Cleansing Chicken Soup: Welcoming a Year of Health

Whoo!!! All that holiday food was DEEEE-licious! However, if you are like me after the holidays, you feel ever so slightly like, well…let’s see, how can I explain it? Death. Haha. Or chubby. Or like nothing actually tastes that good any more because of over indulgence. Or even if you have escaped all of those symptoms…you probably can feel the heart burn or lethargy!!

Now you know me, I do not oppose to the occasional treat! But most of us probably had a few too many, not-so-occasional treats. That being the truth for Mr. Rodgers and I…and wanting to start the year off on the right foot so I can meet my health goals and he can shed those stubborn pounds…we decided to do a cleanse. And not just any cleanse, the Maker’s Diet Cleanse. If you have been with me from the beginning, you will remember that most of my first recipes came from adapting Maker’s Diet meals. It has been the system that has worked for us the best. It is not strictly about limiting calories or eating less (in fact when we followed it to the T we ate more often than normal!)…and it is DEFINITELY NOT about losing weight while still eating whatever you want. (Don’t get me started…biggest peeve ever!) It is about making HEALTH the goal, not a number…with the belief that if you educate yourself, eat what will heal your body and make it flourish…that your body will find it’s perfect weight and you will live with energy and real LIFE!

If you want more information about the exact system of the cleanse, then check out The Maker’s Diet.  There are specifics of how many bowls of soup to eat on each day, specific salads, what days you can add in nuts, etc…  For now, however, I am just going to give you the Rodger’s Family version of the Maker’s Diet Cleansing Chicken Soup…(basically we just added a couple veggies for varitie’s sake ;))

 

So, here’s what you need:

• 1 Whole Chicken (Free Range) OR if you are like me and bones completely freak you out…about 6 Free Range Breasts
• 3-4 Quarts Filtered Water
• 1 Tbsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
• 4 onions, Diced
• 8 Carrots, Sliced
• 6 Stalks Celery, Sliced
• 2 Zucchini, Chopped
• 1 lb Green Beans
• 1 Small Bag Frozen Green Peas
• 1 Carton Brussels Sprouts, Trimmed and Halved
• 1 Bunch Broccoli, Chopped
• 4 Inches Ginger, Grated
• 4 Tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (Confession…I forgot this!)
• 6 Garlic Cloves
• 2-4 Tbsp Sea Salt
• Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
• 1 Bunch Parsley, Chopped

And here is how you do it:

1. First, you are either going to need one GIANT pot.  I’m talking like Iron Chef sized.  Or you will need two normal sized pots.  I used my one soup pot and my large crock pot.
2. Prep all your veggies as directed.
3. Place chicken in the bottom of your pot (Or pots.  If you are using two pots, just split everything evenly between the two.)
4. Toss in all of your veggies and seasonings except parsley.
5. Pour in as much water as you can fit…at least to just cover the veggies.
6. Let stand for 10 minutes.  Bring to a boil and remove the scum layer that rises to the top.  Then reduce the heat and simmer 8 – 12 hours.  The point here is to cook it as long as possible, because we want this to be as easy to digest as possible.  Add parsley 15 minutes before serving.

And there you go!!  A wonderfully cleansing soup!  Perfect for this weather…I heard today that 90% of the United States is frozen!!  Crazy!!  I haven’t worked in two days because most of my town is shut down…which is a big deal for the North Country I must say!

Mr. Rodgers and I are day 7 into our cleanse.  (It is a 10 day cleanse, soup 4 times a day with a salad at the end of the day).  I must say, I am really surprised at how I feel!  Usually when I take a stark 180* toward health, I get headaches, confusion, dizziness.  I have had one light headed moment, but for the most part…I FEEL AWESOME!  No heart burn, plenty of energy and motivation…it’s been great!! It’s been a little harder on Mr. Rodgers since he requires a larger calorie intake.  But I am so proud of us, and other than a few handfuls of fruit and nuts to get us through a lack of soup because of being snowed in we have really stuck to it!  Figured it was best not to starve ourselves haha.  I am so excited to start out CLEAN.  My insides feel so good!!  If you want to feel good too…look up the Maker’s Diet and make this amazing soup!  Cleansing is FAR from easy, but so worth it.  Let me know how it goes for you!

 

Here is one of my pots!

Add your chicken!

Add everything but the parsley…

Fill with water.  Bring to a boil, clean scum off the top, simmer for 8-12 hours.  Add parsley 15 minutes before serving.