Soups are often categorized by general people as non-fattening or healthy foods. But are they as healthy as they are known to be? Popularly soups can be divided into two groups: clear and thick soup. Clear soups are generally more healthy as they have the least amount of calories while thick soups usually contain a lot of starch, sometimes cream, and other high carbohydrate ingredients.
To help you further explain the difference, clear soups do not contain anything else except for the strained liquid. Any liquid that has vegetables, meats or even noodles is considered a thick soup.
A bowl of clear soup can help you lose weight.-This doesn't mean that you get only on a soup diet. It means that adding a bowl of clear soup before your meal can help you prevent from overeating while adding important nutrition. A clear vegetable soup contains vitamins & minerals while a bowl of non-vegetarian clear soup has zinc, protein besides vitamins & minerals.
Vegetables and poultry can be added to your soup to make it a healthy meal but it might add to the calories count of the food-You can then prepare the soup with enough vegetables and poultry to work as a substitute for a meal. While it controls the calorie it adds the correct amount of essential nutrition to the diet. Also often soups especially served in restaurant carry cornflour, high sodium to make it more appetising also add empty calories to the soup. High sodium content in the soup often results in water retention leaving one feel bloated.
While eating out choose the healthier soup option to avoid putting on weight and adding empty calories to the diet. Read more about Negative calorie diet foods.Following ingredients that are often added to the soup like milk, cream, butter are fattening and should be avoided.Avoid packed and processed soups as they are high in sodium and contain no antioxidant properties.Get more information on 5 reasons to avoid processed foods.
How to make soup healthier
To summarize, it stick to clear soups that are made of clear, strained broth. If you want to add vegetables & meat to your soup then make the soup as your meal and not an appetizer, in case you are watching your weight. Check the ingredients of the soup before ordering. If you can ask the chef to prepare you a clear vegetable soup without any corn flour and low salt in it.
Hope this article helps you chose better while eating out or wondering what can be eaten when you are on a weight loss program.