By Sara Butler
If there’s one good thing about fall and winter, it’s soup. It tastes good, it’s warming, and it’s soothing -- what’s not to love? Well, it turns out there are several things in soup not to love. Many soups can be full of saturated fat, sodium, and MSG. Yes, some soups can be soothing but not great for your overall health and wellness. Here are some of the worst soup ingredients that you should avoid.
Heavy Cream
Heavy cream creates an inviting texture for soups but that’s where its positive contributions end. Soups that are cream based are often full of fat and calories. It’s best to choose soups and recipes for soups you make at home that have broth as a base. Just make sure to keep an eye on the sodium!
Juice
You may not think of juice as an ingredient for soup, but there are plenty of soups that use fruit juices to raise their flavor profiles. Fruit juice is often full of sugar and calories, so it’s not a great addition to the soup.
Turkey Bacon
Bacon makes a soup taste good -- there’s really no denying it. But if you think you’re helping to make a soup healthier by using turkey bacon instead of regular bacon, then you might want to rethink it. Turkey bacon, while lower in saturated fat and calories, has a lot more sodium. If you have high blood pressure, then that’s a no-no. You’re actually better off with regular bacon in this case because it has monounsaturated fats as well as more protein than turkey bacon. Just be careful how much you add -- you don’t want to pig out.
Cheese
Most soups already tip the scales when it comes to fat and salt but adding cheese will only make that worse. Cheese-based soups are definitely not good for your health since a small bowl can have more than its fair share of fat and calories.
Croutons
Sometimes it’s nice to add a little crunch to your soup in the form of croutons, but it’s probably not a good idea. Croutons usually lack any fiber or whole grains and only add calories to your soup. Plus, they’re high in sodium. So, skip the crouton and have a slice of homemade whole grain bread with your soup instead.
Soup can be a healthy and satisfying meal as long as you steer clear of the pitfalls!
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Memphis, Tenn.
