Soup is a delicious, filling and a highly satisfying weight-loss food. Everybody loves soup right!? You can try the soup diet if you want to achieve healthy, quick weight loss in a short amount of time.
Soups that can help you out in losing weight do need to fit a certain profile. To keep you satiated and to aid in your weight loss they have to be rich in fiber, low in fat and contain a lot of healthy, whole food ingredients. Soups are a favorite in any season!
Summer and Spring with it’s light, fresh soups, cooked or raw. Winter and Fall are all about warming up the body and the coziness of a hot bowl of satisfying, nutrients dense meal that you can enjoy without any guilt.
What is the Soup Diet?
The soup diet is, as the name says, a diet consisting completely or mostly out of soups. For the best and healthiest choices you should be consuming low fat, low salt, vegetable rich plant based varieties. You can eat soup for each meal or add in some fruit, vegetables, greens, some healthy carbs and plant based protein for one of the meals.
The soup diet is low in calories and you can eat until you are full which is a plus when trying to lose weight. This diet is not ment to be followed forever, it can be a great kickstart for weight loss to lose a few pounds quickly ans easily. It can also be used as a cleanse and a pause for your digestive system.
How Much Weight Can You Lose on a Soup Diet?
Soup can definitely be a great weight loss food choice. If you follow the soup diet for 7 days you can expect to lose up to 10 pounds of which a part will be water weight. Often it is the question what you do after these 7 days. If you jump back into your regular diet most of the lost weight will come back.
On the other hand if you look at these 7 days as a kickstart to your weight loss it’s a different story. Healthy, low fat, plant based soups are rich in fiber and low in calories so you can incorporate them into your daily diet.
This 2014 British Journal of Nutrition study of more than 10.000 adults found that regular soup-eaters tend to weigh less, consume more fiber, vitamins and minerals than the people who don’t eat soup on a regular basis.
Replace two meals a day with soup and fill the rest up with fruit, vegetables, raw or steamed and may de add some plant based protein like quinoa, beans, tofu or some healthy starches like steamed potatoes, brown rice, sweet potato.
This can be an easier version that gives you more variety and you will also lose weight in the mean time.
Amazing Health Benefits of Soup
Soups are easy to digest. They are the perfect food if you want to give your stomach and digestion a break.
Soups are hydrating and fill you up to keep you satisfied.
Soups can have many healing and warming ingredients like ginger, turmeric, black pepper, garlic, onion, and cinnamon.
Soup can be a complete meal if you add in lots of vegetables, some starches like potatoes or rice, protein can be beans, lentils or tofu. Go easy on the oil and salt and you have a perfect meal!
Soups are also amazing when someone is not feeling well or is suffering from a cold or flu as it is easy on the digestion and contains the much needed nutrients. Especially if you add some powerful ingredients like ginger, pepper, garlic and turmeric.
You can add a lot of different vegetables to your soup, even hide some in there you wouldn’t like on their own.
Soup preserves its nutritional value even after cooking, the broth is high in vitamins, minerals and proteins.
Soups aid in weight loss because they are rich in fiber, hydrating and fill you up.
If the soups are the healthy kind, like the ones in my FREE e-book, you can enjoy them freely until truly satisfied. A vegetable rich soup will reduce your appetite.
What Else Can I Eat on a Soup Diet?
When following a soup diet your meals will consist of …. soup. In my FREE e-book I also have three sweet, fruit based soups that are amazing for breakfast. You can also choose a savory soup, like this Breakfast Noodle Soup, as the first meal of the day, as people do in many countries in the world.
The soups have to be light, broth based vegetable soups. You can add a few low calorie foods to keep you satisfied and to make it a little easier and less drastic.
Fresh fruit, salads with lemon juice and herbs, vegetables, steamed or raw can be a part of a healthy, light, weight loss, cleansing day. Adding some healthy starches like potatoes or rice will keep you longer full. Tofu, beans, lentils or quinoa add some delicious plant based protein.
Skip the following,
creamy soups, these are higher in calories
grains and gluten as in pasta, bread and refined grains like white rice
animal products like meat, dairy, cheese, cream
salt, as you will be consuming a lot of soup it is best to keep the amount of salt on the lower side and try to add more flavor with fresh or dried herbs. If you add the salt after cooking you will use and get much less in your system.
If You Want to Try the Soup Diet …
A soup diet can be a great kick start to your weight loss journey. Here are a few points to keep in mind,
Instead of going all in you can also try a more moderate version of the soup diet. You can start with having soup for one or two meals of the day instead of all three.
If it is soup what you are going to be eating keep the diet short, no more than 7 – 10 days. Longer on a low calorie diet can slow down your metabolism and you could start missing nutrients.
To make it more exciting try various soups, this will keep your taste buds satisfied. Different vegetable bases and different textures. Chunky, finely diced or blended soups have a different feel in the mouth.
Go easy on the salt and heavy on the herbs and spices. If eating soup all day try adding less salt during the cooking process and some if needed on top of the food when eating.
Hearty Vegetable Soup
This hearty, well filled vegetable soup is a perfect example of a filling, nutrient dense, weight loss supportive meal.
Ingredients,
Ingredients for 2 generous portions,
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 1/2 bell pepper, cubed
- 1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
- 1/4 cup green peas
- 1 medium potato, small cubes
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 1 cup cooked brown lentils
- 1 liter / 4 cups of water or low sodium stock
- 1 bay leaf
- fresh parsley for serving
Saute the onion and garlic in a little water or stock for a few minutes until translucent. Add in the other vegetables, seasonings and water / stock and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for 20 minutes until the vegetables are soft yet not mushy. Add in the lentils a few minutes before the soup is done. Serve with fresh parsley on top. If you use stock you need to add less or may be no extra salt. Stock gives the soup a deeper taste. This is my favorite stock base.
Conclusion …
The health benefits of regulatory enjoying a bowl of soup have been also been noticed by observational studies. More often soup means a lower BMI ( body mass index ) than those who do not eat soup on a regular basis. (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source).
Soup fills you up and gets you satiated. If your soups are low fat, low salt and filled with healthy whole foods they contribute to keeping a healthy weight and weight loss.
The soup diet only lasts 7 days in which you will lose weight. You will also likely to gain most of it back if you switch back to your old ways. The soup diet can be a kickstart to your weight loss journey. To keep the weight down you should transition into a more sustainable weight loss eating plan.
A whole foods, low fat, high plants or totally plant based lifestyle is something to work towards. On the long run, make healthy soups a part of your daily diet.
For more on the Soup Diet including new recipes download Soup Days, a FREE easy cleanse for the body,
