If you have resolved to lose weight in the new year, you might be tempted to try a
soup diet for the first time.
It has become trendy to shed pounds by switching to an all-soup diet. Popular options include:
- Broth-based soup. This diet usually lasts for a week or two and aims to avoid cream-based soups that can be higher in fat and calories.
- Keto soup. These low-carbohydrate, high-fat, moderate-protein soups mimic the keto diet itself. Proponents contend that this type of soup diet can help people shed weight in less than a week.
- Bean soup diet. Unlike most other soup-based diets, this one is intended to last indefinitely. Participants eat up to two meals a day of Dr. Michael Greger's Champion Vegetable Bean Soup. Greger co-authored the book "How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease."
Similar diets include the
cabbage soup diet, chicken soup diet and sacred heart diet (which features a broth-based soup and non-starchy vegetables).
However, before you grab a soup pot and overhaul your diet, you should be aware of the limitations of this type of diet.
“Soup diets not only aren’t sustainable, they’re not a good idea even in the short term,” says Carrie Dennett, a Pacific Northwest-based registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of
Nutrition By Carrie.
Why a soup diet is unlikely to work
Soup diets are nothing new, Dennett says. “They’re one of those things that ebbs and flows in popularity,” she says.
Dennett says she remembers when “it seemed like everyone was doing the cabbage soup diet in the mid-90s.” She notes that an internet search for that type of diet still turns up tens of millions of results.
Turning to a soup diet can indeed result in temporary weight loss, Dennett says.
“Because the type of soups used for these diets are
broth or water-based and include a lot of vegetables, they are low-calorie and temporarily filling,” she says.
However, Dennett says that over time, many dieters grow weary of eating soup all the time. Even worse, the body eventually can have a negative reaction to soup diets.
“Your body’s going to say, ‘You can’t fool me: I know you’re not giving me enough protein and calories,’” Dennett says. “And you’re going to be really hungry.”
Being hungry all the time can reduce your quality of life, and undereating can actually slow your metabolism, causing you to gain back weight you have lost.
“Losing weight only to regain it can feel hard emotionally, and yo-yo dieting isn’t good for physical health,” Dennett says.
Adding soup to your diet in a healthful way
The bottom line is that a soup diet is unlikely to help you permanently achieve weight-loss goals.
“As with any diet, if soup diets worked — and by worked, I mean that people lost weight and were able to keep it off for the long term — then no one would be talking about them now,” Dennett says. “Everyone would have already lost weight.”
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat soup. “
Including soup in your meal rotation can be a great idea,” Dennett says.
Eating water-rich meals — including soups and meals that include fruits and vegetables — is one way to make sure the body meets its fluid needs, she says.
Soups — particularly broth-based soups — can also be an affordable way to get important foods into your diet, including fiber- and nutrient-rich vegetables, beans, lentils and whole grains, Dennett says.
In the winter,
hot soups are “warm and comforting,” Dennett says. During the summer, cold soups like
gazpacho can be great choices when it’s too hot to cook.
“Most soups taste even better the next day, which is helpful when you’re busy and like to rely on leftovers to reduce how many nights you need to cook,” Dennett says.
She notes that while cream-based soups can be both “delicious and nutritious,” broth-based soups — including chicken, beef, fish or vegetable — generally are more healthful.
Dennett suggests adding vegetables, plant- or animal-based protein, and some sort of carbohydrate to your soups. “If soup’s the only thing on the menu, make it a balanced meal,” she says.
Examples might include:
