This is the lunch for Wednesday and Thursday in my , “My Gut-Friendly, Balanced, What I Eat Series” — the series where I share with you all the meals Grandmaster Lim, my source for gut health and ancient East Asian wellness techniques for my body, crafted together for me to eat throughout the week. I had asked him to help me put together recipes with which the ingredients are easy to access for most (aka not only Korean food which most of my recipes are comprised of). All of these ingredients are thoughtfully paired to provide energy and/or be balanced, nutritious, or gut-friendly.

Why This Soup?

You might be wondering why I’m choosing to eat beef when I generally try to stay away from it since some red meats are bad for my gut health (and generally bad for gut health). But I was told the Korean radish that is in this soup as well as boiling the beef in the stew, along with consuming all of the other menu items in this week, is what helps it to be more easily digestible and less harmful for my gut.

Koreans have this in the winter time because it gives you energy and warmth, is high in essential amino acids, protein, and minerals. It’s great for those who are anemic, are recovering from an illness, or new mothers. It’s also a great meal to have leftovers for, because it’s still so yummy the next day!

I buy mine from a restaurant that makes it so cleanly, but here is a recipe from Maangchi, one of my favorite Korean food content creators. For a serving of 1, you probably want to cut the the ingredient serving sizes in half.