Soup may help build immune system and raise white blood count naturally

[tcmgpt13]

Well, allegedly, humans cannot catch Mareks (don't know about the other mentioned diseases). I expect that the lamb and beef have their own problems too Pat. All we can do is buy the best source of food we can, otherwise I think we all would stop eating most of the food out there these days. I suppose that meat has always had problems and that is why man has learned to cook meat I think. It would have been interesting to hear the discussion of why this new way of treating food by heating over the fire was better than eating it warm and freshly killed.

Here's a really good source of good tasting chickens. From Amish country. A lot of New York chefs say they are the best chickens, for tenderness and flavor. I love these too. Many grocers carry this brand:

Murray's Chicken

I think that Tropical Traditions, along with Bug Arrest, and other natural products and foods carries a line of chickens which have been only fed on parts of the coconut. No GMO grains. That could help our viruses, as coconut and coconut oil are supposed to be good used against viral infections. Wonder if that keeps the chickens Mareks resistant. Think I read the only hope of treating this disease Western style is by buying chicks who have been vaccinated against this, but I wonder how effective that is. Probably not 100%.

Speaking of soaking the meat in salt water, an easier thing to do is to buy Kosher meat. The Jewish people have always taught that this is the healthiest way to prepare fresh meat for eating. Too bad most meat is not treated this way, as we might all be healthier if it were.

Anyway the soups are easily made with any base, meat or vegetarian and even the one soup with the four herbs can just be prepared with just water and drunk as a herbal tea for immune strength. If prepared that way, just hold your nose and drink.

[Kritters]

TC,
Getting through half your post I was reminded of salt cured pork. It never occurred to me until about a month ago that they used salt to kill the pork parasites. Amazing huh? duh uh. Great idea about soaking chicken in salt. In fact, when you buy those roasters already cooked they sell in supermarkets, that's what they do to give them flavor. I imagine adding a lot of salt to homemade soup is doing the same thing. When I used to be against using salt in food preparation back in the fitness days, I actually believe I lost the enzyme necessary for salt breakdown because I was unable to eat hardly any without my eyes becoming monster eyes. really gross.

Don't you think it's possible Mareks could be the animal named version of one of our herpes viruses? Sometimes I wonder if some strains of these things get different names because of a new stage this or that person (Dr. Mareks?) found it and wasn't aware there was another just like it in a later stage. Just musing, as usual. Don't mind me.

xo
Kritts

[tcmgpt13]

Just thought to add this chicken soup story to the thread as it shows just how serious the Chinese are about chicken soup and health. Reading this panda/ chicken soup story left me wondering how the zoo keepers could have forgotten to add in some Chinese herbs. My feeling is that probably all the vets in the zoo are Western oriented in outlook:

Chinese pandas fed chicken soup for health - Yahoo! News

y AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer Fri Oct 3, 1:17 PM ET

"BEIJING - Everyone needs some chicken soup for the soul — even pandas.

The Wuhan Zoo in central China has been feeding its two pandas home-cooked chicken soup twice in a month to reduce stress and give them a nutritional boost, a zoo official said Friday.

He Zhihua said 3-year-old Xiwang and Weiwei — literally meaning "Hope" and "Greatness" — were tired and suffering from a little shock since the start Monday of the weeklong National Day holiday, one of the biggest travel seasons of the year.

On Wednesday, up to 30,000 people swarmed the zoo and about 1,000 tourists packed the panda enclosure, shouting to get the animals' attention, He said. The pandas paced restlessly.

"They had been getting less sleep, and they had to run around more," he said. "We felt it would be good to give them the soup because they were fatigued and had a bit of a shock."

Reflecting the Chinese tradition of drinking slow-cooked chicken soup for health, the zookeepers boiled roosters in water overnight and added a pinch of salt to the concentrated stock.

The pandas were served 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) of soup in giant dishes, in addition to their regular diet of bamboo, milk and buns, He said.

It was a hit.

"They drank it all like they drank their milk. They loved it," he said.

Pandas' diets usually consist mostly of bamboo, but they also can eat meat and He said in the wild they sometimes catch insects and small birds.

Xiwang and Weiwei arrived at the Wuhan Zoo in June from the Wolong Nature Reserve in neighboring Sichuan province. The facility relocated most of its pandas after being damaged by a magnitude-7.9 earthquake on May 12.

The pair were first fed chicken soup on Sept. 28 to help them brave the upcoming cold weather.

"Autumn is coming and we wanted them to have some more nutrition. It will be easier for them to pass the winter," He said. "We just wanted to see whether they liked the soup and whether it's good for their strength and whether they would have stomach problems."

When none appeared, the broth was served for a second time this week.

He said Dudu, another panda at the zoo, lived on milk and ground meat in the last 10 years of his life because his teeth could no longer tear at tough bamboo stalks. He died in 1999.

The giant panda is an unofficial national symbol of China. Only about 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in Sichuan. An additional 180 have been bred in captivity, many of them at Wolong, and scores have been loaned or given to zoos abroad, with the revenues helping fund conservation programs."

Sorry not to have replied sooner Kritts, I just didn't see your latest reply about Marek's chicken virus on this thread, but I found this report about Marek's chicken virus and a study which claims that it does not infect humans, at least not in the way these people studied it. My own view is that it left some questions open about this subject. I thought you might enjoy the article so that is why I have posted it here:

Detection of Marek's Disease Virus DNA in Chicken but Not in Human Plasma

I like the Chinese view of having a bowl of chicken soup to sustain health through the winter months, hopefully with the addition of a few herbs to help the immune system function more efficiently.

[tcmgpt13]

Now that winter's just about officially here, but has already begun for many I thought I would revive this thread and add a recipe to what has already been posted:

A simple and easy soup for a cold winter day, sure to warm. For even more warmth add in a slice or two of fresh ginger and stir in some minced garlic towards the end of cooking time.

Hot and Sour Turkey or Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1 red chili pepper, shredded (make sure it’s hot)
2 shallots, peeled and quartered
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons rice or cider vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 bunch green onions, sliced
1/2 pack coriander, roughly chopped
2or three large slices cooked turkey or chicken, chopped or shredded
Cooked rice or cooked vermicelli noodles, added to the bowl before topping with soup (if desired).

Method

1. Put the chilli and shallots in a pan with the stock, bring to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes. Add the vinegar and soy sauce. taste and add more vinegar if you want more of a sour flavour.
2. Add the spring onions and cook for a minute, then add the turkey and cook for another minute. Stir in the coriander and spoon over the noodles (if using) to serve.

Recipe from Olive magazine January 2009

Asian hot & sour turkey soup recipe - Recipes - BBC Good Food

[lamb]

Great recipe,thank you.

[cynical]

Tcm, that sounds yummy

Thank you!

Cyn