S’ppose you are not a chef. Ok, so you are not a chef. You grew up with a microwave and your microwave loves you. You don’t have the time or energy to make your own soup. Trust me there are days when getting out of the chair and going to the kitchen is an Act of God that needs to be premeditated. You finally convince yourself that you can walk with a blanket wrapped around you all the way to a kitchen (during the next TV commercial). You can use pre-made soups. However, there are a couple of rules of thumb to keep in mind.
Avoid soups with meat in it. I’m not a vegetarian, and right now I’m thinking about a porterhouse steak, but that aside pureed meat don’t screen that well. They tend to block the screen so you spend a lot of time dumping out the screen, which when you are already tired and cranky is bad.
Pick soups with starch already in it. Minestrone was one of my favorites- a little pasta, lots of veggies, and more importantly most of my friends could make it and bring it over to the house. I thought of it as lasagna in a soup. Rice soups are OK just remember, you have to puree a long time. Potato and Leeks Soup was a nice change of pace, especially if tomatoes upset your stomach. I could not get enough split pea soup. I could eat a couple of spoonful orally and the rest went down the peg.
Add Soy Powder. Since we left out the protein in the soup you will still need to add your own protein. I was able to bring soymilk with whey powder through my whole radiation recovery which helped me get all the protein I needed.
Add Spice. I’m not talking hot sauce or black pepper, I’m talking the anti-cancer spices and powders. My liver was running some above normal indicators in my blood screening. My medical team agreed that Milk Thistle supplement was a good thing to add to my diet. I could swallow the pill or break it open and add it to me soup (depending on how I felt that day).
REMEMBER: Comfort of having soup is key. Although I tout trying to make sure there is as much nutrition as possible, there are many days when the smell of a comfort food is the best medicine. Just because the soup is pre-made does not mean that there isn’t any love in the soup.
Enjoy,
Jeff Scott Hoyland
Working before Radiation after major Chemo
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