INTERESTING
As the temperatures outside start to reach freezing levels, there is nothing like soup to help warm you up. There are many benefits of soup other than it being a healthy meal and warming you from the inside out. Most hot caffeinated beverages consumed during the winter months leave you dehydrated, but soup nourishes you from within and helps increase your core body temperature. Soups contain both a high fiber and water content and can keep you satiated in a hydrating way. Research shows that people who drink soup regularly have a lower dietary energy density and better diet quality, thus having the ability to help you lose weight. Soups also contain less calories and can provide high satiety. This happens through a combination of delayed gastric emptying; it leads to feelings of gastric distension and the rapid accessibility of nutrients, causing a higher glycemic response. This allows for it to have the ability to keep you feeling full while also maintaining stable blood sugars.
Most soup recipes are often full of beans, fibrous vegetables, lentils, and meat which leads to healthy digestion. Fiber-rich diets aid in smooth digestion and can increase insulin sensitivity. Soup is power packed with nutrients and is a great meal to make in bulk, especially for people who have difficulty eating 7-8 servings of vegetables a day. The slow cooking method of soup ensures that it retains the vitamins and minerals of cooked vegetables since you also consume the broth itself. Certain nutrients like beta carotene from carrots and lycopene from tomatoes are better absorbed by the body when food is cooked rather than when eaten raw.
Certain soup recipes include slow cooking the whole carcass with tendons, ligaments, and bones which generates a broth high in collagen, gelatin, and glycine that have a high anti-inflammatory effect. A bowl of bone broth can improve gut motility, promote healthy bowel movements, combat gut inflammation and treat gut dysbiosis (the imbalance in the gut microbial community that is associated with disease). It can also help boost immunity to keep stomach infections at bay. Soup is naturally healing and can help fight the flu/colds. Hot soup, particularly with chicken, is superior to other hot/cold liquids in the management of fluids in upper respiratory tract infections. The nutrition filled broth boosts immunity, rehydrates your body, and promotes digestion which makes it a perfect meal when you have a sore throat or poor appetite. The hot vapors from soup help warm you up and clear nasal passages when you are feeling sick.
Recipe for Simple Healthy “Get Well” Soup
Ingredients:
½ yellow onion diced
1.5 cups chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 tbsp olive oil
2 (15 oz) cans cannellini beans (white beans)
4 cups veggie broth
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp dried dill
1 tsp dried thyme
Handful fresh spinach
Add-ins:
2 cups of cooked rice or pasta
In a soup pot, on medium heat, sauté veggies in olive oil for 5-10 minutes.
Add in beans, spices, and veggie broth then simmer for 25 minutes.
Add in fresh spinach at the end, stir until wilted.
Add in cooked rice or your favorite pasta. Don’t cook the rice in the soup because it will soak up all the broth and get starchy.
