Why You Should Start Your Meal with Soup or Salad

By EatingWell Editors, "The EatingWell Diet: Tips for a New You," March/April 2008

Fill up first on soups and salads—and eat fewer calories later.

Try these delicious power salads and healthy soup recipes:
Soups and Salads to Help You Lose Weight
Asian Tofu Salad
Broccoli, Cannellini Bean & Cheddar Soup
Creamy Chopped Cauliflower Salad
Fattoush
Garden-Fresh Asparagus Soup
Ginger-Melon Soup
Roasted Tomato Soup
Smoked Trout Salad with Herb & Horseradish Dressing
Spinach & Grapefruit Salad
Spinach Soup with Rosemary Croutons
The Wedge

Filling up on fiber- and water-rich foods first can help prevent you from overdoing high-calorie fare later. Research out of Penn State shows that eating a first-course salad can reduce overall calorie intake at a meal by up to 12 percent. And in a study in Appetite last November, people who started lunch with vegetable soup ended up eating 20 percent less than those who skipped the soup.