened, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes
3. Stir in tomatoes, garlic, and smoked paprika and cook for another minutes or so, stirring frequently
4. Stir in beans and broth and simmer on medium low for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water (I add up to 2 cups of water) as needed
5. Stir in kale and parsley, remove from heat and let sit for five minutes covered to wilt the kale
6. Serve warm

Nutrition Facts

Detox Vegetable Soup

Amount Per Serving

Calories 140 Calories from Fat 63

% Daily Value*

Fat 7g11%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Sodium 989mg43%

Potassium 371mg11%

Carbohydrates 18g6%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 6g7%

Protein 2g4%

Vitamin A 12145IU243%

Vitamin C 24.8mg30%

Calcium 52mg5%

Iron 0.7mg4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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