If you’re in the mood for healthy comfort food or just craving a hot meal, soup might be for you. Enjoying a bowl of soup can be an easy, quick, and tasty way to add nutrients to your diet. However, although it is a very versatile and tasty dish, not all soups are as healthy as one might think. Here’s what makes soup healthy, the health benefits of eating soup, and in detail, a few different varieties.
What makes a soup healthy?
When made with the right ingredients, soup can be a truly healthy dish with multiple nutritional benefits. For example, soups made with bone, vegetable or meat-based broths provide vitamins, minerals and nutrients, such as collagen. They are also very tasty and limit added fat and calories. Also, eating soup is an easy and tasty way to increase your vegetable intake.
High vegetable consumption is associated with a reduced risk of weight gain, which is a risk factor for chronic diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. Additionally, vegetables offer many health benefits due to their high content of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and plant compounds. Also, soups can be made from just about anything you have available in your kitchen. That being said, there are some ingredients to be aware of, such as thickeners and seasonings, that can increase the calorie and sodium content of your soup and make it an unhealthy meal.
The health benefits of soup
In addition to helping you increase your vegetable intake, eating soup has other potential health benefits. For starters, it can help you control your weight. Studies show that daily calorie intake tends to be lower in people who eat soup. For example, one observational study showed that people who ate soup regularly had lower body weight and waist circumference than people who did not. The study also found that these people had higher-quality diets, characterized by a reduction in fat and an increase in protein and fiber intake.
Studies have also shown that eating soup can reduce hunger and increase satiety. Fiber is known to increase feelings of satiety by delaying gastric emptying (the rate at which the stomach empties after eating) and increases the volume of the stomach by absorbing water and swelling once eaten. Delaying gastric emptying and increasing gastric volume allows your stomach to feel full longer, resulting in less hunger.
Finally, eating soup can help you stay hydrated. Water is essential to your health, and your total water intake can come from drinking water, water from beverages, or water from foods such as soups, fruits, and vegetables.
Be careful, thickening agents can ruin everything.
Some of the most popular ingredients used to thicken soups include whole milk, heavy cream, coconut cream, bread, cheese, and egg yolks. In small amounts, these ingredients can be part of a healthy lifestyle, but care must be taken with the amounts used in cream-based soups.
Most thickeners are energy-dense foods: foods that provide a large number of calories per gram. Eating large amounts of energy-dense foods can mean you take in more calories than your body needs, which can lead to weight gain.
Also, some of these ingredients tend to be high in saturated fatty acids (SFAs). While some research suggests that SFAs are not a risk factor for heart disease, other evidence points to them as a risk factor when consumed in large amounts.
While it’s okay to eat a creamy soup made with these ingredients once in a while, choose the healthier varieties most of the time, especially if you eat soup frequently. If you want to improve the texture of your soup without resorting to high-calorie thickeners, you can add yogurt or pureed legumes such as beans, chickpeas or lentils. Doing so will further improve the nutritional profile of your soup.
Sodium (salt) content
Instant soups and canned soups are other types of soups to be careful of, as they are often loaded with sodium. High sodium intake is associated with high blood pressure, a risk factor for heart and kidney disease and stroke. While adding salt is the most common way to enhance the flavor of a dish, you can also rely on spices such as oregano, garlic, basil, or onion powder to enhance the flavor of your soup and keep it at a higher level. healthy.
2 Popular Types of Healthy Soups
The health benefits of soup vary depending on the type of soup and the ingredients used.
Here are some types of soup kitchens and their health benefits.
Tomato soup
The health benefits of tomato soup come primarily from lycopene, the antioxidant pigment that gives tomatoes their red color. Lycopene is an antioxidant that helps fight the negative effects of free radicals in your body. High levels of free radicals have been linked to the development of chronic diseases, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Research also suggests that it may help boost your immune system, improve male fertility and heart health, and reduce the risk of certain types of cancer. Although there are many commercial ready-to-eat tomato soups, some may contain undesirable ingredients such as thickening agents, added fats, and sugar.
Making a homemade version of your favorite tomato soup is simple and will allow you to do without these ingredients, which will likely improve its nutritional quality.
bone broth soups
Bone broth has regained popularity due to its highly nutritious nature. It’s made by simmering bones, producing a broth packed with bone-friendly nutrients, including calcium, magnesium, and collagen (the most abundant protein in the body). Being rich in collagen, bone broth can improve joint, bone, and skin health. While bone broth is already used as a base for many soups, it can also be enjoyed on its own.
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