Now, what about that blender?  It’s a bit difficult to eat soup the traditional way while driving and if you are serving to your kids, the combination of a car and soup in a bowl is a disaster waiting to happen.  Here’s where the blender comes into the picture.

Pour some of the soup into the blender and blend until the pieces are small enough for you to swallow without choking. You can even puree the soup completely if you’d prefer. For a thicker texture, add a bit of cream, though watch the calories. Now, your soup is ready for distributing in your to-go cups.

The ideal cup would be a travel mug with a lid. These types of cups have a wide opening perfect for drinking soups from.

Another great thing about soup is you can make it in large quantities with very little effort, and some variation from one batch to the next. Make vegetable with pasta in one portion, with rice in the next.

Be sure to prepare enough soup for the entire week. You can take the soup with you while you’re out shopping, working in the garden, or to work.  A cup of soup is packed with healthy nutrients and it won’t mess up the car or cramp your busy lifestyle.  The next time you don’t have time to eat, reach for a cup of healthy homemade soup instead of pulling into that fast food drive thru. Your waistline and your family will thank you for it.

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First, choose your favorite soup. A popular choice of many is the famous chicken noodle soup. There’s nothing better when you are under the weather than the warm chicken broth soothing your throat. You might be tempted to go for the soups in a microwave container perfect for eating on the go, but again, in terms of expense and sodium, this is a bad choice. Instead, we are going to make our own soup for an even healthier choice.

The one thing that is best about homemade food is that you know what is and is not in it. Since we are concerned with health, preparing your own soup creations at home is the best way to go. No matter which type of soup you choose to make, be sure to use fresh ingredients. The other items you’ll need are plenty of food containers with tightly secure lids, a travel mug or two, and a blender.

Now it’s time to actually create your time saving soup. A good soup always starts with the stock. For chicken soup, make the broth by boiling the remains of the chicken you had for dinner. Add the herbs and seasonings of your choice and boil until the chicken bones come out clean. Any remaining meat will be included in the broth. Once the broth cools completely, scrape off any fat and discard, then ladle the soup into air-tight jars or containers for storing.

If you’re more of a beef and vegetable soup lover, you can use commercial canned broths or bouillon cubes for the base of your soup, though try to be extra vigilant about how much sodium is in them.

Season the stock really well  with pepper and other ingredients like a bay leaf, which you should remove proior to serving, and NEVER eat. Make your stock and simmer before adding any other ingredients.

Once the stock is ready, all that is left to do is toss in your favorite veggies and other ingredients, such as paste, beans or even couscous Again, wait until the soup is completely cooled before pouring into storage or serving containers.

In this day and age it can be hard to eat healthy. With your busy schedule, especially if you have children, many people find it easier to grab whatever is available and the quickest  way to assuage their hunger, and deal with the health consequences later.

With the following tips for soups on the go, you’ll learn how to make sure that the food you grab is healthy, and satsifying.

The problem with dealing with the consequences of unhealthy eating habits is that later is actually sooner than you might think. Later is right now. Sadly, we are a nation of obese adults and just as many, if not more, obese children. Our unhealthy eating choices have caught up with us. You might be asking yourself, “How can I eat healthy when I’m crunched for time all the time?”

One way is to make foods that can be taken with you on the go.  One of those foods is soup. Soup is tasty, filling, and good for you anytime, but especially on a cold fall or winter day. There are hot soups and ieven cold soups which are delicious and nutritious. Many soups are good eaten cold or lukewarm.

Soups are a great choice because have high water content, so it helps you get your recommended several glases of water a day, and low energy-dense, so fewer calories. Anyone who has seen the Progresso soup commercials knows that most of their soups are 100 calories or less in what is basically half the can, a good portion, though bad for you in terms of how much sodium you are packing in.

However, there are low sodium varieties, and some soups are better for you than others.  Try to avoid cream based soups as having more calories. Soups with a lot of pasta or beans in them can also add a lot of carbs to your diet, not a good thing if you are carb sensitive.

We also recommend snacking because the alternative might be worse-not snacking at all you actually make yourself too hungry. This leads to overeating at meal times. So does that attitude that you have to clean your plate, and that wasting food is a sin.

Getting too hungry means you will opt for dining out more often if you feel starved because you haven’t munched on a few healthy snacks throughout the day. It leaves you open to the dangers of supersized portions, and again, the attitude of not letting food go to waste if you have paid for it. If you must go to a restaurant, why not doggie bag half of it to save for later, when you know you are going to be hungry.

Starting a meal with low energy density rich foods like soups and salads, which are fillling, but not too caloric if they are not cream based, is another way to cut down on snacking on unhealthy choices.

Contrary to popular belief, snacking is good for you, but only if you make your treat choices healthy ones. Keeping good for you snacks on hand will make snacking healthy even easier. So, snack away, but make them good, low calorie, nutritious snacks in order to reap the most benefits.

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The next key question is how often to snack.  The more times you eat, the more revved up your metabolism will be. However, it’s necessary to eat the right foods in order for this not to backfire.

Unfortunately, this is where many people go wrong. They get the wrong foods, or the wrong portions. The 100 calorie snack packs are a good if expensive idea. You can do it yourself with a larger pack of cookies or chips, for example. Take small plastic sandwich bags, and follow the label. If a portion is 2 cookies at 150 calories each, put two cookies in the bag.

Better still, make your own cookies or chips with fresh ingredients, not high fructose corn syrup, cheap cooking oil, salt and preservatives. Still better, how about a  banana chocolate chip tea loaf, which will have far less fat than cookies and be nice and moist from the banana. Cut one slice, put it in the microwave for 5 seconds to 10 seconds, and you will have a luscious, gooey dessert any time.

For a crsipy yet healthy snack, you can make your own thick cut potato chips by making potato wedges just lightly coated in oil and baked in a roasting pan. Yorkshire pudding slices are another handy and tasty treat, hot or cold, and it is very inexpensive to make.

If you keep only the freshest and healthiest foods in your home, all of your choices will be good ones.  So, as hard as it may be, curb that urge to load up on sweet or salty junk food on your next trip to the grocery store. Too much salt in your diet can lead to water retention, which makes you look and feel more bloated, and can also lead to high blood pressure.

Ideally you should have 3 snacks a day; one during the middle of the morning, another mid-afternoon, and lastly, one after dinner. That’s three snacks to complement three meals.

Also, remember that quantity matters when it comes to snacks, just like it does meal portions.  Snacks are not meant to be entire meals, but they are supposed to be delicious or you won’t be satisfied and will starrt bingeing.

Think of the examples listedabove, and the number of calories you are adding to your diet. Remember, it takes only 2000 to gain a pound, but 3500 to lose one.

But fodd if the fuel of the body. Some people need to snack to keep up their energy levels throughout the day.

Instead of giving up their favorites, snack lovers need only change their snack choices to a more healthy alternative.. For instance, a bag of fast food fries or potato chips can easily become a hot baked sweet or russet potato fries with fresh herbs or cinnamon sprinkled on top. That is a tasty, filling snack, with fewer calrories, carbs, or saturated fat.

As for that candy bar, it’s really the chocolate most are after when they grab their favorite one.  The nougat, peanut butter and caramel are yummy, but don’t be fooled, it’s the chocolate craving that gets candy bar lovers.

In place of those pound-adding candy bars, make some home-made granola bars. Use rolled oats, bran, nuts, and chocolate chips. Dark chocolate is supposed to be better for us in terms of our heart health, so try some dark chocolate pieces inside, or drizzle a bit of dark chocolate on top. Anytime you need a snack, grab a granola bar instead of a candy bar.

If you want to go for a ready-made health bar, or protein bar, always read the label first. A lot of them may sound like healthy choices,  but can pack more calories than a whole meal, a fair amount of it from fat. Fat makes you feel full, but too much can be unhealthy.

Likewise, some of them any have too many carbs. Likewise, excess carbs can pack on the pounds when they get converted to energy in your body and are then stored as fat if those calories aren’t burned off through exercise.

For many die hard snack addicts, ice cream is very hard to give up.   If this sounds like you, have confidence in yourself and try something just as cool and sweet, but even better for you.  Whip up some smoothie mix and freeze it in a container for at least twenty-four hours. When that ice cream craving hits, scoop some smoothie into a bowl and top it with a small amount of nuts (be careful, they have a lot of fat in them)  and a dab of whipped cream.

Before you know it, you’ll be craving yummy smoothies instead of that fattening ice cream loaded with fat and sugar. We have a lot of great smoothie recipes here at the site, so you can make yourself a virtual ice cream parlor simply and easily. You can also sprinkle chocolate chips on top to satsfy that craving as well.

Nuts are a danger because they are high in fat and so very energy-density rich. Why not try other crunchy things, like tortilla chips with salsa, or carrot sticks and celery sticks with hummus dip. You can have some nuts too, but not huge handfuls.

Some people crave dairy, so those little mini-cheeses  can come in very handy, or the cheese triangles with a couple of low-salt, low fat crackers. Again, read your food labels to see what a portion is, and then try to eat half that.

There are many schools of thought about whether snacking is okay between meals, and how often to eat them.

Snacking has long been thought to be a bad thing that spoils your appetite for the main meals of the day.

Another school of thought which is gaining more credence is that snacking can be the best way to avoid overeating.

Whether one is trying to maintain their current weight, trying to lose weight, or eat healthier overall, here are some tips and suggestions for snacking the healthy way.

When most people think of snacking, things like potato chips, fries, candy bars, ice cream cones, or other unhealthy items come to mind. It’s no wonder the majority of people associate snacking with something negative.

All of these “bad snacks” can add just as many, if not more, calories than a regular meal, especially ig you overindulge. As with one potato chip brand, they proudly boast that it is tough to eat just one. Of course it is—they wouldn’t be able to make huge profits ig you bought only one bag a year!kj

Don’t despair, however. It is possible to snack without adding all the fat and calories  to your diet, and bingeing.