Is Souping The New Juicing?

Looking to stave off festive weight gain? A pre-Christmas soup cleanse could be the answer.

- Louise Pyne

As much as it’s great to sip on a freshly made, cold-pressed juice,embarking on a full-on juice detox doesn’t always cut it when sub-zero temperatures hit and you’re craving comfort food. But this winter, there’s a more comforting way to detox – the soup cleanse. According to trend forecasters, ‘souping is the new juicing’ and everyone, from Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston to nutritionists and wellbeing gurus, is swearing by it as an easy way to detox and shed pounds without compromising on nutrition. Drinking your meals instead of eating them is said to cleanse your system, nourish cells, supercharge skin health and send energy levels rocketing.

CELEB TREND

The souping trend began in LA, where companies such as Soupure and Soup Cleanse offer diet programmes based on colourful, fibre-rich superfood soups, some of them raw and bottled, designed to be sipped like juices. Now the trend is hitting our shores, with juice bars putting soups on the menu, the opening of London’s first broth bar, Bone Tea, the arrival of new bottled raw soups on the shelves and the forthcoming publication of The Soup Cleanse (£14.99, Quercus), written by the founders of Soupure, Angela Blatteis and Vivienne Vella.

TO JUICE OR TO SOUP?