Winterize your body with healthy soups

by the American Institute for Cancer Research

Quick to prepare and warmly satisfying, soups are an ideal way to eat well in the winter. When you stoke soup with vegetables, whole grains and beans, you’re adding foods that brim with phytochemicals. The beauty of phytochemicals is that they are naturally occurring compounds that, along with vitamins and minerals, help boost immunity and fend off disease.

Favorite vegetable soups like tomato, lentil and onion are teeming with valuable nutrients. Vitamin C-rich tomato soup provides a serving of vegetables in the liquid itself, and more can come from added vegetables. Carrots, cauliflower, peppers, cabbage and broccoli are just a few more great soup veggies that provide natural compounds that may protect our cells from damage that can lead to cancer. Soups made with vegetables, beans and whole grains have many phytochemicals, which seem to work together with vitamins, fiber and minerals to protect our health.

Starting a meal with soup can suppress the impulse to eat large portions later in the meal. Just make sure you’re not ladling out generous helpings of cream- or cheese-based soups that are high in fat and calories. If you want a creamy texture, stir in some fat-free milk or evaporated skim milk.

Homemade soup doesn’t have to take long to prepare. Just start with a good quality store-bought broth that is fat-free and low in sodium. Add a handful of several different frozen vegetables and heat through to make a standard vegetable soup. Add canned beans and cooked pasta, and you have minestrone.

Herbs, garlic and spices can punch up the taste: A dash of curry or chili powder complements squash or pea soup, and a dash of dill or thyme enlivens tomato soup.  This soup has a base of steamed sweet potatoes, which contain plenty of beta-carotene.