Easy Ways to Cut Calories

Snap Decisions That Save You Big Pounds

Split-second choices can have a big impact on your waistline. Make healthier food choices on the fly and you’ll cut calories where they won’t be missed
By Hollis Templeton fitbie
 

Start with Soup

A first course of soup or salad may help you eat less throughout of the rest of your meal. Researchers at Penn State University found that starting a meal with a fiber-rich salad can decrease overall calorie intake by up to 12 percent and that sipping a cup of water-dense vegetable soup before a meal can help you eat 20 percent less.

So is one a better choice than the other? As long as you’re sticking to vegetable puree or broth-based over cream-based, there’s not a whole lot you can do to adulterate a healthy cup of soup, besides maybe flooding it with crackers. Salads present more creative opportunity. Add cheese, eggs, croutons, dried fruit, nuts and full-fat dressing to a bed of greens and you’ve got yourself a diet disaster.

Go with the soup—or slim down your side salad by topping it with a little lemon or lime juice, balsamic vinegar, hummus, salsa or low-calorie dressing. And unless the salad is the main attraction, skip the protein, fat and extra carbs and limit your garden mix to low-starch vegetables like spinach, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage and cucumber.

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