Chicken Noodle Soup for the Pregnant Soul

Where do I start?  This is the first real post I've had in quite sometime.  It's been so busy around here.  Everyone is busy I know, but I feel out of breath most of the time.  HAHA!!! Oh well. I can't complain too much, God has blessed us so much to have these five soon to be six kids, and we have family that will jump in a pull your slack anytime you need help.  For example,  today Becky went to her OB/GYN for a regularly scheduled check up, and once again her blood pressure was sky high and she has had quite a bit of swelling and water retention.  The doctor said in not so many words that she needs to stay laying down on her side and that's pretty much it.  Well, Becky called me and gave me the update and I told her she should call my mom and fill her in because she'd want to know.  Not an hour had passed from the time I got off of the phone with Becky, I don't think, when my  mom called me to let me know that dinner would be taken care of for us pretty much each night this week.  Both grandma's and my great aunt stepped up to help us out.  That's a huge deal.  Not having to worry about cooking and all of that this week while Becky is laid out is a huge load off. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! 

Well not too long after Becky got home from the doctor's office this afternoon she started getting sick.  Obviously the flu or some flu-like virus.   Yuck!!!  Another thank you for the dinner's this week. I love you guys.  So I'm making some homemade soup for Becky for lunch tomorrow.  Hopefully she'll be able to keep some soup down by lunchtime tomorrow.  You know, I always thought that we ate chicken noodle soup when we were sick just because it was easy on our stomachs, but I've recently learned that there is much more to it than that.  In the book Real Food by Nina Planck, it talks about chicken noodle soup and how we eat it traditionally when we are sick for reasons other than it's ease on our upset stomachs.  Nina Planck says this in her book about chicken fat:

     "Poultry fat is as diverse as poultry and the foods they eat.  Mostly monounsaturated- and thus fairly heat-stable- poultry fat is suitable for cooking.  Duck and goose fat are traditional in Jewish kitchens and justly honored by French cooks, especially for roasted potatoes.  Chicken fat- schmaltz, the Yiddish word for fat- is a staple in Jewish recipes, including the chopped liver and crispy gribenes (chicken skin fried in chicken fat).  I once met a man who grew up eating homemade gribenes at the movies.  (Think of them as kosher pork rinds.)

     Poultry fats also contain a few saturated and polyunsaturated fats; again, the diet of the bird affects the composition of the fat.  Pastured chickens and poultry fed fish oil or flaxseed oil have more polyunsaturated omega-3 fats, while tropical chickens, like pigs, eat saturated fats in coconut oil.  Typically, chicken fat is about 40 percent monounsaturated oleic acid, which lowers LDL [the bad cholesterol].  Goose fat is mostly monounsaturated, too (56 percent), as is duck fat (46 percent).  Turkey fat contains 38 percent oleic acid, 22 percent polyunsaturated fats, and 22 percent saturated palmitic acid, which lowers total cholesterol and LDL.

    We have seen that saturated fats fight infection.  All fats, particularly chicken fat, also contain palmitoleic acid, an antimicrobial monounsaturated fat.  That's why chicken soup- not skinless chicken breasts- is known as the Jewish penicillin:  those pale yellow droplets in chicken broth boost your immunity.

     So the next time someone eating a poached skinless chicken breast tells you that your choice of beef, bacon, or roast chicken with the skin will send you to an early grave, this is your reply.  First, explain that beef contains stearic acid, which lowers LDL, and that pork and poultry fat are mostly monounsaturated, just like olive oil.  Second, say that natural saturated fats- as opposed to industrial saturated fats, or trans fats- are good for you anyway.  In the heat of a dinner party debate, you will probably remember only one good thing about saturated fats.  Make it this one: they are powerful immune boosters.  Once upon a time, I used only olive oil.  When I added butter and other saturated fats to my diet, I stopped getting sick.  And yes,  the chefs and food critics are right:  my cooking was much tastier, too."

I am finding this book to be quite great.  Again, I recommend it to all.  As for me and my house, we will all be eating some homemade chicken noodle soup tomorrow.  I do NOT want to get sick!!!!