Want to stay healthy while going easy on your tummy? Soups are your best option when it comes to managing your calorie intake, as well as ensuring easy digestion. Soups, when served warm or hot with essential solid ingredients boiled in water in a liquid pot, extract the flavors from meat, chicken or vegetables to form a broth.Want to stay healthy while going easy on your tummy? Soups are your best option when it comes to managing your calorie intake, as well as ensuring easy digestion. Soups, when served warm or hot with essential solid ingredients boiled in water in a liquid pot, extract the flavors from meat, chicken or vegetables to form a broth.

Soups are classified into clear soups and those thickened with puree, cream, and béchamel sauce. Other thickening ingredients used in soups are flour, rice, grains, pumpkin, potatoes, and lentils. If you plan to shed some extra kilos without compromising on your supply of essential nutrients and vitamins intake, then try the following healthy soup recipes

Healthy Chicken and Vegetable Soup

This soup is easy to make and is packed with the best of all veggies to refresh your senses after a long tiring day.
Ingredients needed to make the soup (for four persons) are:

• 1 Onion chopped and diced
• 1 ½ pounds of boneless chicken marinated in lemon juice
• 2 sliced carrots and celery, 2 cups baby spinach
• 1 cup finely chopped coriander
• 2 cup extra-wide wheat pasta noodles
• 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
• Small cup of pepper powder, red pepper flakes if needed, and salt to taste

How to prepare:
Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the diced onion with sprinkled salt to make them golden brown in 5 minutes. Then add herbs, including finely chopped coriander and lemon zest, to 2 cups of water. Now add boneless marinated chicken to it, and simmer until the chicken cooks well. Add sliced carrots, celery and baby spinach to the broth. Cook this for 5 minutes. Add extra-wide wheat pasta noodles to the broth. Cook this well and add salt and powdered pepper as needed to make it mild or medium spicy. Stir it in lemon juice. Ladle the piping hot soup now into serving bowls and add Parmesan cheese on the top.

Pumpkin Spiced Squashed Soup

This soup will meet your sweet craving appetite with its creamy texture made of squashed pumpkin, Greek yogurt, and coconut milk. An ideal choice for weekend evenings when you are in no mood to cook, but would still like to opt for a healthy homemade meal that is light on your tummy. This soup is an easy, quick fix to meet your cravings and hunger pangs, without costing much or piling up on the extra calories. Ingredients needed to make this soup (for 4 persons) are:

• ½ cup of finely diced onion
• 2 cloves and garlic minced
• ½ cup carrot, ¾ cup chopped apple
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bowl of unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt
• Some roasted pumpkin seeds for garnishing

How to prepare:
Cook the pumpkin well and make it into a paste by beating the cooked pumpkin in the mixer. Now heat the pan with a little oil in it to sauté the diced onions. Add finely chopped onion and a little salt to retain the golden brown color of the onion when cooked for 5 minutes. As the onion turns golden brown and slightly tender, add minced garlic, cloves and pepper to it. Now add the cup of carrots and chopped apple to the broth. Simmer it for 5 minutes until the carrots and apples cook. Now add the red pumpkin paste, reduce heat, cover the container with a lid, and blend the squash in a food processor with other ingredients until it is smooth, for close to 20 minutes. Add coconut milk and water as needed, to reach the desired consistency. Keep stirring the hot soup pot continuously. Add one tablespoon of brown sugar later when the squash and veggies are cooked perfectly to give this a naturally sweet taste. Now serve this steamy hot soup in a bowl with roasted pumpkin seeds on top for garnishing and Greek yogurt.

Sweet-n-Sour Creamy Tomato Soup

When you think of hot soup, the first all-time favorite for most is the famous tangy tomato soup. As we all know this soup is high in vitamin C, and when mildly spiced with coriander, cumin seeds and garlic (only if needed). The taste lingers on your taste buds long enough. Now if you add a little jaggery to this preparation, it imparts a little sweetness, combined with the sourness of tomatoes; which makes it a tangy treat for the palate.
Ingredients needed to make this (for 4 persons) soup are:

• 2 cup of tomatoes, nicely cooked, skin peeled and made into a smooth paste in the food processor
• ½ cup coconut milk
• 1 tbsp melted butter (ghee)
• 1tsp cumin seeds, 3 curry leaves
• 2 slit green chilies, grated jaggery
• Small bowl of finely chopped coriander and salt to taste

How to prepare:
Heat oil in a pan; add cumin seeds, curry leaves and garlic (if needed) to the same. Now add the tomato paste made from cooked tomatoes in a pan along with ½ cup water. Cook and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Stir the hot pot continuously to check for consistency, creamy texture and smoothness. Now add coconut milk and mix it well in the hot pot. Don’t allow it to boil once the coconut milk is added. Now add grated jaggery and salt, stir it well and mix continuously. Keep it on a medium flame for 5 minutes max. Remove the hot pot from the heating surface; and add coriander, melted butter (ghee) or butter on top for a more creamy texture and better taste.

Asian Dumpling and Veggie Soup

If you need a quick and easy recipe for a lazy Sunday afternoon or after a long day routine to refresh your senses, then this hot and chilly soup will hit all the right spots.
Ingredients needed to make this (for 4 persons) soup are:

• 2 liters of Chicken style liquid stock
• 1 tablespoon soya sauce
• Salt as needed to taste
• Few strands of freshly peeled and thinly sliced ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, 20 frozen veggie dumplings
• 100g fresh baby corn sliced diagonally
• 2 green onions sliced diagonally and 1 long red chili sliced

How to prepare:
Boil the readily-available vegetable stock. Add soya sauce, ginger strands, garlic cloves and water as needed in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cover the pan and simmer this for 10 minutes. Now remove this liquid from the heat and strain the content to remove ginger and garlic cloves. Now return the filtered, flavored stock to the pan. Add veggie dumplings and corn to the broth. Cook and boil for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste as needed. Ladle the hot soup into serving bowls, topped with onion and chili to serve.

Carrot and Ginger Soup

If you are calorie conscious and want to burn the extra fats instantly, then opt for this nutritious soup routine once a week, to stay warm, refreshed and in shape.Ingredients needed to make the soup are: (for 4 persons)

• 1 small onion finely diced
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 2 tbsp of grated ginger
• 2 garlic cloves
• 500 gm carrot washed and cooked
• 400 gm cannellini beans
• 1-liter vegetable stock
• Almonds and nutmeg for garnishing

How to prepare:
Add the diced onions in a small pan with little oil. Sprinkle salt to taste to retain the golden brown color of onions. Now add garlic cloves and grated ginger to it.  Pour a liter of vegetable stock, when the onion and ginger are perfectly sautéed and cooked. Add squashed carrots made into a paste in the food processor to the broth. Cook this on a low flame and cover the pan to simmer it for 10 minutes. Add cannellini beans to cook light in the broth, and yet retain the raw flavor of the beans. You can see a nice creamy texture formed when the soup comes to boil. Turn down the flames now and serve it hot in a soup bowl, garnished with almonds and nutmeg on top.

These healthy appetizers or diet alternatives should help you fulfill your cravings in-between meals, while not adding extra calories to your overall diet. Fasting is never the way to go if you are looking to shed some extra pounds. Opting for a healthy lifestyle, and nutritious food options are the real key to a slimmer and fitter you!