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Soup, known in modern cuisine as the first course, has a very long history. The first attempts to cook something similar to soup were made back in the Stone Age, but as an independent dish with all its characteristic features, it appeared about a hundred years before the beginning of our era. The first real soups began to cook in ancient China and nearby regions. In Europe, soup history began about 400-500 years ago. By the way, the name “soup” came to us through French from Latin: the word “suppa” literally translates as “a piece of bread soaked in broth.
Probably, most of us in childhood had to hear from mothers and grandmothers that the first should be eaten daily, and those who do not eat the first get gastritis. How much truth is there in the “horror stories” of mothers: is soup so indispensable and what will happen if you don’t eat first courses?
Benefits of first courses
So it seems that most nutritionists are on the side of mothers who uphold the good reputation of first courses.
Moreover, doctors complain that recently the number of people who eat soups daily (homemade, not instant soups) is decreasing every year. Meanwhile, if you regularly use the first, you can bring a lot of benefits to your body.
Rich chemical composition
Any soup is, first of all, a lot of valuable ingredients. The specificity of cooking first courses allows you to save almost all the nutrients contained in vegetables. With various types of heat treatment, the vitamins and minerals contained in raw foods are irretrievably lost. But not in the case of soups. If some components are boiled out from vegetables or meat, then they still remain in the dish (turn into a decoction) and we will still use them.
The chemical composition of each soup is unique, as it is determined by the set of products used in cooking. Meanwhile, in most cases, the first dishes contain a lot of magnesium, potassium, iron, calcium and phosphorus, vitamins A, B, E, and if you don’t forget to put parsley in the dish at the end of cooking, then vitamin C is also added to the list of nutrients .
Soup with vegetables is an excellent source of fiber, indispensable for the smooth functioning of the digestive system. Legumes fill the dish with proteins and complex carbohydrates. Meat broths are proteins and fats, egg soups are B vitamins and a set of essential amino acids. Potatoes, cereals, lentils make the first courses very satisfying, as they contain a lot of carbohydrates. If you fill the first with milk or cream, it will become a source of vitamin D, if you add cereals, you can increase the amount of vitamin B in the dish several times. Ukha is, of course, phosphorus, and pumpkin soup is a whole plate of beta-carotene essential for eye health. The first tomato dish is a source of lycopene, one of the most powerful antioxidants that slows down the aging of the body, prevents most diseases, including cancer. And what is most interesting, cooked tomatoes contain more lycopene than raw vegetables. Tomato soups are especially useful for men as they prevent prostate cancer.
By the way, broccoli is also more useful for our bodies in boiled form, for example, as a component of soup. Researchers have found that cooked cabbage contains about 30% more carotenoids than raw vegetables. Broccoli soup contains a specific substance, sulforaphane, which is scientifically known to prevent breast and colon cancer. Remarkably, sulforaphane is not destroyed by high temperatures.
As for carrots, this bright vegetable is also best eaten after heat treatment with a little added fat (so that the body can absorb fat-soluble vitamin A). For example, it can be stewed with a little oil and added to the broth as a dressing. So the theory that all vegetables are healthier when raw is not entirely true: some of them are more valuable in the form of hot soup ingredients.
High nutritional value with low calories
Soups cooked with vegetable broth are rich in nutrients, but at the same time contain very few calories. For example, a 300-gram serving of the first is about 80 to 125 kcal. Light vegetable soups are a great choice for weight loss. But one has only to add meat, pasta, cereals, cream or flour to them to get a more satisfying and rich dish. But this does not mean that people who watch their figure should only eat vegetable stews. There are many ways to reduce the calorie content of the first person. For example, cream sauce (made from flour, butter and cream) can be replaced with regular milk. Meat broth after cooking can be put in the refrigerator, and then collect the frozen fat. For poultry soup, it is better to take meat without skin. These little tricks will allow you to reduce the calorie content of the dish to a minimum, while retaining all the nutrients.
The first courses create a feeling of fullness in the stomach, perfectly satisfy hunger, but at the same time do not contain extra calories. Soups are also considered an ideal solution for individuals wishing to lower their cholesterol levels or limit their fat intake. It has been proven that people who regularly eat the former look leaner than those whose lunch consists exclusively of the latter.
Source of vegetables
Nutritionists recommend eating 5 servings of vegetables and fruits daily (1 serving is approximately 100 g). However, not everyone can follow this recommendation. Let’s say most children don’t like salads, and older people often have digestive problems, so they try to avoid raw vegetables. For these categories of persons, there is nothing better than soup, including a creamy consistency. To preserve the nutritional properties as much as possible, vegetables for the first should be cooked for no more than 15 minutes, preferably under a lid. By the way, the most healthy soup is freshly prepared: it contains the maximum amount of nutrients.
Liquid source
Drinking enough water is critical to overall health. Probably, many people know that it is useful to drink about 2 liters of liquid per day. If it is impossible to fulfill the norm only due to water, light soups can come to the rescue, because first courses are 50-80% liquid.
Warms in the cold
This advantage of first courses is especially appreciated in autumn and winter. What could be better after a walk in the cold than a plate of fragrant, rich and, most importantly, hot soup! And we remind you once again: the first course is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, which are simply indispensable in the cold seasons.
Refreshing in summer
If in cool weather a bowl of soup is a perfectly acceptable option for lunch, then in the heat of summer, most people refuse first courses. But soup is not necessarily hot. There are so-called summer options that are still useful for the body, but do not warm, but on the contrary, create a refreshing effect. Remember at least okroshka, gazpacho, cold drinks and cold beetroots – easy, tasty, nutritious and not hot.
Supports immunity
Cold weakens the immune system, so people who do not eat anything warm in autumn and winter are more likely to get sick. And in 2000, researchers from Nebraska (USA) found evidence that chicken broths and poultry meat soups are natural cold medicine. In chicken broth, scientists have found several substances that have a beneficial effect on the immune system and have anti-inflammatory properties. Warm chicken soup can even soothe a sore throat caused by the flu or a cold. Interestingly, vegetable broths do not have such properties. The ideal recipe for an immunomodulatory soup, according to scientists, looks like this: chicken meat, onions, carrots, potatoes, celery, parsnips, parsley.
Hundreds of recipes
There is such a joke: if you don’t know what to cook from a vegetable, cook soup from it. And this is true. Soup can be prepared on the basis of almost any product. Pumpkin, beets, leeks or onions, beans, sorrel, arugula and dozens of other options can all be turned into a nutritious and tasty first course. In addition, do not forget about broths from different types of meat, fish, seafood. One has only to change the proportions of the ingredients and, based on the same set of products, you can cook several options for the first one.
Cooking is easy and fast
When experts talk about the benefits of soups, they always mean a dish made from natural ingredients, not stews from packages. Cooking a classic soup does not require special skills. The dish is prepared quickly and very easily. The recipe, as a rule, does not provide for accuracy in measuring the amount of ingredients, and even the composition of the components can be changed each time to suit your taste and mood. So soup is a dish that even a teenager can cook.
Can the first be harmful
In fairness, it should be said that not all researchers agree that soup is unconditionally useful to everyone and always. Some experts are sure that first courses can be abandoned forever – there are in the world of culture where it is not customary to eat soups.
One of the arguments against is the fact that when meat is cooked in the broth, substances harmful to humans are formed. And some gastroenterologists say that liquid soups wash out gastric juice, and this worsens the process of digesting food. For a long time it was believed that eating soups could protect against gastritis. Today doctors are debunking this myth. According to a new theory, liquid first courses activate the production of gastric acid, which can be dangerous for people with stomach or duodenal ulcers, inflammation of the mucous membrane of the digestive organs, as well as hyperacidity. But for people with reduced secretion of the stomach, soups, on the contrary, are useful.
In addition, gastroenterologists remind: it is important for a person to eat a balanced diet. That is, the diet should contain vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, cereals, eggs, dairy and sour-milk products, but in the form of which dish these products enter our bodies, it does not matter.
The healthiest soups
If you cannot imagine your life without first courses, then in order for the soup to be useful for the body, gastroenterologists recommend following several rules. First, eat warm, not hot or very cold foods. Secondly, doctors do not advise eating very spicy soups or those cooked in fatty broth for the first time. For meat dishes, it is better to take chicken, rather than bones or pork. Also, doctors are categorically against bouillon cubes, instant soups and seasonings containing chemical additives – such dishes are only to the detriment of the digestive system. Experts also do not advise adding sunflower oil to the first frying, as they form harmful trans fats.
Soup is a versatile dish that can be cooked at any time of the year. The first can look different: vegetable soups, meat, fish, creamy, fruity, hot and cold. Everyone can choose an option to their liking. By and large, it doesn’t matter which soup you prefer, the main thing is that the first one is made from fresh and high-quality products.