Nutrition for Athletes: Soups On

There is nothing like a hot bowl of soup this time of year, whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Soups can be packed full of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients if your recipe includes a variety of plant foods.

Here are some facts about soups:

1. Evidence of the existence of soup can be found as far back as about 20,000 BC (Wikipedia.com).

2. The first known American cooking pamphlet focused solely on soups was written by Emma Ewing, Soups and Soup Making (Chicago,1882). She believed that soup was “convenient, economic and healthful” (Cheftalk.com).

3. In one study, subjects reduced their calorie intake at lunch by 20% when a broth-based soup was eaten at the beginning of lunch compared to when no soup was eaten.

And, don’t forget to read the heart-warming children’s book, Stone Soup by Heather Forest.

Or Active.com’s eight great soups for athletes.

And Thai Chicken Soup most popular among 2012 U.S. Olympic athletes.

Featured Soup Recipes:

Carrot and Cashew Soup

2 lbs. carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
4 cups stock, broth or water
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 medium potato, scrubbed and roughly chopped
3-4 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
1/3 cup cashews, chopped

Place carrots, liquid, salt and potato into a soup pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer it for 12 to 15 minutes. Let it cool to room temperature. Saute the onion, garlic and nuts with a pinch of salt in the butter until the onions are clear. Stir in the ginger and cook for another minute. Puree everything together in a blender until smooth and reheat until warm. Adjust seasonings.

When you have cooled off from a long run, bike ride or hike and you need an electrolyte boost, look no farther than a warm cup of this magic mineral broth. It will help rehydrate you and replace minerals and electrolytes such as magnesium, potassium and sodium that are lost during strenuous exercise.

Magic Mineral Broth

The Magic Mineral Broth comes from the cookbook “The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen” by Rebecca Katz.

6 unpeeled carrots, cut into thirds
2 unpeeled yellow onions, cut into chunks
1 leek, white and green parts, cut into thirds
1 bunch celery, including the heart, cut into thirds
4 unpeeled red potatoes, quartered
2 unpeeled Japanese or regular sweet potatoes, quartered
1 unpeeled garnet yam, quartered
5 unpeeled cloves garlic, halved
½ bunch fresh parsley
1 – 8-inch strip of kombu
12 black peppercorns
4 whole allspice or juniper berries
2 bay leaves
8 quarts of cold water
1 teaspoon sea salt

Rinse all of the vegetables well, including the kombu. In a 12-quart or larger stockpot, combine the carrots, onions, leek, celery, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yam, garlic, parsley, kombu, peppercorn, allspice or berries and bay leaves. Fill the pot with the water to 2 inches below the rim, cover and bring to a boil.

Remove the lid, decrease the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for at least 2 hours. As the broth simmers, some of the water will evaporate; add more if the vegetables begin to peek out. Simmer until the full richness of the vegetables can be tasted.

Strain the broth through a large, coarse-mesh sieve. Add salt to taste. Let cool at room temperature before refrigerating or freezing.

From: The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen by Rebecca Katz (a wonderful cookbook!)

Submitted by Sarah Washburn, MS, RDN, CSO
Oncology Dietitian Nutritionist
Cancer Center of Santa Barbara with Sansum