To cut calories without feeling starved,try eating soup before meals.Volunteers in a recent study,published in the scientific journal Appetite,reduced their total calorie intake at lunch by an average of 20 cent when they started with a first course of low-calorie vegetable soup.

In that study,60 people ate lunch in a Penn State University laboratory once a week for five weeks.Researchers served a pre-lunch soup on some days and no soup on other days,and then allowed the volunteers to eat as much as  they desired of a pasta dish.The researchers weighed portion before and after the meals to measure food intake to within one-tenth of a gram,enabling precise calorie counting.

On soup days,volunteers consistently ate less of the main course,so that the meal’s total calories fdropped by an average of about 135.On no-soup days,the participants compensated by eating more of the pasta dish.

Researchers prepared the same ingredients four ways to see whether chunky or pureed soups cut appetite more than a clear broth style did.They found that the recipe had no significant effect on total calorie intake.Several previous studies similarly found that eating soup can help people cut calories.

The soup strategy is worth trying as long as yuo avoid heavy,cream-based,or cheese-laden versions that could easily increase total calories.Choose broth-based vegetable soups with  about 150 calories per serving.And since canned and packaged soups tend to be loaded with salt,look for low-sodium varieties.Or better yet,make your own.