Cucumber and Dill Summer Soup

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Cucumber Dill Soup

Folks, I have been on a major soup kick. I had surgery last month, which involved, in part, some jigsaw-style moves on my poor digestive system. And that has meant a TON of soup eating. Now, I am not a picky eater. For instance, hot foods in summer have never been an issue for me. However, after so much soup eating, I am getting a little bored with traditional approaches to soup.

With that in mind, I decided to create a nice, chilled out summer soup for myself and all of you to enjoy. The dill flavor is very refreshing and this soup can work as a main dish with a little shredded chicken or shrimp thrown in or as a really pretty appetizer if you are entertaining on a hot summer evening. Enjoy!

Cucumber Dill Soup II
5.0 from 2 reviews
Cucumber and Dill Summer Soup
 
Prep time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 4-8
Ingredients
  • 2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
  • 1 avocado, pitted and peeled
  • 1 cup full-fat coconut milk
  • ½ cup filtered water
  • 3 tablespoons fresh, chopped dill
  • 1 tablespoon fresh, chopped basil
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • Juice from 1 lemon
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • *reserve some cucumber, avocado, dill, and lemon if you would like to fix appetizers as pictured
Instructions
  1. Puree all ingredients in blender or food processor until smooth.
  2. For extra smooth soup, pour through fine mesh sieve to filter out extra vegetable fibers.
  3. Chill and serve with shredded chicken or shrimp as main dish or garnished as appetizer.

 

About Angie Alt

Angie Alt is a co-founder here at Autoimmune Wellness. She helps others take charge of their health the same way she took charge of her own after suffering with celiac disease, endometriosis, and lichen sclerosis; one nutritious step at a time. Her special focus is on mixing “data with soul” by looking at the honest heart of the autoimmune journey (which sometimes includes curse words). She is a Certified Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Nutritional Therapy Consultant through The Nutritional Therapy Association and author of The Alternative Autoimmune Cookbook: Eating for All Phases of the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol and The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook. You can also find her on Instagram.

12 comments

  • Anne says

    How does the AIP protocol diet impact endometriosis? Enometriosis is not an auto-immune condition – the pathogenesis of the disease only establishes some, but unknown, link to the immune system, however, endometriosis is not your typical auto-immune disease for which AIP is appropriate. True, it is not unusual for endometriosis sufferers to also have – in addition to endo – a parallel, strictly auto-immune disease. I am wondering how is AIP paleo or Paleo appropriate for healing endometriosis? Endometriosis creates a whole lot of inflammation in the body (in addition to hormonal imbalances), which is what an endo sufferer like Angie is fighting.
    The meat – even organic and grass-fed, in the AIP paleo or in the Paleo diet – does not help with inflamation, it only aggravates it!
    How is your AIP protocol diet a credible diet for endometriosis?
    If Angie just got another endometriosis surgery done, how did AIP exactly help her endometriosis?
    Can you comment on this?
    It does impact the credibility of your work. Thanks

    • Angie Alt says

      Hi Anne! Thanks for your comment. Those that do not consider endometriosis as even a possible autoimmune disease, usually do so on the basis that it does not have an identified, measurable autoantibody and it does not respond to any known treatments for autoimmune disease (such as methotrexate). However, I think both of those “qualifications for autoimmune disease” are rather weak. Here’s my thinking:

      1. Multiple sclerosis is thought to be autoimmune in nature, even by most experts, but there is no specific autoantibody that has yet been found. Crohn’s disease is another disease in this category. In fact, there are around 100 diseases that are confirmed autoimmune, in other words there are identified autoantibodies, but there are many more, something like 40-50 other diseases, that are suspected, but not yet confirmed to be autoimmune. They are included in autoimmune lists, because they so often “act” like an AI or are so often seen with other confirmed AIs.

      2. There are also many autoimmune diseases that can’t be treated with known treatments (drugs) for autoimmune disease. Celiac disease is a stand-out example here. The only treatment is avoiding gluten.

      Additionally, I think considering the lack of research into autoimmune disease in general, trying to understand it through the lens of what is “typical” greatly understates the complexity that is known and diminishes the myriads of unique disease presentations seen in our community, even among sufferers with the same diagnoses. To highlight this lack of research, here are some numbers . . . according to current estimates from the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Assoc. (AARDA) there are at least 50 million Americans who have AIs. By comparison, the National Institutes of Health reports that the population affected by heart disease is 22 million and cancer only nine million. Sadly, in 2003 (the most current year reported) NIH research funding for autoimmune disease came to only $591 million, while cancer funding came to $6.1 billion and funding for heart and stroke research equaled $2.4 billion. This doesn’t even touch on research about endo, which is woefully inadequate. With all this in mind, I don’t think it is fair to say that we even know what is “typical” when it comes to AI.

      Based on their research, endometriosis is included by both the AARDA and Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, on their lists of autoimmune and autoimmune-related diseases. Although I have never told others that endo definitively is an AI, based on the AARDA and Dr. Ballantyne’s research, plus my personal experience, I have been vocal about my personal approach to endo as though it were autoimmune. Having two other strictly defined AIs, I can tell you that many aspects of my personal experience with endo are suspiciously like my other autoimmune experiences.

      So, that brings us to your question about whether or not AIP is appropriate for endo. You are correct that endo is a very inflammatory disease and my personal experience is that AIP, a highly ANTI-inflammatory diet, helped tremendously with the pain. I went from needing 800 mg of ibuprofen every 4 hrs + heating pads and bed rest for the first 48 hrs of my cycles, to largely being able to control the pain with only 1 single dose of ibuprofen for the first 48 hrs of my cycles.

      You’ll note that the standard endometriosis diet in many ways overlaps with AIP. The big differences are red meat and saturated fat. There are three kinds of prostaglandins (hormone-like substances made from essential fatty acids) necessary for our bodies to function, prostaglandin 1, 2, and 3. PG1 and 3 helps us anti-inflame and PG2 helps us inflame when necessary. Since endo is such an inflammatory disease, it makes sense to focus on sources of essential fatty acids to help form the anti-inflaming PG1 and 3. This is where the grass-fed beef comes in with AIP and can potentially help reduce endo pain . . . it has four times as much Omega-3 as conventional beef, which helps form PG3. It is also one of the richest source of linoleic acid, which contributes to forming PG1. It is a mistake to think we only concentrate on grass-fed beef though. AIP also encourages lots of wild-caught fish, like salmon, again very high in omeg-3s. In terms of the saturated fats, there are many, many health benefits, but directly related to inflammation you have to view it in larger context of the overall AIP diet. We basically eliminate refined carbohydrates on AIP and research shows that when saturated fat intake is high, but carb intake low, there is a dramatic decrease in inflammation. I attribute these parts of AIP, along with many other basics of the diet, to the pain reduction I saw with my endo.

      In response to your question about my recent endo surgery . . . I think you may misunderstand the damage that endo can do to various organs of the body, specifically the pelvic region, as well as the limitations of dietary healing. Unfortunately, over the course of my life endo has irreparably damaged several of my organs, including the appendix, sigmoid colon, and fallopian tubes. This damage required surgical intervention and in some cases meant that I lost an organ, but gained function and greater overall health. While the diet, as I demonstrated above, very likely contributed to better pain control with the disease, it cannot undo organ damage. It would be silly not to use ALL the tools available to me to help manage endo, whether it is autoimmune or not. Both conventional treatments, like surgery, and “alternative” treatments, like dietary and lifestyle changes, have helped me function and feel better. Using one, does not negate the validity of the other in helping me achieve my health goals.

      An analogy here might be a house with foundation damage and a leaking roof. Repairing the roof will solve the annoying problem of a wet home and hopefully prevent further damage, but it will not resolve the foundation issues. Ignoring those issues will make the house less solid. Calling in a contractor to help you repair the foundation is wise, and in no way calls into question the logical step of also calling in a roofer. Both approaches are necessary for the overall stability of the home.

      At one-time autoimmune disease itself, never mind the individual disease types, was not even recognized. What we think we know today may be turned on its head tomorrow, which I think makes a strong case for not tackling our diseases from a starkly black or white position. Adaptive, “ahead of the curve” thinking, operating in that gray area, might be the best place for breakthrough. I think by approaching my endo as though it is an AI (if it quacks like a duck . . . consider the possibility) and choosing to manage it through both diet and surgery, I have given myself the best chance at wellness and hopefully inspired other women to try managing their endo with similar “ahead of the curve” thinking, perhaps finding their own unique paths to wellness.

      Much of the referencing I used here can easily be found in The Paleo Approach, on the AARDA website, or through basic Google searches, if you’d like to look into anything more in-depth.

      • Thank you for this thorough and thoughtful response, Angie!

        • Angie Alt says

          You are so welcome Petra. Thanks for reading! I think it’s really important for the community to know that a “combination” approach to our chronic illnesses, be they autoimmune or not, is the best way forward. Complex problems require “whole body, whole life” solutions.

      • Brandy says

        I love your response. Thank-you so much for taking the time to share your experience and knowledge. Your analogy works perfect.

        This soup sounds so yummy, I’m excited to try.

        • Angie Alt says

          Thanks for reading Brandy! I hope it helps lots of other women.

    • Hi Anne

      I would to comment on your comment that meat is inflammatory. What meat are you looking at? Is this information you have gleaned from the media and the allopathic world?, because if so you are talking about meat that has been fed on grains, the raw materials for inflammation, as well as being exposed to hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and herbicides and very likely GMO. This meat is definitely inflammatory anything exposed to these chemicals etc would be, as we are if we have a grain based diet etc However eating meat that is given grass to eat which is not contaminated and not stressed, is a totally different story.

      All the best
      Beatrice Rabkin BSc Nutritional Medicine

  • Mary Crawford says

    I have vitaligo. Will your diet help reverse this autoimmune disease? Thanks.

    Mary

    • Angie Alt says

      Mary, there are a lot of folks w/ vitaligo using AIP, but we can’t tell you for certain that it will reverse your disease. It certainly will not harm you though, so it is worth a shot. 😉

  • Katherine says

    Delicious!! Thanks for sharing! Perfect cooling summer meal 🙂 Plus quick to make and no oven/minimal stove to keep cool too. I served it with some prawns wrapped in prosciutto and some pickled beets.

  • laura says

    I just made this recipe and loved it!!! I received the world’s largest cucumber in my farm basket today and didn’t know what I was going to do with it. I found your recipe and decided to give it a try. I’m so glad I did. Thank you for creating an easy, refreshing and delicious recipe and for all you do for the autoimmune community.

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