Souping or Juicing?

It has been talked about for the past few years, juicing was a way to “cleanse” or “detox” your body of harmful chemicals, but is this detoxifying strategy a thing of the past? A new trend is arising as a way to detox our bodies called souping. I have never tried to do a juice or soup cleanse (not sure if I could be away from food for that long), but there are plenty of people I know who have gone the juicing route and swear by it. I am a person, however who loves soups and the new Souping craze perked my interest.
Souping is the new juicing, and is becoming the more popular form of cleansing your body. Souping talks about rebooting your system using vegetable and fruit based raw soups. This cleanse like others promises weight loss, increased energy and better skin. The cleanse itself consists of six soups consumed throughout the day totaling about 500 calories. The soups are vegetable and fruit based lowering the total sugar content than its juice cleanse counterpart. Seasoning is focused on ginger, lemon and pepper and contains no added salt.
Souping can be more beneficial and realistic for your body than juicing in my opinion for a few reasons. First souping retains all the fiber. Fiber is important for maintaining your gut microbiome and also helps you to feel full and satisfied. Soupings Counterpart juicing throws out all of the fiber and can leave you with an “empty stomach”. Fiber also helps to bulk stool, so it helps to cleanse the walls of your intestinal tract.
Souping can also be a more realistic cleanse for some, especially in the colder months. If doing the cleanse for a short period of time a bowl of vegetable soup throughout the day may not be as horrendous sounding as a glass of juice. It also will leave you feeling more satisfied.
Lastly let’s take a look at the economics. A bag of vegetables equivalent to make 6 glasses of juice can cost upwards of $50-$80. A pot of vegetables soup can cost between$5-$10. Looking at the finance it is clear which one makes more sense.
After reviewing the two cleanses, a souping detox just makes more sense. It gives you a more satisfied feeling, leaves in all the fiber aiding in your body’s detox and economically it just makes sense. Like all cleanses it should be done with caution and not for a prolonged period of time. If taking medications especially for diabetes a cleanse should be discussed in detail with your doctor or dietitian prior to initiating.

Easy detox soup
1 bunch kale
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 onion diced
4 stalks celery chopped
3 carrots diced
1 cup halved grape tomatoes
½ red cabbage
2 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp pepper

In a large stock pot place all vegetables and seasoning. Cover with water and simmer for 1 ½ hours.