Hearty Miso Soup

This soup is amazingly simple, fast, and powerfully health-promoting!

Ingredients:

• White button or shitake mushrooms: just a few
• Vegetable broth or chicken broth--I use a 32-ounce container
• Miso paste
• Diced tofu
• Green onions, chives, garlic, and/or ginger
• Collard greens

Preparation:

• Chop and brown the tofu/garlic/ginger/onions in the bottom of the soup pot; use a small amount of olive oil
• Once you have those browned, start warming the vegetable/chicken broth by pouring into the same pot
• Mix about 1/4-cup of the miso paste in a small amount of the broth, then add the miso-broth mix back to the soup
• At about 15-20 minutes after starting, you should be finished.  What you have now is a miso-broth base with chopped mushrooms/tofu/garlic/ginger/onions
• Once you have the soup finished, then add the chopped collard greens and let them bask in the hot soup for a few minutes before serving
• This soup is really good, and the miso paste has plenty of salt so you won't need to add more.

Serving Recommendations:

• Eat it while it is hot!

Health Benefits of This Meal:

• The (soy) miso has anti-cancer enzymes and phytonutrients, but I think the real power of this recipe comes from the white button mushrooms, which have aromatase-inhibiting action.
• AROMATASE is an enzyme in the human body that converts androgen hormones like testosterone into estrogens like estradiol.  In general, estrogens like estradiol promote cancer growth.  Therefore, when we inhibit the aromatase enzyme--either by using foods or by using drugs like letrozole or anastrozole--we achieve an anticancer benefit.  This applies to several forms of cancer, but it is most clearly applicable to breast cancer, and--probably--prostate cancer.  Readers should note that the "first line treatments" for breast cancer, other than the usual surgery, chemo, and radiation is the use of aromatase-inhibiting drugs and estrogen-blocking drugs such as etrozole, anastrozole, and tamoxifen.
• Ginger--antiinflammatory and anticancer benefits
• Soy--fiber and anticancer benefits
• Garlic--anticancer benefits
• Collard greens--fiber and phytonutrients, in addition to potassium
• Olive oil provides several anti-cancer nutrients--squalene, oleic acid, and several anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients