Healthy Soups

It’s soup! The healthiest individuals – those without any nutritional deficiencies – have one thing in common. According to two large-scale government surveys of the dietary habits of more than 100,000 Americans across the country, they all eat a lot of soup.

Soups are healthy because they retain fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and E, which are often lost in cooking other foods. They also may contain a variety of foods, especially beans, meat, poultry, or fish, and thus they usually have a substantial amount of protein.

Soups can also help you keep your weight down. In a separate study of one thousand women conducted by the Institute of Behavior Education in Pennsylvania, it was found that those who included soup with lunch consumed fewer calories not only during lunchtime, but throughout the rest of the day as well.

Behavior scientists say soup helps you to lose weight by forcing you to practice better eating habits. You can’t eat soup on the run, as you can a sandwich; generally you have to sit down and eat it slowly, paying attention to how you spoon it. According to their theory, you eat less and lose weight when you slow down the rate of eating and increase your involvement with food.

And that’s not all soups can do for you. Chicken soup can help you get over a cold or bronchitis.

Dr. Maurice Sackner, chief of medicine at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Fla., reports that mucus cleared from the nasal passages of a number of patients at the rate of 9.2 millimeters a minute, just five minutes after they ate chicken soup. Hot water clears passages at a rate of 8.4; cold water at 5.3.

The Medical Center of the University of California, Los Angeles, recommends chicken soup for a cold or bronchitis, especially if the soup contains plenty of pepper, garlic, even curry powder. The spices affect the body like an expectorant. A bowl of hot, spicy chicken soup can break up the congestion you feel in your throat and chest. The center suggests a dose every thirty minutes for maximum benefit.

About the Author: Robin Westen writes about health for national magazines.

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