Autumn is the perfect time to put
healthful, warming soups back on your menu.
There are plenty of delicious and hearty
soup choices just waiting to warm you as the weather gets cooler. Make the
right choices and you can boost your intake of essential nutrients, dietary
fiber and vegies, and even give your weight-loss efforts an edge. Check out our
guide to the best gourmet products on offer.
Go for...
Low-Gi legumes and whole grains
Chickpeas, lentils, split peas, cannellini
and red kidney beans, along with grains like barley and quinoa, are staple soup
ingredients. They bump up dietary fiber scores to between 3g to 6g per serve on
average, provide soluble fiber which helps lower cholesterol, and have a low Gi
to provide a sustained release of energy.
Chickpeas,
lentils, split peas, cannellini and red kidney beans
Versatile vegetable
You can easily increase your vegetable
intake when you're eating them as soup -just 75g of vegetables in a soup is
equal to one serve. Seasonal autumn and winter vegetables include beetroot,
broccoli, brussels sprouts, pumpkin, zucchini, sweet corn and squash.
Protein pep-up Meat turns your soup into a
more satisfying meal and keeps you fuller for longer. It also boosts the
protein, iron and zinc content of the meal.
Tuscan
chicken & vegetable and Lentil vegetable
Go easy on...
Salt and sodium
Compare the sodium content per 100g or
100ml of store-bought soups. Go as low as you can less than 300mg of sodium per
100ml is a good rule.
Fat and saturated fat
Many creamy and condensed soups can have
about l0g of fat per serve, so check labels when shopping. Aim for low
saturated fat figures, below 2g per serve, for everyday healthy eating, and
save creamy versions for an occasional treat.
Gisborn
tomato with basil pesto, tomato spinach & quinoa and Drganic lamb &
barley
Slurp your way to weight loss
Due to their high water and fiber content,
vegetable broth-based soups have a low-energy (kilojoule) density and high
satiety or appetite satisfaction score meaning they fill you up without filling
you out. Research by Dr. Barbara Rolls, at Penn State University's Eating
Laboratory, in the US, shows having a healthy soup before a main meal helps to
lower the total kilojoule intake of that meal by an average of 400kJ.
