Be on Soup Watch

Soup is a great snack or meal, depending on its ingredients and how many calories a serving size has. If you add lean protein like chicken or fish to a vegetable based soup, it can be a great lunch, along with a salad, whole grain roll and piece of fruit. Here’s where it gets a bit tricky. Soups notoriously have quite a bit of sodium or salt, especially if it comes out of a can.

Experts currently recommend that most Americans try to target getting only 2000-2500 mgs. salt daily. If your soup has 900 – 1100 mgs. of sodium/serving, then that one meal has half a day’s worth of salt. Learn to read your soup can labels to see how much sodium is in that can of soup. If the sodium is quite high, you can dilute the soup with water and add some fresh herbs and more cooked veggies (frozen will work) in order to reduce the sodium and boost the nutrients. Or make your own by starting with vegetable stock (you can buy vegetarian, low sodium) and adding in a variety of cooked vegetables, beans (rinsed and pre-cooked), whole grain pasta and fresh herbs. Instead of beans and pasta add small cubes of potatoes and white meat chicken. A cup can serve as a snack and a full bowl can be a hearty meal of the day.