Warm Up, Slim Down and Get Healthy With Delicious Winter Soups

Winter is officially here. It's the season of long nights and short days, of reflection and looking inward, and of thinking of ways to keep warm: scarves, gloves, fireplaces, cuddling... and soup. Ahh, soup.

When I want to remedy that "cold to the bone" wintertime feeling, a delicious steaming bowl of soup often comes to mind. Here are four great reasons to eat more soup this season, followed by some easy and delicious recipes:

1. Unlike some other comfort food (especially holiday comfort food), soup is generally good for you.

Soup can be part of a comprehensive plan to achieve or maintain a healthy weight. Research suggests that soup can help to increase satiety and reduce caloric intake when consumed before a meal. Soup can help you feel full and satisfied but not heavy and weighed down.

2. Soups are a great way to follow your New Year's resolution to increase vegetable consumption.

Still trying to figure out a simple way to eat more kale, Swiss chard or spinach? You may want to consider adding your favorite greens to soup recipes as well as experimenting with other veggies.

3. Making soup lets you be creative in the kitchen, no matter how "culinarily challenged" you are.

Soups are relatively easy to make, so unlike with some dishes, where it wouldn't be advised for an amateur to alter the recipe too much, when it comes to soup, even a novice can enjoy some culinary creativity. It's fun to experiment with a favorite soup recipe and add your own twist, such as varying the types of vegetables or herbs used.

4. You can put ingredients in your soup to support a healthy immune system, which is especially helpful during the cold and flu season.

In traditional Chinese medicine, soups are sometimes part of the treatment plan, and there are so lots of "food as medicine" ingredients that can be added to soups. "Medicinal" mushrooms such as shiitake and maitake can provide substantial support to the immune system; ginger has anti-inflammatory properties and is beneficial for the digestive system; thyme can be beneficial to respiratory health; and garlic has numerous health benefits -- it is known for its antimicrobial activity and can help to prevent infection. And those are just a few examples.

Recipes:

It is recommended to use organic ingredients when possible. Enjoy!

Do you have a delicious soup recipe to share? Please share your favorites with our HuffPost Healthy Living community in the comments section below. Being served a warm bowl of soup is such a treat. Sharing tips and recipes is a close second and are warmly received with gratitude.

 

 

 

Follow Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drpatriciafitz

Comments

[Lana Simard]

01:04 PM on 01/02/2012

In our house we eat a lot of home made soups and stews.

[AzizalSaqr]

06:40 PM on 01/01/2012

That Bieler's Broth picture gives me a sudden urge to see "The Exorcist".

[eyeforeye42]

06:39 PM on 01/01/2012

Soups are great but limit yourself on adders such as crackers or a couple pieces of bread to mop things up! A neat chicken soup begins with one of those precooked cornish hens you can get in the supermarket. After you have a dinner of it and maybe a couple sandwiches, there is still lots of tidbits of meat plus the bones to simmer down for your base of chicken soup.

[FOXYROSE]

05:39 PM on 01/01/2012

I love home made soups and stews - they are healthy and warming on a chilly NE day. I made a wonderful soup from the turkey remains and bones - I added some veggies and noodles and it was wonderful. Soups are no longer cheap, one used to be able to get free soup bones, now they charge for them. I don't know how a family of 5 affords to eat a well balanced meal today!

[dickn2000b]

02:19 PM on 01/01/2012

You see, there we go again...another recipe with a pretentious ingredient: Organic Sesame Oil. Why does it have to be organic? Is organic more pure? Nope! Is it healthier? Nope! Does it cost more? You betcha it costs more! At least there was no Sea Salt in this one.

[ssnugsbug]

06:08 PM on 01/01/2012

Big deal. Use regular oil and salt. Sea salt is suggested because it retains some of the natural minerals in it. You are big enough to know that this is something you could have solved without the comments. What is "pretentious" to you is standard to another person.

[dickn2000b]

08:21 PM on 01/01/2012

I implore you to use all the sea salt you want. But considering all the heavy metals found in the oceans, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and many others, the last type of salt I will be using is sea salt. Your second sentence makes absolutely zero sense to me. What is, "... something you could have solved without the comments." supposed to mean? And finally...I'm a retired professional chef with more than 50 years in the kitchen and I have yet to use a single ingredient I consider pretentious. And anyone who uses pretentious ingredients are, themselves, pretentious.

[xxgreyeyes]

02:04 PM on 01/01/2012

If you want to lose weight cut out all bread, bad carbs, pasta, desserts, candy, processed sugar. If you want something sweet eat an apple or some other type of fruit. Eat real food that doesn't have a bunch of artificial ingredients.

[mootown]

10:09 PM on 01/01/2012

I have eliminated all wheat and most grains plus sugar and feel better than i have in years. Losing weight have lots of energy eat terrific real food like meat butter veggies eggs bacon and my many aches and pains have disappeared along with better sleep and clearer thinking. We have been sold a harmful myth that dietary fat is badand loading up on carbs is the answer. WRONG. I made a wonderful veggie soup with lots of ground rou d steak today. The FDA is bullied and lobbied by giant food producers and

[xxgreyeyes]

10:53 PM on 01/01/2012

I'm actually a raw vegan, heh. I love animals too much and green smoothies and bell peppers. I love bell peppers. I know vegetables and fruit have carbs but not like bread and pasta. Maybe fruit...

[Lalabomba]

11:46 AM on 01/01/2012

Acorn Squash and Sweet Italian Sausage Soup MMMM!

[Lalabomba]

11:42 AM on 01/01/2012

my favorite has to be my garlic and fish. Its loaded with homemade chicken stock, white fish, garlic, black pepper, red pepper flakes, ginger root, shallots and a touch of soy and sugar. also goes great with wontons instead of fish. Its spicy and satisfying!

[traceymarie]

10:58 PM on 01/02/2012

yum

[hccharles3]

09:25 AM on 01/01/2012

I make an old European style soup, improvised from Mom's potato soup. beef bones or stock.baby lima beans, carrots, sliced celery, onions, salt, other beans if desired, well cooked 1 and 1 half hour.Simmer and cook curly noodles. serve over noodles. The combination of lima beans and noodles makes the soup thicker and more hearty.diced potatoes can be substituted for beans. Makes enough servings for several meals.

[eddiedunn200]

09:01 AM on 01/01/2012

There's nothing better than good ole fashioned veggie soup. Preferably with beef, or beef stock. Everything and anything can go into this. The more veggies the better. My friends all say I put everything except the kitchen sink in my veggie soup....LOL I put cabbage in it. I put squash in it. Then dry beans and peas. Then corn, carrots, celery, onions and potatoes. And on and on and on. If you are not careful, you will end up with enough soup to feed the neighborhood, which I have done.

[mootown]

10:13 PM on 01/01/2012

made some today. My moms re cipe using ground beef-good beef and use a tomato juice base and then a potful of veggies.

[Jennifer Kley]

05:56 PM on 12/31/2011

This soup recipe looks so good. For some reason I've been craving soup for weeks now and still haven't gotten around to eating any. Harris Teeter grocery store has a tomato bisque that's just knee weakening. Shocked at how good it was. When I think of soup that one crosses my mind for a clear one but soup w/ debris in it is what I've been craving. Minestrone. Ugh.
http://thecubiclerebel.wordpress.com/

[Hlynn]

01:08 AM on 12/31/2011

I like to try new recipes and see some good ones online, but I wish the nutritional information were included. It would help to make the best choices of which ones to try.

[Hlynn]

12:52 AM on 12/31/2011

That lentil and quinoa soup recipe looks good. I'm going to try it with the lemon.

[Karl Wilder]

12:59 PM on 12/30/2011

I love a good old cabbage soup stuffed with all the veg I have around.

[lele23]

12:22 PM on 12/30/2011

The recipes look great. Thanks!

Soup can be a good "vehicle" for other foods. I like to add greens, particularly steamed kale or Swiss chard, to nearly any kind of soup. Butternut squash soup is great with sliced almonds on top.