Soup and Salad: The Perfect Non-Diet Diet

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

I have never been one for diets. But it is the beginning of January, which means after over a month of over-indulging, even the most diet averse are starting to think about ways to slim down for the New Year. Quite frankly, diets aren’t fun, so who can blame me for cringing at the thought of cutting back on the calories and fat? Fun is sampling each batch of Christmas cookies fresh out of the oven. Fun is devising the most calorie-laden menu possible in celebration of the holidays. Fun is claiming a whole bottle of champagne for me to sip on until the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve.

But come January 1st, all that fun has usually gotten the best of me. Luckily this year I have not gone so far as to need to dry out for a few weeks. But, my waistline has suffered the side effects of all my Christmas jolliness. So although I might still allow myself the nightly glass of vino (it’s good for my heart, I swear), it’s time to pare back on the heavy meals.

Most people’s problem with dieting tends to be a lack of self-control. That is why diets can be so effective if only for regulating the amount of calories we eat each day. Because no matter which diet is the one of the moment, it all comes down to basic math: when the calories you burn are more than the calories you consume, you lose weight.

Now I have tried all sorts of things to help find that self control, most with the desired result of weight loss. I lost 13 lbs on the Zone in high school. I lost five in the first month of South Beach when I was just out of college. But while my frame was shrinking, my irritability grew because all I could think about all day long was what I was allowed to eat and when I could get my next morsel of food. Food was not fun anymore.

So the last few years when I have felt the need to cut back, I have taken up not so much a diet as a minor adjustment to my eating habits that I like to call the 'Soup and Salad Diet.' The great thing is that I like both salads and soup. Both are readily available at any restaurant I go to or at my house. Both are quick and easy to make, not requiring special or artificial ingredients masquerading as real food. I get to eat food I like, feel full and satisfied while naturally cutting back on my calorie intake.

Now if you were my boyfriend, you would probably scoff, wondering if I could really call either of those items “food”. He is under the impression that soup in particular could not possibly be filling enough for one to consider it a meal. On the contrary, although a bisque or consommé primarily consists of broth, there are many soups out there filling enough to be a one-bowl meal, while not loading up on the fattening calories.

Any bowl of beans, be it chili, Five Bean, or lentil soup, has hours of sustenance from the carbohydrates, protein, and fiber found in legumes. Then there are the various meat soups from chicken noodle, to the rice noodle and beef soup called pho, to the Mexican albondigas (meatball) soup. Meat plus carbs plus vegetables equals a full meal in a bowl with a fraction of the calories of dinner on a plate.

Salads also have that remarkable ability to be filling and not fattening. A meal-sized salad full of vegetables and a bit of protein has enough fiber to make you feel full, and the protein to sustain you until the next feeding time. Not to mention that the varieties of salads are endless, as you can make combinations of lettuce (romaine, radicchio, Boston bibb, arugula), veggies (carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, artichoke hearts), protein (chicken, salmon, feta cheese, almonds), and salad dressing.

It may not have quite the instant sound of satisfaction as the 14 Day Miracle Diet, the sweet ring of the Cookie Diet, or the glamor of the South Beach Diet, but, for me at least, the Soup and Salad Diet has its advantages. I can cook it anywhere, eat it anywhere, and have as many servings as I want (easy on the dressing). A belly full of nourishing and satisfying soup and salad means no bitterness, no regrets, and a diet that is as much fun--almost--as eating whatever I want for the rest of the year.

Serves/Makes: 6

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 can (14 ounce size) diced tomatoes
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 bay leaf

***Albondigas***

• 1 1/2 pound ground turkey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 6 tablespoons short grain rice
• 1/2 pound green beans