Newsweek has a short, interesting article on the four worst kinds of soups, from the standpoint of health and nutrition. Dr. Robert Vogel of the Pritikin Longevity Center points to high fat and calorie counts and sodium levels per serving that can exceed an entire day’s recommended amount as reasons for making soup from scratch or being a smarter customer.
Clear soups with a lot of pasta or vegetables are recommended as the most heart-healthy. If you’re eating out or not making your own, these are the four worst offenders:
Canned soups – Dr. Vogel says read the label, read the label! These soups can deliver trans fats as well as excessive sodium. For example, Campbell’s condensed green-pea soup contains 360 calories and 1,740mg of sodium per cup; the daily guideline for sodium is 2,400mg. In addition, some canned soups have MSG. If the thought of MSG makes you recoil, the only mainstream canned chicken broth I’ve found that is free of MSG is Swanson Natural Goodness; Swanson Certified Organic broth in aseptic packs is also MSG-free.
Powdered soups – One of the first things beginning cooks learn is to avoid soup packets, bouillon cubes and the like because they are loaded with sodium and don’t taste good. But what about a quick lunch, the “add water and microwave” variety? Newsweek says one serving of powdered cream of vegetable soup made with water contains a mere 107 calories but 1,170mg of sodium. It also points out powdered soups are full of artificial additives, making them worse than canned soups.
Anything creamy - The very dairy products that make them taste so good can add more than 14 grams of saturated fat per serving, or three quarters of the recommended daily allowance. How bad can it get? One serving of Denny’s New England clam chowder contains 624 calories and 42 grams of fat.
Add-ons - This is the one I hadn’t thought of and it’s easy to overlook. Lush, melted cheese on French onion soup is expected, as is some toasted baguette. Put ‘em all together and that seemingly-benign bowl of clear broth and onions can top 700 calories. Be aware, is the advice from the experts. Every handful of crackers added mindlessly to soup, every automatic reach for the salt shaker are reasons to pause.
And allow me to add a fifth: ramen noodle soups. If you’re concerned about sodium, stay away from these or throw away the seasoning packet. There is so much sodium in these — more than a day’s worth — that the nutrition labels on some were changed to claim each pack of ramen soup is two servings, not one.
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Ah…. Mama isn’t going to be so happy to hear from Ella on this one, but she needs to. She’s a great fan of soups, and also is supposed to be eating low-fat-low-sodium. I’m bringing her home from her hurricane “vacation” next week, and I believe she may find this printed out, front and center on her fridge.
Thanks!
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I found a type of ramen that was not only relatively low in sodium, but was also air-dried instead of deep-fried, making it about 250 calories a serving instead of 400. Damned if I can find it now, though.
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shore – Nobody likes to be a party-pooper, I know. If it’s any help, there are several good and easy soups in my soups and stews category. Maybe there’s one she might like.
rain – Wow, I’ve never heard of such a thing but I admit I haven’t looked at ramens in ages. If we have anything like that here — and that’s a huge if — it would probably be at a health food store or someplace like Whole Foods. Now I’m curious and will keep an eye out. Thanks for the tip.