Being fit and healthy is very ‘in’ these days. People want to look good as well as be healthy. No wonder you see so many avid walkers in every park, fitness freaks in every gym, and wellness fanatics in every yoga class. Losing weight seems to be the one single thing that everybody wants. It’s the most popular New Year Resolution, and it’s one of the most searched topics on the Internet.

Did you know that just one little alteration to your daily diet can help you lose weight more effectively?

This magic solution is your ‘humble soup’. Researchers say that having a bowl of soup before your lunch or dinner reduces your calorie intake by as much as 100 calories per meal. Not convinced?

• Soup is mostly had hot. This means you eat it slowly. It has been known for a long time that the slower you eat your meals, more will be the satisfaction you get out of them. So when you slowly gulp down mouthfuls of soup, you are making sure that you do not need a lot of food after the soup.

• Soups have high water content. This helps in filling up your belly without piling on too many calories. The water content makes you feel fuller and satiated quite quickly. This also keeps away the hunger pangs during the following hours. If you just eat fruit or only a salad, you are bound to want to snack later. Soup takes care of this problem.

• Soups provide the taste buds with an interesting mixture of salt, spices and other flavors. Once again, only fruit or salad can leave your taste buds asking for some real (salty) food. But once you have had a soup, you feel like you have had a complete meal.

This surely does not mean that you can subsist on a soup diet alone. That would leave you completely deprived of protein and carbohydrates. Reducing the amount of carbs you take in, helps in instant weight loss. But you should not completely go off carbs.

So how can you make healthy meal combos that are tasty, nutritious and low on calories?

• Have a soup before your ‘real’ lunch.

• For dinner, you could cut back on the carbs and just have a soup with a salad or some fruit.

• Preferably, make your own soup at home.

• Avoid thick creamy soups as they do not help in weight loss.

• Go for clear soups.

• Add cooked/boiled pasta to your soup dish at times.

• Use the leftovers in your fridge to make soups more interesting.

• Do not forget to include low-fat milk in your diet for the protein.