Meals That Heal: Roasted Bell Pepper & Tomato Soup
Want to know what to eat for thyroid health? Without the right nutrition, all other approaches in supporting thyroid function and mitigating the autoimmune response will fail. This soup is full of natural medicine designed to help with the first line of defense in supporting your thyroid, helps mitigate a hypervigilant immune response, and helps tame any autoimmune conditions. Full of flavor that is perfect for this time of year. Roasting the peppers and tomatoes deepens and delightfully sweetens their flavors. The soup’s creamy texture is delicious and is accomplished by adding a handful of raw cashews in place of heavy cream.
Eastern View: Carrots are great for exhaustion or anyone feeling fatigued. They increase your energy (prana or Qi), which has earned carrots the title ‘tiny ginseng’ and the ‘king of juices’. Carrot’s cool nature and mildly bitter taste purify the blood. Strongly alkalizing, the carrot has a cool and relaxing effect on your eyes. Vitamin A pacifies Pitta, nourishes the liver, and purifies the blood. These actions improve vision, your complexion of the skin, and generally reduces inflammation. The blood purifying aspects together with the carrot’s sweetness makes it an excellent blood and liver tonic. But despite its sweetness, carrots stabilize blood sugar levels too.
When we added tomatoes to this soup we added their high vitamin A content which clears liver heat and supports detoxification. Ayurveda always puts a strong emphasis on foods that are easy to digest and good for the intestines. The two top, easy-to-digest beans are garbanzo beans and split yellow mung beans, which we use in our Cleanses either alone or in the Ayurvedic superfood, kitchari. So a handful of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) adds some well-needed protein and carbohydrates. Anyone with a thyroid disorder should not be on a low carbohydrate diet. Low carb diets are normally protein-heavy which can cause brain fog and leach calcium from the bones.
To help with the weight gain often seen in underactive thyroid diseases, we added red bell peppers which are a fiery, sweet addition designed to ignite Agni (digestive fire) and help stimulate the body’s metabolism.
Western View: Chickpeas are high in fiber, which can help prevent or reduce constipation – a common complaint in people with thyroid disorders. Bonus: Chickpeas are also high in zinc, critical for thyroid function. Zinc is critical for the synthesis of thyroid hormones, and deficiencies can lead to hypothyroidism. (Additionally, thyroid hormones are essential for zinc absorption, so hypothyroidism can lead to zinc deficiency.)
Red peppers contain more than 200 percent of your daily vitamin C intake. Besides being a powerful antioxidant, vitamin C helps the proper absorption of iron. If you are iron deficient, try combining red peppers with your iron source for maximum absorption. Red bell peppers are also a great source of vitamin B6 and folate. Both these vitamins and minerals can help prevent anemia.
Did you know you can burn more calories with red bell peppers? Recent research has shown that sweet red peppers can activate thermogenesis and increase metabolic rate. Many with hypothyroidism have a difficult time with thermoregulation – they are frequently cold. Red bell peppers do not contain capsaicin, which is what makes peppers hot and causes us to sweat, but they do have a mild thermogenic action that increases our metabolism without increasing our heart rate and blood pressure like the hot peppers do.
Roasted Bell Pepper And Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup raw cashews (soaked)
- 1 yellow onion (chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 4 medium vine-ripened tomatoes (stemmed, deseeded, and chopped)
- 2 large red bell peppers (stemmed, deseeded, and chopped)
- 1 medium carrot (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 2 - 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/4 teaspoons Himalayan salt (plus more to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper (plus more to taste)
- 3 - 4 cups vegetable broth
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (omit if Pitta)
- 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast (omit if Pitta)
- Roasted chickpeas (to garnish)
- Fresh chopped cilantro or parsley (to garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Toss all vegetables with the oil, salt, and pepper and spread evenly on a large rimmed sheet pan lined with parchment paper. You may need to use two sheets to avoid overcrowding of the vegetables.
- Place in the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat vegetable broth, tomato paste, cashews, optional cayenne, and brewers yeast in a large soup pot over medium heat.
- Transfer roasted vegetable into the pot and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Puree the soup using an immersion blender or carefully transfer to a blender and puree a few cups at a time, until smooth and creamy. Add more water if the soup is too thick.
- Season with additional salt and pepper. Add a spoonful of roasted or sautéed chickpeas, sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley or cilantro and enjoy!
It has been reported that 70-80 percent of our immune system is in our digestive tract. The right nutrition is your first line of defense. If you could use a little extra help in planning out healthy meals that address your thyroid disorder – jump on a complimentary call with me so that we can get you feeling better.
In health,
