I’ve just come back from a relaxing weekend at my parent’s home – walking on the beach, basking in the sun at outdoor cafes, talking a lot – and eating soup. My mum, who loves no-fuss cooking, whipped up this simple, healthy soup in 10 minutes for dinner. It’s really low in calories and full of soluble fibre from the lentils – great for weight control, diabetes and high cholesterol.

Barbara Rolls, a professor with the Department of Nutritional Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University, looked at the effect of eating soup before a pasta meal. She found that eating vegetable soup (pureed or chunky) before a meal can lower energy intake at the meal by 20%. It makes sense that eating a large volume of a food containing few calories, such as soup or salad, at the start of a meal means you are too full to eat much of the main dinner. All those vegetables are good for weight control and great for a strong immune system. The trick is to eat them before the meal.

1/2 cup red lentils

2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 leek, finely sliced

2 large  carrots, chopped

1 litre chicken stock

Boil together for 10 minutes.

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Related:

Soup nutrition by Aussie nutritionist, Catherine Saxelby

My other soup article (recipe)