As the weather gets cooler, there is nothing like a delicious red lentil soup to warm you up. I just love the cozy feeling inside as you wrap your hands around the bowl and smell the aroma of the veggies and spices.

But if I’m being honest…I really love how nourishing this red lentil soup recipe is for the skin, especially with the touch of red lentils. My clients over in The Clear Skin Solution were the inspiration for this one.

Red Lentils for the Win

This lens-shaped bean has a number of positive effects on your skin.

1. Red lentils have anti-aging benefits because they are loaded with antioxidants. By combating free radicals in the body, antioxidants work to prevent aging and damage to the skin.
2. When compared to other beans, lentils rank number two in protein (soybeans are first). Consuming protein supplies your body with amino acids, which are the building blocks of your body. The protein found in red lentils can help build and repair tissue, improve the health of your skin, and contains amino acids to assist with the creation of collagen in your body.

Most importantly, though, red lentils improve digestion because they are a rich source of dietary fibre.

Fibre, Digestion & Your Skin

A single serving of red lentils meets 32 percent of the fibre you need each day.

A fibre-rich diet is crucial for your digestion and healthy daily bowel movements because it helps increase good probiotics in the gut and allows for quicker transit time through the digestive tract. Fibre binds the waste together to assist in increasing stool size, diluting, and helping to move it through the body quicker.

Daily bowel movements are essential for clear skin because it’s how your body excretes the toxins and hormones filtered by your liver. If that channel of elimination is not pushing waste out daily, those toxins and hormones start to reabsorb into the body, causing more inflammation, and then acne.

Those bowel movements are how your body eliminates excess acne-triggering estrogen, yeast, and fungus from the body.

Ideally, you should have a bowel movement one to three times a day. But if that’s not happening, try out this spiced red lentil soup or another high-fibre recipe to increase the amount of fibre you consume each day.

Red Lentil and Vegetable Soup

Warming red lentil soup spiced with turmeric and cumin. Full of protein, fibre & immune-boosting ingredients for healthy digestion and skin.

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Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Author: Katie Stewart Wellness

Ingredients

• 1 medium leek thinly sliced
• 1 red onion finely diced
• 1 large carrot diced
• 1 medium sweet potato cubed
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 6 cups broth I used bone broth
• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 ” ginger root grated
• 1 cup sliced baby spinach
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Sea salt to taste
• Fresh parsley to top

Instructions

• Heat avocado oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
• Add leek, onion, carrot, sweet potato, turmeric and cumin to the pot. Saute until onions are soft (about 5 minutes).
• Add broth, lentils and ginger root to the pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer for 20 minutes.
• Add baby spinach, garlic and lemon juice. Stir until baby spinach is wilted and bright green.
• Season with desired amount of sea salt and top with parsley. Serve.