Do you view soup as a way to supplement your lunchtime sandwich or cure an occasional cold? While we’re also fans of old-fashioned grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup as well as Mom’s chicken noodle soup cure for colds, there’s a new use for soup: Weight loss.
Pennsylvania State University researchers discovered that when dieters sipped soup prior to their meals, they consumed 20 percent fewer calories overall.
The dieters drank soups that had 150 calories on average. But when they ate that soup 15 minutes prior to a fattening meal of cheese tortellini with tomato sauce, their calorie totals were 135 less than when they didn’t drink the soup.
Take-away lesson: Sipping soup prior to a meal can help you shed pounds without feeling deprived. Be sure to limit the calories and drink the soup in advance of your meal.
“I would say in terms of advice, women should make sure that they don’t go over 150 calories in their first (soup) course and the guys, 200 [calories] maximum,” Barbara Rolls, PhD, a professor of nutritional science at Pennsylvania State University who worked on the study, said in an interview with WebMD.
Make it work for you with these healthy soups – we’ve done the calorie-checking for you:
- Health Valley Organic No Salt Added Vegetable Soup has just 100 calories per cup.
- Teaming up with someone else? Share a carton of Dr. McDougall’s Black Bean and Lime Big Cup Soup, which has two 170-calorie servings.
- Our personal favorite – it’s extra-flavorful and filling: Amy’s Organic Split Pea Soup at 100 calories per serving.
- If you’ve gone gluten-free and miss chicken noodle soup, you’ll be delighted with Gluten Free Cafe Chicken Noodle Soup at just 90 calories a cup.
- Pacific Natural Foods Organic Chicken & Wild Rice Soup has 110 calories per serving.