Super Healthy Soups

How to Make a Healthy Selection
  -- By Becky Hand, Licensed & Registered Dietitian
Take stock the next time you walk through the soup aisle at your local grocery store. Soup can be good and healthy food. It can be a tasty way to add healthy beans, legumes, grains and vegetables to your diet. It's a convenient, yet inexpensive way to add protein, vitamins, minerals and fiber to your diet. And soup is both comforting and filling—a hot, savory bowl can help take the chill out of the fall and winter seasons. Want more reasons to ladle up?

• Soup may curb your appetite. Studies show that people who eat broth or vegetable-based soups (not creamy or high-fat ones) as the first course of a meal consume fewer total calories during their meal. In fact, study participants consumed 20% fewer calories when they started their meal with soup!
• Soup can help you slow down. Eating a bowl of soup involves spooning, slurping, smelling, tasting, chewing, and swallowing. This helps you slow down your eating time instead of inhaling your food. Slower eaters tend to notice signs of fullness sooner and consume fewer calories by better enjoying their food in the moment.
• Soup stimulates the senses. These warm concoctions have unique aromas, tastes, enjoyable temperatures and visual interest, which add to the pleasure you experience when eating.

But beware! Canned soups can be loaded with sodium and fat. But you can make healthy choices in the soup aisle by going straight for the nutrition label. Pay attention to serving size, as many cans contain two or more servings. Look for soups with the following nutrient levels per 1-cup serving:

• 250 calories (or less) per serving, to keep your diet in check.
• 3 grams of fat (or less) per serving, to protect your heart.
• 3 grams of fiber (or more) per serving, for filling power.
• 600 mg of sodium (or less) per serving, to help keep blood pressure in check.

In addition to these guidelines, you can boost the nutrition, flavor and filling power of your soup with the following additions:

• Add your favorite herbs and spices to boost the flavor of reduced-sodium soups. Experiment with pepper, basil, parsley, oregano, garlic, ginger, or salt-free seasoning blends like Mrs. Dash.
• Add calcium and protein (without extra fat) by reconstituting your soup with skim milk, evaporated skim milk, non-fat dry milk powder, or calcium-fortified soymilk instead of water, whole milk or cream.
• Add frozen or leftover veggies to increase the fiber, vitamins and minerals in your soup. Spinach, broccoli, corn, celery, carrots and potatoes work well in most soups.
• Add beans and whole grains for more fiber, protein and filling power. Try potatoes, beans, lentils, lima beans, brown rice, barley, or whole wheat pasta.

The following list contains some popular soups (in alphabetical order) that fit the recommendations above. These brands and varieties are available at your local grocery store or online. This product information may change, however, so always check nutrition labels before you buy.

Healthy Canned Soups (Nutrition Information per 1-cup serving)

Soup Brand and Variety	Calories	Fat (g)	Protein (g)	Fiber (g)	Sodium (mg)
Amy’s, Alphabet	80	0	3	2	580
Amy’s, Black Bean Vegetable	130	1.5	6	5	430
Amy’s, Butternut Squash	100	2.5	2	2	580
Amy’s, Minestrone	90	1.5	3	3	580
Amy’s, No Chicken Noodle	90	3	5	2	540
Amy’s, Vegetable Barley	70	1	2	3	580
Campbell ’s Healthy Request, Chunky Beef Barley	140	2	9	5	480
Campbell ’s Healthy Request, Chunky Chicken Noodle	120	2.5	7	1	480
Campbell ’s Healthy Request, Chunky Chicken/Sausage Gumbo	140	2.5	8	3	480
Campbell ’s Healthy Request, Chunky New England Clam Chowder	120	2	6	3	480
Campbell ’s Healthy Request, Chunky Old Fashioned Vegetable Beef	110	2	7	3	480
Campbell ’s Healthy Request, Chunky Vegetable	120	1	4	4	480
Campbell ’s Select, Chicken with Egg Noodles	100	2.5	7	2	480
Campbell ’s Select, Italian Wedding Soup	120	2.5	7	2	480
Campbell ’s Select, Mexican Style Chicken Tortilla	130	2.5	8	3	480
Campbell ’s Select, Savory Chicken/Long Grain Rice	110	1.5	7	2	480
Healthy Choice, Bean and Ham	180	2	11	10	480
Healthy Choice, Chicken Dumpling	140	2.5	9	3	480
Healthy Choice, Chicken and Rice	110	1.5	7	3	480
Healthy Choice, Chicken Tortilla Style	160	2	10	4	470
Healthy Choice,  Country Vegetable	110	2	5	4	480
Healthy Choice, Fiesta	120	2	6	3	480
Healthy Choice, Garden Vegetable	120	0.5	5	5	480
Healthy Choice, Hearty Chicken	130	2	9	3	480
Healthy Choice, New England Clam	110	1	5	2	480
Healthy Choice, Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle	100	1.5	9	2	480
Healthy Choice, Split Pea and Ham	170	2	9	3	480
Healthy Choice, Vegetable Beef	130	1	9	4	480
Healthy Choice, Zesty Gumbo	100	2	6	4	480
Pritikin, Chicken with Pasta	60	0.5	3	2	290
Pritikin, Chicken and Rice	80	1	3	0	290
Pritikin, Hearty Vegetable	80	0	3	2	290
Pritikin, Lentil	130	0	9	6	290
Pritikin, Split Pea	180	0.5	12	7	290
Progresso Healthy Favorites, Chicken Gumbo	110	1.5	7	2	450
Progresso Healthy Favorites, Chicken Noodle	90	1.5	7	1	450
Progresso Healthy Favorites, Garden Vegetable	100	0	3	3	450
Progresso Healthy Favorites, Minestrone	120	2	5	4	470

Healthy Soups Cups and Microwavable Soup Bowls (Nutrition Information per 1-cup serving)

Soup Brand and Variety	Calories	Fat (g)	Protein (g)	Fiber (g)	Sodium (mg)
Campbell ’s Chunky Classic Chicken Noodle	110	3	7	1	480
Campbell ’s Chunky Chicken/Sausage Gumbo	130	2.5	8	3	480
Campbell ’s Select, Italian Wedding Soup	120	3	7	2	480
Campbell ’s Select, Mexican Style Chicken Tortilla	130	2.5	8	3	480
Healthy Choice, Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle	110	2	8	3	480
Healthy Choice, Beef Potato Roast	110	1	7	5	480
Healthy Choice, Chicken with Rice	90	1.5	6	2	480
Healthy Choice. Country Vegetable	100	0.5	4	5	480
Healthy Valley Fat Free, Chicken Noodle Vegetable	110	0	5	3	390
Healthy Valley Fat Free, Creamy Potato Broccoli	80	0	3	4	390
Healthy Valley Fat Free,  Garden Split Pea	110	0	7	4	290
Healthy Valley Fat Free, Spicy Black Bean Couscous	130	0	6	5	290
Healthy Valley Fat Free, Zesty Black Bean Rice	100	0	5	4	320

Healthy Dried Soups (Nutrition Information per 1-cup serving)

Soup Brand and Variety	Calories	Fat (g)	Protein (g)	Fiber (g)	Sodium (mg)
Fantastic Foods, Dutch Split Pea	120	1	8	5	580
Fantastic Cha Cha Chili Bean	110	1.5	6	7	580
Tasty Adventure, Black Bean	210	1	13	9	530
Tasty Adventure, Golden Pea	220	1	15	5	500
Tasty Adventure, Minestrone	160	0.5	10	9	250
Tasty Adventure, Navy Bean	190	0	13	9	450
Tasty Adventure, Split Pea	220	1	16	16	500
Tasty Adventure, Sweet Corn Chowder	190	1	13	5	470