Daily Fit Tip: Don't skip the soup

Next time you're out to eat don't automatically dismiss the waitress when she goes to tell you the "soup of the day" -- having a cup of soup before your meal may actually help you eat less overall, instead of more. A study coming out of Penn State looked at low-calorie soup containing the following ingredients: chicken broth, broccoli, potato, cauliflower, carrots and butter and and found that regardless of how the soup was prepared (smooth, chunky, etc) the individuals who ate soup as a first course cut their over-all meal intake by 20%, compared to those who did not have soup.

I often avoid ordering soup before my meal, thinking it's just going to be extra calories thrown on top of the grand total. Maybe I need to rethink that theory!