Soup Is Good Diet Food, Too
A lot of us remember the old Campbell’s soup ad, telling us “soup is good food”. Depending on your soup of choice, it can be nourishing, low-cal, and even the basis for an excellent meal to fit in your diet plan. To find a good soup, keep these tips in mind:
- Look at the food label for calories, fat, sodium, vitamins, and serving size. You can find a nutritious soup that provides more than 10% of the daily value for vitamins and minerals, while still giving you fewer than 300 calories. Be sure to notice what they call a serving size: if there is 700 milligrams of sodium in a serving and 2 servings per can, downing the entire can for your lunch will fill you with nearly 1.5 grams of sodium and make you very thirsty later in the day! Ditto for calories per serving, and fat per serving. Also remember to double the nutrients you are getting if you generally eat two serving sizes!
- Include vegetables. Soup can be a great source of a vegetable serving or two; a welcome addition to your diet especially if you’re not a vegetable fan. Many soups contain green beans, carrots, tomato, even escarole (Wedding soup is a favorite of mine and often contains escarole or spinach) and these can pack a lot of great vitamins and fiber into a tasty lunch.
- Avoid cream-based soups. Usually a cream soup will be higher in fat and calories. However there are some brands that manage to keep the total lower in fat. Don’t go by the front of the label that announces “lower in fat” but instead rely on the actual grams per serving listed on the back nutrient panel–compare this number to similar soups to get a good idea if it’s really lower than other varieties.
- If a bowl of soup for lunch leaves you hungry (and it very well may) then make some nutritious adjustments for the next time. Consider using the entire can for a meal, even if it is called 2 servings… some soups only provide a couple hundred calories for the whole can, and that’s kind of skimpy for a meal. Add some foods from other food groups, like a piece of fruit, some string cheese or yogurt, and some whole grain crackers to help fill you up in just another couple hundred calories. A 400 calorie total is still a nice amount for a weight loss regimen.
As winter approaches and the temperatures fall, the number of soup varieties continues to rise! Find some soups you like this fall that are low-cal and high-nutrition and make them the base for a balanced meal as part of a healthy weight loss diet.
Photo Credit: seelensturm
Written by Laurie Beebe
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About The Author: Laurie Beebe has been a registered dietitian for 25 years and is certified in adult weight management. Laurie currently serves as a Related posts:
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