As the weather cools a bit, hot soups begin to star on menus. Besides being a time honored way of coaxing the flavors from foods, soups are nutrient rich. Because of their high liquid content, soups are coming into focus as an important and tasty tool in weight control: They fill you up without filling you out.
Barbara Rolls, a weight control researcher at Pennsylvania State University and author of “The Volumetrics Eating Plan,” found that eating soup as a first course helped study participants lose weight because they consumed fewer total calories during the rest of the meal.
The broth-based soups they consumed, even though they were lower in fat and calories than other food choices, helped to increase feelings of fullness. Rolls’ theory is that the more water a food contains, the more full it makes you feel.
“If not soup, start your meal with a salad, a piece of fruit or a glass of vegetable juice,” she said.
Bowlful of savvy
Broth-based: From Japanese miso soup to classic French beef bouillon, broth soups (chicken-, beef- or vegetable-based) are among the lowest in calories with 50 to 80 calories per cup. French onion soup starts off as a low-calorie vegetable broth, but when you pile on the classic bread and cheese topping, it can top 500 calories a cup. So, try to eat just part of the gooey cheesy layer.
Tomato-based: Vegetable soups, minestrone, Manhattan clam chowder and gazpacho are tomato-based and, therefore, lower in fat and calories than soups with milk or cream bases, with 80 to 120 calories per cup. And because they're usually full of vegetables, they add healthy fiber to the mix. Good examples are the farmers market vegetable soup at Seasons 52's two Atlanta locations and the Moroccan veggie soup at Souper Jenny's in Buckhead.
Creamy soups: Cream of "anything" soup bumps up the calories by 100 calories a cup. So even though cream of broccoli or cream of asparagus sounds like a good way to eat your vegetables, note that your looking at about 180 calories per cup. The same goes for lobster bisque. However, if a restaurant uses pureed vegetables or beans to make its "cream soups" creamy, that lowers the fat and ups the veggie quotient.
Flour-thickened soups: Seafood gumbo is thickened with a mixture of flour and fat called a roux. Many cream-based soups are made this way, too, including potato soups and New England clam chowder. Every bite may be thick and creamy, but you'll have to count 260 calories a cup or 520 calories for a 16-ounce bowl. Want something hearty but more healthful? Jenny Levison's recipe for her Souper Jenny's homemade country bean soup with chicken sausage is deliciously satisfying.
Reduce toppings
Watch the garnishes as they pile up on top. Shredded cheddar cheese, bacon crumbles, fried croutons, a dollop of sour cream or chunks of avocado in tortilla soup add an extra 50 calories per tablespoon. For flavor, crunch and added fiber, try roasted pumpkin seeds or even popcorn as a creative and healthy garnish.
If you’re watching your salt: There’s a lot of action in the soup world to lower sodium content. On a recent trip to the test kitchens at Campbell’s headquarters in Camden, N.J., I had the opportunity to sample great tasting lower-sodium tomato soups and the beef and vegetable soup they’re still working on with recipes relying on a type of sea salt that’s naturally lower in sodium. Generally, if a restaurant chef makes his or her own soups from seasonal produce — such as the butternut squash soup at Seasons 52 — they rely on nature’s bright flavors and add aromatic herbs instead of overdoing the salt.
Carolyn O’Neil is a registered dietitian and co-author of “The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous!” E-mail her at carolyn@carolyn oneil.com.
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