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If you’ve tried and failed to choose a healthy salad over a slice of pizza or bag of potato chips, try trading that salad for a bowl of soup instead. Researchers have found an astonishingly easy way to curb your high-calorie, low-nutrient food cravings: sip on asavory soupor broth.
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What Causes Soup to Trigger a Feeling of Satiety and Curb Cravings?
Scientists and health professionals speculate that the satiety likely comes from a combination of the umami flavor and the nutrient content.
Savory Flavor
Some suggest soup’s satisfying quality may stem from its typical savory or umami flavor. Aside from chilled fruit-based soups, a slowly simmered broth or stock seasoned with herbs and vegetables usually serves as a soup’s base. Using chicken or beef inbroths or stocksadds to umami flavor depth. In addition, other ingredients like Parmesan cheese rind or additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG) contribute additional umami flavor. Some researchers credit this flavor for providing most of the soup’s satiety.
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Nutrient Content
Protein is one of the most satiating nutrients. A meal containing ample amounts of protein, plant or animal, usuallyleaves one feeling more contentthan a low-protein meal. Protein stimulates your satiety hormones and could cause an increased energy expenditure, per a 2021 study published in theJournal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome.
Most soups provide someprotein from ingredientssuch as broth or stock and other added sources such as chicken, beef, beans, lentils or dairy. On top of that, soups tend to be a source of dietary fiber, thanks to vegetables, beans and legumes. Like protein, fiber is another nutrient that helps you feel fuller. Also, since soups and broths are largely water-based, they’ll hydrate you, in addition to keeping you full.
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The Bottom Line
Having soup or broth before a meal can help you feel more satisfied and curb your cravings for high-calorie, low-nutrient foods. The combination of protein, fiber, water and umami flavor could be why.
If you’re not a soup fan, or at least not in thesummer months, you may find similar satiety with smoothies. Like soups, smoothies are powerhouse foods: they’re filling, hydrating, low to moderate in calories and provide a vehicle to load up on nutrients and produce, especially when you add fiber-rich produce like berries and greens.
However, a key to smoothie satiety islimiting added sugars. Similarly, make sure to watch the sodium content on soups, broths and stocks. If you find yourself struggling to feel satisfied, it’s definitely worth giving them a try.
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