How To Lose Weight With Soup

Losing weight can be a challenge. Many of the foods sold at your local supermarket – even those labeled as “light” or “reduced fat” – are heavily processed and loaded with additives that may make losing weight harder than it needs to be.

One thing that can help with weight loss is to eat home-cooked food made with whole foods. When you cook at home, you are less likely to ingest too much salt, sugar, or chemicals that can make it difficult to lose weight. Soup is easy to make, freezes well, and can be adapted to a wide variety of dietary needs and preferences.

Can Eating Soup Help People Lose Weight?

Over the years, a lot of diets have touted eating soup as a weight-loss method. Some are ridiculous, such as the cabbage soup diet, which requires dieters to eat only low-calorie soup to lose weight.

It might surprise you to learn that there has been a lot of research into the effects of soup on satiety and weight loss. Here’s a sampling.

• A study from 1986 compared a traditional weight loss regimen with a weight loss regimen that included soup. The people who ate soup lost about 10% more weight than those who didn’t, and researchers concluded that soup was a helpful behavioral element in weight loss.
• A 1997 study found that students who ate chunky soup (that is, soup with chunks of vegetables and meat in it) experienced greater satiety at lunch and less hunger at dinner than students who had a combination of vegetables and water and those who had strained soup.
• In 2007, another study confirmed that consuming soup 15 minutes before a meal decreased energy (caloric) intake and increased satiety in study subjects.
• A 2012 study compared obese women who consumed one or two servings of low-energy-dense soup per day with those who ate high-energy-dense snacks. The study found that the women who ate soup lost up to 50% more weight than those who ate the snacks.

The main takeaway here is that there is plenty of evidence to suggest that consuming soup that is rich in nutrients can help increase feelings of satiety and increase weight loss.

Will Any Type of Soup Help You Lose Weight?

A quick trip to any supermarket reveals hundreds of different soups you can buy. You can get everything from plain chicken noodle soup to ramen to creamy cheese soups that are as decadent as any comfort food.

The bad news? Those manufactured soups are loaded with salt and chemical additives. They don’t taste that great – and they won’t help you lose weight.

The good news is that easy-to-make homemade soups are delicious and you can make them with nutritious, natural ingredients that will satiate you and help you lose weight.

What Ingredients Should Your Homemade Soups Contain?

One of the great things about making soup at home is that you can incorporate the ingredients you like best to make delicious soups that you’ll look forward to eating. You can include fresh vegetables, such as:

• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Dark leafy greens (spinach, kale, and chard)
• Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage)
• Potatoes and sweet potatoes
• Carrots
• Squash

You can also include different types of protein, including meat and vegetarian protein sources:

• Beef
• Chicken
• Fish
• Beans
• Tofu

Herbs and spices can be added to give your homemade soups great flavor and make them irresistible to you and your whole family:

• Garlic
• Thyme
• Oregano
• Turmeric
• Chili powder
• Lemon zest

The possibilities are truly endless. It can be a lot of fun to find healthy soup recipes and then experiment with them to create soups that you love and look forward to eating.

Which Nutrients Help with Weight Loss?

If you want to lose weight by eating soup, you will need to make sure that your soup contains nutrients that will help your body eliminate unwanted weight. Here are three that you should make sure to include along with some suggestions for ingredients that are good sources.

Potassium

Potassium is an essential mineral that plays a key role in weight loss. Studies have shown that an increase in potassium intake was a better indicator of weight loss success than a reduction in calories or sugar intake.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t note that bananas, which are arguably the best-known source of potassium, are high in sugar. There are better options available for people who want to lose weight. Some good sources include spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, and zucchini.

Magnesium

The second mineral you need for weight loss is magnesium, which helps your body to regulate insulin. (Reduced insulin sensitivity is linked to diabetes and weight gain.) It also plays a role in helping your body eliminate excess fluid.

Some good, magnesium-rich ingredients to include in your homemade soups are

• Dark leafy greens such as spinach
• Quinoa
• Beans
• Tofu
• Nuts
• Whole grains

Adding these ingredients to your diet will ensure you get the magnesium you need.

Collagen

Most of us associate collagen with skin and hair care because it’s the protein that supports our skin and gives it a smooth appearance. However, it also helps with weight loss by increasing your lean muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories than fat.

Good dietary sources of collagen include fish, chicken, garlic, egg whites, and red and yellow vegetables. Bone broth also contains a lot of collagen because it is made from animal bones.

When Should You Eat Soup?

Eating soup every day can help you to lose weight. Some of the studies we have cited gave subjects soup before they ate a regular meal. You can do that, or you can replace your meals with soup. The most important thing to remember is that the soup you eat must contain nutritious ingredients. Processed soup is not a good option.

If you’re searching for some healthy soup recipes to help you lose weight, this weight loss soup program is a keto-friendly option that can jump-start your weight loss.