Soup is both nutritious and relatively easy to digest. A survey by American nutritionists showed that among over 60,000 people who underwent nutritional examinations, those who were well-nourished were precisely those who regularly drank soup. However, if you don't drink it at the right time, it can make you gain more weight the more you drink it.
Many people think that drinking soup is a very simple matter, but they don't realize that only by drinking soup scientifically can you absorb nutrients while avoiding fat accumulation. In this regard, what do we need to pay attention to?
There's a big difference between drinking soup before and after a meal: The timing of drinking soup is very particular. As the saying goes, "Soup before a meal keeps you slim and healthy; soup after a meal makes you fatter," and there is some truth to this. Drinking a few mouthfuls of soup before a meal can lubricate the mouth and esophagus, preventing dry and hard foods from irritating the digestive tract's mucous membranes, and it helps with diluting and mixing food, promoting digestion and absorption. Most importantly, drinking soup before a meal allows the food in the stomach to fully press against the stomach wall, enhancing the feeling of fullness, thereby suppressing the feeding center and reducing a person's appetite.
Research has shown: Drinking a bowl of soup before a meal can reduce the absorption of 100-190 kilocalories of heat. Conversely, drinking soup after a meal is an unhealthy way to eat. On one hand, you are already full from the meal, and drinking soup more can easily lead to excessive nutrition and cause obesity. Additionally, the soup you drink last will dilute the chyme that was already well-mixed with digestive juices, affecting the digestion and absorption of food.
Drinking soup at noon is less likely to cause weight gain
Which meal is more suitable for drinking soup: breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Experts point out, "The least amount of heat is absorbed when drinking soup at lunchtime." Therefore, to prevent weight gain, it's a good idea to choose to drink soup at noon. Dinner, however, should not have too much soup, otherwise, the rapidly absorbed nutrients will accumulate in the body, easily leading to weight gain.
It's best to choose low-fat ingredients for your soup
To prevent gaining weight from drinking soup, you should try to use high-fat, high-calorie ingredients as little as possible, such as old hens, fatty ducks, etc. Even if you use them, it's best to skim off the excess fat during the stewing process. Lean meat, fresh fish, dried shrimp, skinless chicken or duck, rabbit meat, winter melon, loofah, radish, konjac, tomato, seaweed, kelp, and mung bean sprouts are all excellent low-fat soup ingredients, so you might want to use more of them.
The slower you drink soup, the less likely you are to gain weight
American nutritionists point out that if you extend the time you eat, you can fully enjoy the taste of the food and feel full earlier. The same goes for drinking soup. Drinking soup slowly allows ample time for the digestion and absorption of food. When you feel full, that's the perfect amount to have eaten; whereas if you drink soup quickly, by the time you realize you're full, you may have already consumed more than your body needs.
Four-Ingredient Duck Soup