The 5 Worst Soups for Weight Loss (and 5 to Try Instead) (2024)
Alanna Nunez
·2 min read
Soup is the ultimate comfort food. But if you're watching your weight, it can also be an unexpected drain on your calorie and fat bank. This doesn't mean you have to give up your favorite cold-weather soup. Just avoid these five soups listed below, and swap them out for the healthier alternatives we've provided:
1. Clam chowder. Anything with the word "chowder" in it is probably going to be high in cream, fat, and calories. Campbell's Chunky New England Clam Chowder tops the list with 230 calories per serving, 13 grams of fat, and 890 milligrams of sodium. Plus each can contains two servings, so if you eat them at the same time, you're up to 1,780 grams of sodium.
2. Potato soup. Potato soup can be healthy, but it's often made with a cream base instead of a broth base, which means that it, like the chowder, can be loaded with calories and saturated fat.
3. Lobster bisque. With an average of 13.1 grams of fat (that's 20 percent of the daily recommended serving), most of it saturated, and 896 grams of sodium, this is a definite diet don't!
4. Chili. Chili's actually not that bad: It often contains a lot of fiber, protein, and vegetables. However, most of the time it's also accompanied by a huge chunk of cornbread on the side. If you're going to have chili, skip the bread, and have a salad instead.
5. Broccoli and cheese soup. Soup using broccoli as a base? Healthy! Dousing that broccoli in cheese? Not so healthy. Most restaurant versions tend to feature a few tiny broccoli florets drowning in a bowl of cheese, so if you see this one on the menu, skip it.
Try one of these instead:
1. Mushroom and barley soup. This low-cal recipe features plenty of vegetables as well as barley to make a hearty meal that will fill you up, not out.
2. Lumberjackie soup. Vegan-friendly and easy to make, this recipe calls for a hodge-podge of vegetables that's packed with antioxidants and minerals. Just throw the ingredients into your crockpot, let it cook, and you're done!
3. Chilled soups. If you can brave the cold and want to try a chilled soup instead of a hot one, try one of these healthy and slimming chilled soups.
4. Chicken, zucchini and potato soup. For the days when you want more than a snack, this flavor-packed soup's sure to please. The chicken and potatoes will help fill you up, while the zucchinis provide a serving of veggies.
5. Homemade tomato soup. Who doesn't like tomato soup on a cold gray day? Skip the canned versions, which are packed with sodium, and go for this healthy homemade version instead.
"I recommend staying away from chowders, bisques, cheesy soups, bread bowls, and potato-based soups," he continues. "These types of soups are typically loaded with calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium. The best way to make these healthier is to use reduced-fat creams, cheeses, and milks.
"I recommend staying away from chowders, bisques, cheesy soups, bread bowls, and potato-based soups," he continues. "These types of soups are typically loaded with calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium. The best way to make these healthier is to use reduced-fat creams, cheeses, and milks.
Over the last few years, "souping" has gained popularity as a way to eat clean, lose weight and get healthy. The idea behind a soup cleanse is that you eat only vegetable soups for a certain number of days, and afterward—poof—you're magically slimmer and healthier.
The Cabbage Soup Diet is referred to as a rapid weight loss diet. Proponents' anecdotal claims include following the diet for 7 days can lead to weight loss of up to 10 pounds (4.5 kg), which they believe can jump-start a longer-term diet plan.
To lose 10 pounds in one week, you'll need to burn between 3,500 and 5,000 calories more than you consume each day by restricting your diet to small portions of nutritious yet low-calorie foods, and significantly increasing your aerobic exercise with interval training, sports, and other vigorous activities.
You may have heard of something called the Dolly Parton Diet — which consists of eating cabbage soup (yes, cabbage soup!) as your main meals along with fruit and vegetables.
Some anecdotal sources say that people following the cabbage soup diet may lose 10 pounds per week or more. People who follow the diet strictly will likely lose some weight, potentially 10 pounds per week or more. This is because it involves eating so few calories each day.
Eating soup may help increase satiety and help you stay full, which might allow you to eat less overall. 1 While this may lead to weight loss, there is no evidence that a soup-only diet could effectively support long-term weight management.
When it comes to the healthiest soups you can eat, these are the gold standard, says registered dietitian Jessica Cording. Think chicken and vegetable, turkey and black bean chili, or lentil.
But unfortunately, this type of soup contains a hefty dose of fat. This means that you're more likely to gain weight than lose some if you're always choosing to eat creamy soup. These soups are mostly made with a roux—composed of equal parts of butter and all-purpose flour.
As the soup diet usually only lasts for 7-14 days, it's not recommended in the long term. The NHS also highlights how very low-calorie diets like this often lead to short term weight loss, but it's likely that you'll put some or all of the weight back on once you go back to eating normally.
Therefore, attempting to try out a diet that only boasts of depending on soups and salads can not just devoid you of other nutrients you may need to lose weight, but also make you more prone to experiencing deficiencies. Remember, soups and salads alone do not make a healthy choice.
She warns against “cream-based soups, like cream of chicken and chowders.” The main issue with these soups when it comes to weight gain is the fact that they can really load in the fattening ingredients. “Usually, these soups are made with heavy cream and butter.
The soup diet may work for some people, but it is not recommended by health professionals, particularly for long periods, because of its restrictive nature.
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