Yellow Lentil Squash Soup

Have you ever heard of alternate day fasting?  Well, you know I was doing the 5:2 Program.  Which worked really well for me, I lost 24 pounds.  It was totally doable for me.  But then I hit a plateau.  A three month plateau.  Then the Holidays were here.  I had to cook meals for company, entertaining, stuff like that made the 5:2 very challenging for me.  I decided to give it up in December.  I gained 15 pounds back.  Ugh!  Not surprising.

Considering the oh, so many diets I have tried before, this si the thing that worked best for me so I am doing it again.  This time I am not doing the 5:2, I am doing Alternate Day Fasting.  If you know about the 5:2, Dr. Mosley did some research on the whole fasting thing.  Not real hard core research but rather asking around kind of research.  He came up with the idea of five days of eating and two days of fasting as a way that he could lose weight,.  Dr. Varady, who he interviewed, has been scientifically researching the Alternate Day Fasting idea.  You can read more about it in this interesting article by Healthista.

Dr. Varady has written a book about Alternate Day Fasting called The Every Other Day Diet.  She hosts a Facebook website as well.  Dr. Varady has been doing some serious research with alternate day fasting in Chicago.  She has studied many obese adults and followed the alternate day fasting routine.

Anyway, long story short I am switching to the Alternate Day Fasting routine.  My husband has been doing it since the summer.  He has lost about 35 pounds.  It works.  The nice thing about it is that you can pretty much east what you want to every other day.

On his fasting days my husband prefers to eat beans.  Which is great because I love beans.  Here is a fabulous lentil soup recipe.

Yellow Lentil Squash Soup

1 tablespoon oil or ghee (clarified butter)
2 cups yellow lentils or red lentils
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon ginger
6 curry leaves
2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 onion
1 can lite coconut milk
6 cups water
4 cups chopped squash, I used kabocha here but you could use butternut, acorn, etc
1/2 jalapeno chopped tiny, seeds and rib removed
1 tablespoon kosher salt
5 cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper, chopped

Saute onions and bell pepper in oil. Add ginger, turmeric, mustard seeds and curry leaves.  Cook one minute.  Add in the remainder of ingredients.  Cook with gentle simmer until lentils are tender and falling apart. With the back of my wooden smooth I smashed most of the pieces of squash.  I like it because the squash melting into the soup gives it a more creamier texture.

Speaking of creamier texture.  A dollop of yogurt would be great in this soup.