The Best Soup Recipes for Weight Loss

On a cold winter's evening, soup is often the only food we have on our minds. But, you're trying to achieve your new year's weight-loss resolution. So, you reluctantly and half-heartedly grab the bagged salad you had for lunch and dinner last night instead.

Find out: Are your resolutions realistic?

You can find a way to enjoy that soup you're craving. That means choosing a soup that will promote your weight-loss goals. Ones that are cheesy and creamy like cream of mushroom or New England clam chowder are high in calories. Some soups, especially canned varieties, are high in sodium. And toppings like crackers, cheese, sour cream and bacon pack on calories.

Making your own healthy and nutritious soup isn't as hard as you may think. Assess what you have in the house or items that are on sale at the grocery store. Then, find a recipe to match.

Need some inspiration? Try one of the soups below the next time you need a dose of warmth and comfort that's diet friendly to boot.

Reset Yourself Curried Sweet Potato Soup
Sweet potatoes can be eaten beyond your Thanksgiving feast. They're in this soup that helps promote digestion, aid weight loss and replenish nutrients. It will help you stay health and warm.

Weight Loss Vegetable Soup
Colorful and bright, this soup boasts flavor and is naturally low in fat and calories. Make this healthy, tasty and filling dish for lunch, an afternoon snack or before a meal. If you want to transform it into a main course, add chicken or turkey along with quinoa, brown rice or whole-wheat noodles. It's full of veggies, and you can substitute them with whatever you have on hand. Not a cabbage fan? Swap in kale or spinach, being aware that spinach will shrink down and kale will offer more bulk. Make it on the weekend to enjoy throughout the week. Or freeze it in single servings for quick meals.

All You Can Eat Cabbage Soup
This comforting and inexpensive soup is full of nonstarchy vegetables swimming in a flavorful herb-filled broth. The blogger says she likes her broth to be tomatoey, so she adds tomato sauce. You can use a vegetable juice like V8, but, she notes, tomato sauce is less expensive and you're more likely to have it in your pantry. Smoked paprika gives it another layer of flavor, and a splash of lemon juice at the end brightens it.

Weight Loss Wonder Soup
You may think you don't like cabbage, green peppers or onions. Yet they're somehow delicious when combined in this soup. This gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan and Paleo soup will leave you feeling satisfied and full. It has great flavor without adding bad-for-you ingredients. In its base form, this soup is just veggies cooked in water. Since this dish is meant to be a base soup, eat it as is or spruce it up with other spices and herbs. Or, substitute some or all of the water in this recipe for a broth of your choice like chicken, veggie or beef. Know that the soup only works its "wonders" when you stay as close to the recipe as possible. Also, be forewarned that this soup takes a long time to prep and cook. Though time-consuming, that's balanced by the fact that you can eat it for at least five days or freeze it.

Chicken Detox Soup
This soup is flavorful, nutritious and low in fat. You'll get a healthy meal and your kids will inhale its tons of veggies, too. It boasts the spice turmeric and apple cider vinegar which have both been touted for their weight-loss abilities. To make prep easier, buy baby carrots and slice them so you don't have to peel any carrots. You can also buy a bag of broccoli florets so you aren't cutting up a large broccoli. The soup will keep covered in the fridge for a week.

Read more about 10 Strategies for Weight-Loss Success.