6 Ways For Beginners To Add A Healthy Bowl Of Soup To Your Lifestyle

One incredible way to eat healthy food, boost your veggies, and switch to home-cooked meals is soups. Initial transition can be a bit difficult, but once you are there, your meals will be incomplete without these healthy bowls. You can also use simple soup recipes from McKenzie’s Foods to ditch your busy and long days and win the challenge for healthy eating. 

Taking small and steady steps to make this switch can help you achieve long-term sustainable health goals easily. Here are some tips that can help you begin your journey to a healthy soup-based diet and enhance the quality of your life.

A low-salt base is good, to begin with

Low-sodium bases such as low-salt chicken, beef, or vegetable stock are nutritional wonders for the offset of your journey to these amazing steamy bowls. You can make bone broth by simmering vegetables or bones at home or buy an unsalted or low-sodium broth from a nearby store. 

However, while shopping from the store, make sure that you pick a packet with less than 400mg sodium/cup. Otherwise, you can dilute the salt content by mixing water with it.

Test your creativity with veggies

For those who think soups are boring, getting a bit creative with the vegetables can burst the myth. For your first week, you can jazz the usual combinations with some fennel, celery root, leafy greens, okra, squash, and much more. One creative idea is to give a low-calorie noodle touch to your bowl by adding shredded strips of cabbage.

Take a pureed route for a creamer experience.

If you like to recreate the creamy texture of the soup from your favorite restaurant, pureeing the vegetables can do the magic. It is an easy way to make your soup luxurious without adding ingredients like cream that are high in calories. 

You can simply saute the aromatic ingredients like onions and garlic, add your main vegetables to it, season, and blend everything until it becomes thick, silky, and rich. You can add potatoes or white beans to make it even creamier.

Get playful with whole grains.

One argument that goes against a soup-based diet is that it is not balanced as the grains are left out. Interestingly, some soup recipes allow you to even incorporate grains that you usually do not eat. It is a perfect example as it is often not taken in any other form. Also, it works great in soups by giving the dish a thick and irresistible texture.

Add lentils and beans for a fuller meal.

Here is another pointer that slays the arguments against soups. For the longest time, soups are considered the best vehicles for routing plant-based protein in your diet. Lentil-veggie soup is a popular choice that is loved by people from all age groups. It is easy to make as you can directly add dry lentils to the broth while cooking. You can make your bowl richer in fiber, protein, and other nutrients by replacing pasta with beans.

Satiate your meat hunger with less

If you are skeptical of fully vegetarian meals while still trying to slash down on meat, soups are the best way to satiate your craving. You can use a very small portion of animal protein, like half a pound, to prepare an entire pot filled with meat flavor. For instance, using kale and white beans with a small portion of sausage makes a healthy bowl that also pacifies your meat craving.