Bieler's Broth: Liver Cleansing soup in a white mug

Bieler’s Broth: Liver Cleansing & Kidney Calming

What is Bieler’s Broth?

Today I like to share an incredibly healing and very easily digestable soup recipe with you called ‘Bieler’s Broth’. This very nourishing and healing ‘Bieler’s broth’ is superb for cleansing the liver whilst also being very soothing for the kidneys.

First of all it’s name comes from a doctor named Bieler who inveted the soup in order to restore an acid-alkaline and sodium-potassium balance to organs and glands. Especially the sodium-loving adrenal glands which often suffer severly under stress.

The soup is vegan and all vegetable-based. It is not a culinary soup, so it can be a little bland for people who are used to flavourful spicings of their soups. However, it’s tasty enough that you can eat it a few days in a row and thus is super suitable for cleanses and detox diets.

The broth is also very supportive for liver function — remember that the liver is our detoxifying organ.

Bieler’s broth contains zucchini and string beans, which are rich sources of organic potassium and sodium. The liver uses those elements to clean and revitalize the body. Occasionally, when you’re sick, the best thing to do is not eat and let the body heal. Digestion takes a lot of energy.  Instead, drink Dr. Bieler’s healing broth recipe for energy, weight loss, and cleansing.

Background: Dr. Bieler would take a detailed study of his patients’ endocrine glands. This includes the adrenal glands, pituitary gland and the thyroid gland. Dr. Bieler would then prescribe a limited diet, or even a fast on Bieler’s broth. The vegetables were cooked and easy to digest, full of vitamins and restore such elements as potassium and sodium to our glands. Dr. Bieler was particularly interested in restoring the liver.

What else ?

Dr. Bieler believed that most folks eat excessive amounts of proteins. He said that milk and eggs lose their nutritional value after being pasteurized/cooked, and that meat cooked to temperature above rare becomes hard to digest. According to him, salt is a stimulant providing only a temporary sensation of well-being, and over consumption is detrimental to health. The best way to obtain necessary sodium is from plants (vegetables), not addition of salt. He gave a number of examples of disease-free cultures that do not have access to salt.

ayurveda

Feeling Vata: This soup might be a little light for you, sensitive Vata, as there’s no oils or added fats in this detox recipe. However if you’re on a cleanse and if not eaten for longer periods than 3 days, this soup can work well for you on a detox or cleanse if the overall detox programm is well thought out and stabilising to your system.

Feeling Pitta:  This soup works really well for you, go for it!

Feeling Kapha:  Perfect soup for a kapha cleanse, go for it!

Healing Recipe

Bieler’s Broth: Liver Cleansing & Kidney Calming Soup

Bieler's Broth: Liver Cleansing green soup in a glass jar

Bieler’s Broth: Liver Cleansing & Kidney Calming Soup

The soup is vegan and all vegetable-based. It is not a culinary soup, so it can be a little bland for people who are used to flavourful spicing of their soups. However, it’s tasty enough that you can eat it a few days in a row and thus super suitable for cleanses and detox diets.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Course Soup
Cuisine Cleansing
Servings 4 person

Ingredients
  

  • 4 medium zuchinis
  • 450 g string beans
  • 2 stalks cellery chopped
  • 1 bunch parsley chopped
  • 4 cups water

Instructions
 

  • Place all ingredients in a large pot and bring to the boil. Skim any foam off the surface.
  • Lower the heat and simmer, covered.
  • Cook the vegetables until the are tender, about 15 minutes.
  • Take off the heat and then puree the soup in the pot with a hand-held blender.
  • Serve warm, sprinkled with a little bit of fresh parsley on top if you like.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

You can experiment by adding fresh kale(or other fresh, leafy greens of your choice) to your soup. For this, chop some kale and add it into the soup towards the end of your cooking time.
Keyword adrenal healing, adrenals, ayurveda, bielers, broth, detox, dosha, Liver healing, Liver-Cleansing, simple, Soup, Vegan


cooling green soup

Cooling Green Soup

In need of a detox? Feeling too hot? Is your skin playing up? On a cleanse? Or simply on the look-out for a nice nourishing lunch full of greeny goodness? Then you’ve come to the right place. Feel free to mix up the greens in this soup and add in more greens that you like and that you know make you feel good. Adding more greens to your diet has a myriad of health benefits such as boosting our digestive enzymes, drawing toxins from your digestive tract, cleansing your liver, balancing blood sugars, making your skin glow, supporting bone health (dark leafy greens contain plenty of calcium), relieving stress and fighting belly bloat.

ayurveda

Feeling Vata: feeling very light and in need of grounding goodness? Simply add a carrot or two, an extra potatoe, or experiment with adding half a fennel bulb, or more of the peas or the zuchini.

Feeling Pitta: This is the soup for you. If feeling overly Pitta, leave out the garlic or the onion, or only use half. You can add more mint and you can always add in more greens, as greens are for you!

Feeling Kapha: You can leave out the zuchini if you like, but only if feeling overly Kapha. Leafy greens are great for you, so go for it!!

Weekly Recipe

Cooling Green Soup

Yield: 1 Pot

Cooling Green Soup

cooling green soup

In need of a detox? Feeling too hot? Is your skin playing up? On a cleanse? Or simply on the look-out for a nice nourishing lunch full of greeny goodness? Then you've come to the right place. Feel free to mix up the greens in this soup and add in more greens that you like and that you know make you feel good. Adding more greens to your diet has a myriad of health benefits such as boosting our digestive enzymes, drawing toxins from your digestive tract, cleansing your liver, balancing blood sugars, making your skin glow, supporting bone health (dark leafy greens contain plenty of calcium), relieving stress and fighting belly bloat.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 x small onion
  • 350g fresh or frozen peas
  • 1 x zuchini, chopped 
  • 1 x large potato, diced
  • 500ml stock (try using stock powder without any extra fats and without added yeast)
  • 180g lambs lettuce
  • 180g spinach, chard or other similar leafy greens
  • 1 x bunch of fresh mint, chopped
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 1 x teaspoon olive oil (leave out if doing a cleanse)

Instructions

  1. Add the olive oil (if on a cleanse just use a bit of water) to a medium size soup pot. Add the chopped onion and cook slowly on a medium heat until golden and translucent.
  2. Then add the potato, the zuchini and the peas. Cover all in the stock so that all the ingredients are covered in liquid.
  3. Bring the mix to the boil and then turn down the heat to a medium and simmer until the potatoe is soft for about 10-15 minutes.  
  4. Add the spinach, the lambs lettuce and any other leafy greens of your choice and stir well. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
  5. Seperate the mint leaves from the stalks and finely chop the leaves. Add to the soup and cook for another minute or so.
  6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Take off the heat and puree everything with a hand-blender until the soup has a creamy consistency.
  8. Serve!

NOTE: Experiment with adding more greens that you like, such as parsley, chard, spinach, collard greens, kale, etc. The more greens the better. Or omit others that you know don't agree with you and simply replace with others.


Mung Bean Soup

Healing Mung Bean Soup

Feeling Lethargic? Bloated? Tired? Not quite yourself? Is your digestion playing up? Do you have a thick white coating on your tongue? Then it might be time for a mung bean soup cleanse! This amazing astringent bean has been favoured in indian and asian cuisine for centuries for its medicinal properties. Mung beans have amazing colon cleansing properties: the fibres in mung beans have a scraping function that literally scrape your colon clean and the astringent taste tones and enlivens your digestive organs, spells out mucus from your GI tract and helps to cleanse toxins and parasites from your gut. This grounding and restorative soup is great for all three doshas: nourishing whilst at the same time light, cleansing and cooling. Enjoy this recipee as a once a week staple or as a re-set and do a 3 x day Mung Bean soup cleanse.

ayurveda

Feeling Vata: you’ll love this grounding soup and it loves you. Add more root vegetables if you’re feelling very Vata and play around with fresh fennel, and fennel spice.
Feeling Pitta: In this very Pitta friendly combination you should be able to handle all ingredients without aggravating your dosha, however best to use less or omit the tomatoes, garlic and onions, and skip the mustard seeds. Add greens such as kale, watercress, etc. (avoid spinach).
Feeling Kapha: play around with adding Kale and other leafy greens to the soup.

Weekly Recipe

Healing Mung Bean Soup

Yield: 1 Pot

Healing Mung Bean Soup

Mung Bean Soup

Feeling Lethargic? Bloated? Tired? Not quite yourself? Is your digestion playing up? Do you have a thick white coating on your tongue? Then it might be time for a mung bean soup cleanse! This amazing astringent bean has been favoured in indian and asian cuisine for centuries for its medicinal properties. Mung beans have amazing colon cleansing properties: the fibres in mung beans have a scraping function that literally scrape your colon clean and the astringent taste tones and enlivens your digestive organs, spells out mucus from your GI tract and helps to cleanse toxins and parasites from your gut. This grounding and restorative soup is great for all three doshas: nourishing whilst at the same time light, cleansing and cooling. Enjoy this recipee as a once a week staple or as a re-set and do a 3 x day Mung Bean soup cleanse.

Ingredients

  • 1 x teaspoon olive oil (if on a cleanse skip the oil)
  • 1 x garlic clove (chopped)
  • 1 x small onion, chopped
  • 2 -3 celery stalks, chopped
  • 1 x teaspoon ground tumeric
  • 1 and a half cups mung beans (soaked overnight)
  • Optional: 1 and a half x cup chopped tomatoes (or one tin of tomatoes)
  • 1 Liter vegetable stock
  • 2 x bay leaves (optional)
  • 3 x medium to large carrots, chopped
  • handfrul fresh coriander, parsley or both, chopped
  • 1 x tablespoon lupine sauce (or coconut aminos - optional)
  • half a teapsoon cumin seeds, grind in pestle and mortar
  • half a teaspoon coriander seeds, grind in pestle and mortar
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • half a teaspoon fennel seeds, grind in pestle and mortar
  • 3/4 teaspoon mustard seeds (optional)
  • Optional: add leafy greens of your choice such as kale, spinach, lambs lettuce, etc. 

Instructions

  1. Add the olive oil to a medium pot and warm on low to medium heat (If on a cleanse and not using oil, skip this step).
  2. Add the chopped onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes until translucent (if on cleanse simply fry in a bit of water).
  3. Grind the cumin, coriander, fennel and mustard (optional) seeds in a pestle and mortar and add to the onion & garlic mix. Keep stirring for a while over low to medium heat until the onions and garlic are covered nicely in the spice mix. Add the turmeric and keep stirring.
  4. Add celery and carrots and sauté until just about soft.
  5. Now add the mung beans (important: ensure these have been soaked overnight). Stir well into the spice and onion mix. Keep stirring on medium heat for few minutes.
  6. Now add the water and the stock. Add in tomatoes if using (optional). Submerge bay leaves, and bring everything to a boil. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. Reduce heat and simmer covered with a lid for 45 minutes.
  8. Remove from heat and discard bay leaves. Stir in cilantro, or parsley or both and add the lupine sauce or coconut aminos (if using).
  9. Taste again and add more salt and pepper if needed.
  10. Serve! 

warming detox smoothie

Cleansing & Warming Smoothie-Bowl

This smoothie bowl will warm you up nicely in the morning, giving your digestion a nice, gentle start to the day whilst at the same time cleansing your system of built-up toxins and filling you up with a great dose of antioxidants.

warming detox smoothie

It might come as a suprise to you to stew and lightly cook the fruits in this smoothie first. After all, we’re so used to consuming smoothies and morning fruits raw and uncooked. Now trust me when I say that you will love this smoothie so much after you’ve eaten it a few times in the morning, you probably don’t want to go back to raw smoothies ever again! Especially if you have sensitive digestion or food allergies where many things can set you off and can trigger you, eating a cooked breakfast in the morning is a godsent. It gives your body the chance to warm up nicely, giving your digestion a gentle kick-start to the day, rather than dumping ice-cold fruits and juices from the fridge directly into your system. Think of your body like an engine of a car, it has to warm up first before it can start going. So does your body. Also, cooking food gently before you’re eating it helps your body to digest foods faster as it doesn’t need to invest so much energy to break them down. This in turn frees up more energy to be used elsewhere in your system: to fight inflammation, to heal, and to give you more energy during your day. Ayurveda really favors cooked over cold breakfasts, and especially for Vata and Kapha types, a cooked breakfast is a must.

Spirulina: super nutrient dense, I call Spirulina the best ‘natural Multi-Vit & Multi-Mineral’ available from the plant world today. High in B-Vitamins, Vit C, E and K, plus high in Magnesium, Calcium, Iron, Manganese, Potassium and Zinc, what’s not to like. It’s also high in plant protein, so great for vegans and vegetarians that are keen to up their protein intake naturally. Spirulina also has the capability to draw out heavy-metal toxins from our tissues, liver and brain and is thus a great all-round morning addition to any breakfast smoothie.

Wheatgrass Juice: also very rich in vitamins and minerals, wheatgrass has the added benefit of being super high in chlorophyll. This makes it a great detoxifying agent and can therefor protect against abnormal cell growth also known as cancer. Also, wheatgrass has been shown to boost levels of glutathione, the body’s primary antioxidant. Glutathione is used by the liver in all of its detox duties.

Atlantic Dulse Flakes: super high in anti-oxidants, dulse flakes make a great anti-inflammatory, fighting disease causing free-radicals. Studies have also shown that dulse (and also kelp) can reduce toxic heavy metals and also clear radioactivity from the body.

Coriander (Cilantro): is a powerful anti-fungal, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory. In Aryurveda coriander is hailed for its cooling effects on the digestive tract, for calming the immune-system and rashes, and for being a mild diuretic that clears inflammation from the urinary tract. Even though it acts as being slightly drying, it does not aggravate the Vata constitution, and pacifies (calms) all the three doshas.


ayurveda

Feeling Vata: add more fresh ginger and try adding warming spices such as cinnamon and or cardamom to your smoothie.

Feeling Pitta: ease off on the ginger, and instead try adding more cooling herbs such as fresh mint and more coriander to your smoothie.

Feeling Kapha: give your metabolism that extra boost by adding a pinch or two of cayenne pepper, and experiment with adding some bitter greens such as dandelion to your smoothie.

Weekly Recipe

Cleansing & Warming Smoothie Bowl

Yield: serves one

Cleansing & Warming Smoothie Bowl

cleansing warm smoothie bowl

This smoothie bowl will warm you up nicely in the morning, giving your digestion a nice, gentle start to the day whilst at the same time cleansing your system of built-up toxins and filling you up with a great dose of antioxidants.

Ingredients

  • 2 x ripe bananas, chopped
  • 2 x handfulls of wild blueberries (I usually buy these frozen from the organic store and always have some in the freezer)
  • 1 x apple, chopped (optional)
  • half a mango, chopped (optional)
  • 1 x teaspoon of fresh ginger, minced (optional)
  • half a teaspoon atlantic dulse flakes (if you don't like the taste of atlantic dulse you can simply buy some dulse flakes encapsulated and take them alongside the smoothie)
  • one orange, peeled
  • 1 x teaspoon spirulina powder (if you don't like the taste of spirulina buy spirulina tablets and take them with your smoothie)
  • 1 x teaspoon wheatgrass or barleygrass juice powder
  • 1 x teaspoon fresh or dried coriander
  • optional: for additional sweetness you can add a teaspoon of raw honey.

Instructions

  1. Add a little bit of water to a heavy bottom sauce pan
  2. Add the banana, apple (if using) & mango (if using) and the minced fresh ginger to the pan, cover and simmer on low heat for about 5-10 minutes, so that the fruits are stewing nicely and slowly and don't get overcooked or burned.
  3. When the fruits are stewed enough, take them off the heat.
  4. Pout the cooked fruit and ginger mix into a high-speed blender.
  5. Add the peeled orange, the dulse flakes, spirulina, wheatgrass and coriander.
  6. Blend all until smooth.
  7. If you need extra sweetness you can add the raw honey to your smoothie.

Notes

If not on a cleanse or detox programme, you can give your smoothie bowl some nice toppings such as your favourite gluten free granola, chopped roasted coconut flakes, roasted pumpkin, etc. Let your creative mind run wild. Just ensure your toppings are roasted or slightly steamed and not cold from the fridge, especially if you're a Vata or Kapha type.