“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” -Virginia Woolf
In today’s fast-paced world, finding simple ways to nourish the nervous system and unwind is more important than ever. One of the easiest—and most effective—ways to do so is through food, especially meals that are gentle on digestion and bring a sense of calm. You’ve all heard me praise the benefits of bone broths, but now it’s time, as a recovering vegetarian, to return to my roots (pun intended!) and share the soothing power of vegetable broths.
The Importance of Eating in Calm
The autonomic nervous system has two main branches. The first, the sympathetic system, prepares the body for action—the fight-or-flight response. The second, the parasympathetic system, governs rest and digestion when the body is calm. When we are relaxed, the digestive juices and enzymes in our body flow more efficiently. That’s why it’s best to avoid eating under stress. How we eat is almost as important as what we eat.
As tempting as it may be to reach for a snack when we’re frazzled, eating under stress is like placing a pot of food on the stove without lighting the fire and leaving it there for two days—it just bubbles, ferments, and becomes gassy.
As an exercise, when preparing this broth full of soft, mineral-rich, and alkalinizing vegetables, try to stay present in the moment, eat slowly, and become aware of each aroma, texture, and flavor.
The Benefits of Vegetable Broths
Repose Mineral Broth increases energy, restores adrenal health, and reduces fatigue, high blood pressure, and water retention. Most modern diets provide a high sodium-to-potassium ratio, whereas traditional diets like those of our ancestors have at least twice the potassium to sodium. This imbalance contributes to fatigue, stress, anxiety, and high blood pressure. Under stress, we require a lot more potassium to support our adrenal glands, which in turn support energy, good mood, and sleep.
The cayenne pepper (it’s really a fruit!) will provide a little pep for your mood and is helpful for digestion and circulation. Add a little white miso to the finished broth to provide healthy bacteria for your gut and thereby enhance GABA, the relaxation neurotransmitter. Just make sure you don’t boil the broth after you add Miso.
Recipe: Repose Broth to Calm the Nervous System
This is one of my favorite broths, and it’s easy to make. I make it weekly as a stock for soups or a broth by itself to sip. By the end of the week, I often have a tub full of vegetable scraps and root pieces left over from the week’s meals. I place the carrot tops, ends of onions, greens, and other veggies I cut off when making salad, and put them in a container in the fridge until I have enough to make this soup. You can change the ingredients as you wish, but always include celery, onions, and parsley to provide plenty of alkalinizing vegetables that soothe the soul.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1-2 hours
Yields: 2 quarts of broth
Ingredients
- 2 qts. water
- 2 large potatoes, chopped or sliced to approx. Half-inch slices
- 1-2 c. carrots, with ends and carrot greens, shredded or sliced
- 1-2 c. celery and ends chopped or shredded, leaves and all
- Handful of beet tops, turnip tops, parsley, onion, or whatever you have from the garden or left over from cooking and salads during the week.
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- Fresh herbs like sage, rosemary, thyme
- Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1/4 tsp. mineral-rich sea salt (supports adrenal function)
- 1 tsp. miso (optional at the end)
Directions
- Place all ingredients (except fresh herbs, cayenne, sea salt, and miso) in a large stainless steel, enamel, glass, or earthenware pot. Cover and cook slowly for about 1 hour.
- After the vegetables are finished cooking, add fresh herbs like sage, rosemary, and thyme, along with a pinch of cayenne pepper and sea salt.
- Strain the broth off, squeezing the liquid off the vegetables, then add a teaspoon of miso after the broth is finished cooking, and serve warm or as a cool drink.
If not used immediately, keep in the refrigerator. You can also use this as a base for any soup to enhance its value, and of course, freeze it in containers and add it to the slow cooker when making soups.
Cooking Tip: Miso is a very versatile food made from fermented beans or grains. Start with a mild-tasting miso, like white or barley miso. Never boil miso as it will kill the healthy bacteria. Always add it to the soup after you have turned off the heat.
Shopping Tip: Not enough vegetables for your broth? The local food coop often has a “seconds basket” with two-day-old veggies that are inexpensive and perfect for this broth.
Teaching Tip: This is a great way to teach our children how to use almost every part of the food we eat.
Health Tip: Use this broth as a base for making a beefy bone broth to uplift mood, energy, and for all addiction recovery.
If you’d like to explore more recipes and insights that nourish both body and mind, take a look at my books Eat Right, Feel Right and The Good Mood Kitchen.
She served as a Fulbright scholar on traditional medicine, a Clinical Fellow at Harvard Medical School, and a National Institutes of Health-funded research scientist in mind/body medicine.
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