Soupergirl Vegan Soup “Cleanse”

As I tell all my friends who come to me for my thoughts on the latest diet fad, I don’t believe in quick fixes.  Good health is achieved through moderation, not forbidding food groups.  But a few weeks ago I found myself in need of something more drastic to set me back on track after two full months of trips and holidays that had somehow convinced me it was necessary to eat every damn thing in sight.  Faced with tight pants and a burgeoning number on the scale, when I saw an article on the Soupergirl Soup “Cleanse” I jumped.

The “cleanse” will set you back $135, so it’s not cheap, but you’ll get twenty prepackaged soups delivered to your door step – it doesn’t get much easier than that.  While there are very few repeats, I found many of the soups to be fairly similar and they do start to feel a bit repetitive.  My favorites were the black bean pumpkin and the wheatberry minestrone.  There’s nothing magical about the soups themselves, but the “cleanse” does provide a structured way to cut calories – and they’re low-sodium, low fat and made from all natural unprocessed ingredients!  Throughout the seven day “cleanse,” you eat four soups a day.  The four soups only provide about 1,000-1,100 calories, so without supplementing them you can expect to be hungry.  You’re allowed to eat snacks, and I stuck mostly to fruit.  Soup for breakfast might sound weird, but I actually don’t mind it.  You eat the more filling ones in the morning, with each soup getting lighter until the last soup which is a bisque. They’re easy to transport to work and with the exception of the one awkward day where I had to eat soup rather than the catered meals at a conference, it was easy to follow.  Days three and five are “off days” but you still eat vegan and no added sugars.  On off days I enjoyed oatmeal with banana, dates, flax and chia seeds and almond milk for breakfast, a Sweet Green Shroomami bowl (SO GOOD!), lentil cabbage rolls with tomato sauce (a riff on these), and eggplant stuffed with a lentil quinoa blend.

I appreciate that it’s marketed as a “cleanse” (emphasis on the quotations) and doesn’t make claims to detox your body.  Your liver is the only thing that will do that, for the record.  Instead, it promises to help you lose weight and re-teach your body to crave healthy, wholesome food, and with very little work required.  Unlike a juice cleanse (which – ironically since it’s my most popular blog post of all time – I don’t actually condone, as a nutrition educator), the soups are rich in fiber and protein.

Overall, I thought this was a good way to get my eating in check and lose a couple of pounds in the process.  It’s not a longterm solution (only moderation is!), but if you’re like me sometimes black and white comes easier than moderation.  I’ll likely try another soup cleanse after the holidays, but next time I’ll probably try a DIY version!

Johanna