Ask a Dietitian

As seen on BCTV Noon News

With the cold weather of winter just around the corner, what could be better than a hot cup of soup? There are so many varieties of soup in the grocery store, often there is half an aisle dedicated to this food item. So how do you choose the best one? Soup can be a nutritious meal, if you know how to choose the right variety. Most soups are mainly water, and fill you up faster with fewer calories and help you with weight management.

When selecting a soup, there are a few key nutrients to consider:

(Nutrition Information per 1cup serving)

Choosing a soup

Most soups are fairly low in calories and fat due to their high water content. An exception to this is cream soups. Although they taste delicious, many cream soups have about 7-17 grams of fat per serving, and this is if you don’t prepare them with milk! To save your waistline, choose broth based soups rather than cream soups.

Many soups are also laden with over 800mg of sodium, which is about one third of the recommended daily intake! Some soups are now available in healthy versions that cut out some (but not all) of the sodium in the regular variety, which is good news, especially if you are concerned about your blood pressure.

Also, be sure to look for soups that have lots of vegetables and protein, to make your meal more substantial and nutritious. Avoid the soups that are just broth and noodles.

Good Choice: Campbell’s Healthy Request Hearty Bean and Vegetable soup is loaded with veggies and beans, and makes a fairly substantial meal. Since it is a healthy variety, it also is lower in sodium and fat. This soup also has 6 grams of fiber, which will help you feel full.

Not so Good Choices: Chicken noodle soups tend to be the lowest in nutrients and highest in sodium. Campbell’s Chicken Noodle has 990mg of sodium per 1 cup serving, and is little more than broth and noodles! Campbell’s Chunky Chicken Noodle is even worse at 1177mg of sodium per serving.

New soups

Relatively new to the market are Campbell’s Gardennay soups. They come ready made in tetra packs, in a variety of gourmet flavors, some of which include Golden Autumn Carrot, Red Pepper Black Bean and Butternut Squash. All of these soups have no preservatives or artificial flavors and are low in fat. These soups are lower in sodium than standard canned soups, and loaded with veggies, containing about 1.5-2 servings of vegetables per one cup portion.

Homemade soups

Homemade soups can be very quick and easy to make, and more nutritious than canned. Broth can be purchased in cartons ready made, and come in light varieties with less salt. Making soup can be a great way to use up left over turkey of roast beef. Simply add lots of cut up vegetables of your choice, rice or pasta and left over meat or canned beans and simmer. Soup can even be made in large batches and frozen for convenient use later on.

Soup and weight loss

Studies have shown that eating soup before, or as a meal can lead to weight loss. Individuals that had soup before regular meals consumed fewer calories at that meal and over time lost weight. This is because soup has high water content, and therefore relatively low energy density. Weight loss is attributed to increased feelings of satiety after eating soups, as fewer calories are consumed in a larger volume of food. So slurp away, but avoid the high fat cream soups!