Potions of roots and berries with a pinch of this or that boiled over an open flame while chanting under ones breath may conjure up visions of witch craft to most but a recent experience made me a believer.
My story starts off with an interview of none other than Nikolai Volkoff…yes the wrestler. During the interview, on The Cigar Authority, the topic of the 6’8’’ behemoth’s diet and exercise regiment came up. At 68 years old he was in great shape, he was still wrestling, had never broken a bone, and is almost never sick. The secret for him is simple and makes all of the sense in the world. Nicolai only eats whole foods…Not the chain of overpriced super markets…He eats the food as nature intended.
Mr. Volkoff painted a picture for us of the cave man and how he might hunt or gather his food and then how he might prepare it. If he happened upon a wild crop of root vegetables would he waste his time removing the skin? If he spent his time and energy to hunt and kill a bird would he throw away the dark meat, the skin, or the bones? The answer is of course…a resounding no! He would use every possible part of every edible item. What was left over ended up in a soup pot to draw every last droplet of nutrients out of his food. This, in Volkoff’s estimation, had an unintended consequence by way of some serious health benefits. Without even counting the amount of processed foods and empty calories that we eat daily, he guesses that we throw away more than half of our vitamins and minerals by skinning our meats and vegetables.
What he was saying made a ton of sense but I needed to push further. “What do you eat when you do get sick?” Was how I opened Pandora’s box.
“Like your Grandmother used to make…Chicken Soup!” was his reply with slight twinkle in his eye. He went on to tell about a certain recipe for chicken soup that he says will cure everything from the common cold to cancer. That’s right this professional wrestler says he has the cure and his proof is what the soup did for his sister’s dog.
Apparently she had a dog with a large tumor growing out of his hind leg up by its tail. Her vet was ready to put the dog down but Nicolai was not ready to give up so easy. He brought the dog home and made a soup of:
1 Small organic chicken
1 Medium Onion
A bag of organic spinach
½ cup of freshly shredded ginger
½ cup of freshly shredded organic carrots
At least 1 clove of freshly minced garlic
Cook the chicken with the skin on and when it cools you remove the meat to be added in later. Boil the carcass, skin, neck, the whole chicken… on low for an hour or so with the garlic, ginger, onion, and carrots. Strain out all of the large pieces saving the broth. Over a low heat add the spinach and the meat that you saved. Keep it covered and at a soft boil for 30 minutes… salt and pepper to taste.
He feed the dog this soup as a last ditched effort to save its life and to everyone’s amazement the tumor slowly shrunk and the dog lived an extra couple of years.
Fast forward to 1 month ago, I worked 4, 16 hour days in a row and got myself more than a little run down. That Monday I found myself in the throes of a full blown cold. Thinking back to my interview with Nikolai I whipped up a batch of his “Cure-All Soup”. I figured what harm could it cause? In the worst case scenario my cold would run its typical 7 day course and I would have had some hot and homemade soup.
Tuesday morning when I woke up I was at 80% healthy. My head was clear, I had only a little sniffle, and almost no coughing (mind you I work in a cigar shop surrounded by smoke all day)…By Wednesday there was no sign that I had ever been sick! This recipe worked like a magic potion. It appears that a man, who made his living in the land of the fakes, stumbled across something very real.
