If you’re searching for a healthy way to lose weight faster, soups can be a great tool to fill you up and help you stay with your diet. But not all soups have the same benefits. If you’re eating soup for weight loss, it’s good to gather several recipes that have proven to be both healthy and satisfying. That way, you’ll always have a go-to recipe at your fingertips.
Why Are Soups So Great?
There are so many good reasons to eat soup, such as:
- They contain healthy, hearty ingredients like beans and lean meats for protein.
- They can be cooked ahead of time and frozen, so they are easily available.
- If you add lots of vegetables to your soup, you will get all your vegetables for the day in a serving or two of the soup.
- They can be very filling and low calorie. If you are planning to attend an event in the evening where the meal will be heavy, eat soup for lunch, and you won’t be as tempted to overeat.
If you’re really pressed for time, you can eat canned soups but keep in mind that they do contain a large amount of sodium and extra preservatives. It’s much better if you make your soup from scratch because you’ll have complete control over the ingredients that go into it.
Many people make a large batch of soup on the weekend, freeze it in meal-size packets, and then eat the soup at their convenience during the week. This works great for work too because you can just grab a frozen container and go. Most of the time, it will be thawed by lunchtime and then can be heated up in a microwave or on a stovetop.
Add a large salad to the soup, and you’ll have a healthy, fulfilling lunch. If you’re not sure what kind of soup to make, search online, and you will find thousands of recipes that will work for you.
When choosing a soup recipe, try to focus on those that contain vegetables, beans, and lean meats. Avoid those containing fat, calories, and other ingredients you are limiting. Use seasonings and fresh herbs liberally because the flavor of your soup will be so much better.
Soups are very inexpensive to make and, even if you use meat, you don’t need to use a large amount to get the weight loss and nutrition benefits of the soup. Beans are also not expensive and can be bought dry to save even more money. Don’t be intimidated by dry beans because they can be soaked overnight and then they can be cooked just like canned beans. Often, if you keep track of the cost, you will find that you’re only spending pennies per serving.
Don’t use cream-based soups. They have more fat and calories and are not helpful if you’re trying to lose weight. Instead, make sure your base is stock, either chicken or vegetable. You can make chicken stock yourself and avoid the preservatives and high levels of salt that are found in most stock that is canned. Also, when you make your own, you have the added bonus of a chicken dinner that’s ready to eat. Just boil the chicken and drain it, saving the stock for your soups.
Stock can be frozen for a long period of time and then used to make soup when it’s convenient for you. Cooking healthy, tasty food does not have to be time-consuming.
