Coming up with a cold can leave you feeling weak, unproductive, frustrated, and unhealthy company to others because colds are easily contacted. When you have a cold at home, one of the best remedies is a hot bowl of soup to help your body relax and fight the bacteria that must be rough housing your immune system.
There are various soups that are soothing for a cold, is Miso soup one of them?
Yes, Miso soup is a great homemade remedy for soothing a bad cold. As a carefully made and nutrition-packed Japanese soy soup, you stand to gain antioxidants to fight off the bacteria causing your cold or influenza.
Miso soup has a sensational flavor that makes it a favorite amongst many, it has a salty yet sweet taste that it’s simply satisfying. Miso soup is garnished with vegetables and onions to give it all the necessary nutrients it needs to serve as an excellent homemade remedy for treating a bad cold or influenza.
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Is Miso Soup Good For Colds?
Miso soup is a Japanese soup that is made from fermented soy which contains rich nutrients that have various health benefits when consumed. It is made with ginger, green onions, miso paste (soy paste), pepper, and mushrooms.
These are all ingredients that provide you with vitamins, probiotics, and antioxidants that are certain to help you get through a bad cold when you consume a bowl of miso soup.
As long as you adhere to the right instructions while making your miso soup, you are able to preserve every beneficial nutrient and keep influenza or colds at bay.
Miso soup has a pasty form and it is filled with good bacteria to fight off the virus and antioxidants that cold tends to cause, making it an amazing soup for anyone experiencing a bad cold.
Benefits of Eating Miso Soup
There are a great number of benefits you stand to gain from miso soup asides from getting rid of a cold, these benefits are as follows;
1. Miso soup keeps your digestive system healthier
As mentioned earlier, miso soup is an amazing and reliable source of probiotics, these probiotics are good bacteria that the body needs to regroup and strengthen the immune system after a bacterial infection.
Probiotics are also great for your gut health because it helps to reduce the risk of inflammatory diseases affecting the bowels.
2. Miso soup may help reduce the risk of cancer
Miso soup is made with fermented soybeans which contain a chemical nutrient known as isoflavones.
Isoflavones are known as a type of antioxidant that is present in plants such as the bean family, this means that they are antioxidants that are present in soybeans.
Isoflavones reduce the damage done in the body due to oxygen which helps to prevent the growth of cancerous cells or diseases in the body. Studies have shown that these antioxidants can reduce the risk of developing stomach cancer among women and liver cancer.
3. Miso soup may help reduce the risk of heart diseases
Miso soup also serves the body with antioxidants that are proven to reduce the risk of heart diseases in people. This is also a result of the isoflavones present in soybeans, it has been proven in one study that consuming higher levels of isoflavones like the ones present in miso soup reduces the risks of experiencing heart attacks, heart diseases, or strokes.
How To Make Miso Soup At Home
After learning of the benefits you stand to gain from miso soup, being able to make it from the comfort of your home using a few ingredients and a simple recipe would be a great way to keep bad colds at bay and nourish your immune system regularly during winter.
What you would need;
- Two cups of water
- Chopped green onions
- Chopped shiitake mushrooms
- Cayenne pepper
- Brown or white miso paste
- Chopped ginger
Below are steps to follow when making miso soup at home.
Step 1: Boil the water
You should begin by pouring clean or filtered water into a small pot and placing it on your gas to boil.
Step 2: Add the chopped ginger
Next, you would need to add the chopped ginger into your pot of water and let it all boil together for five minutes.
Step 3: Add the chopped shiitake mushrooms
After the ginger has boiled for five minutes, the next thing you are required to do is add your chopped shiitake mushroom pieces to the mix and let it boil for another five to ten minutes so that the mushrooms are soft and properly cooked.
Step 4: Add the cayenne pepper and green onions
Now, you would need to turn off the heat and add some cayenne pepper and the chopped green onions to your it and let that sit. Note that adding cayenne pepper to your miso soup is optional, but it is a great way to spice things up, especially if you’re fighting off a cold.
Step 5: Mix your miso paste in a bowl
Following this, you would need to get a small bowl where you can pour in your miso paste. After pouring it in, add two tablespoons of clean water and mix it until the paste is almost smooth.
Step 6: Add the miso paste to the pot
Lastly, you can add your properly mixed miso paste to the pot and stir properly so that the ingredients are in all the right places and it has a lovely thick consistency. Make sure that you do not boil the miso paste as this only rids the soybeans of their nutrients.
Summary
Have you ever tried miso soup on a cold morning? If your answer was no then you’ve come to the right place.
Here, we have diligently provided you with all you need to know about miso soup, how it benefits your health and how to make it yourself with very simple steps and a few ingredients that are pretty easy to come across.
A bowl of miso soup is always a great idea for anyone suffering from a bad cold or influenza, it contains vitamins, antioxidants, and good bacteria that give the immune system a great fighting chance against colds.
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