Sometimes, all it takes for you to stick to a lower-calorie weight loss diet is to replace your lunch or dinner with a low-fat, one-dish meal like a hearty soup. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notes that such lower-calorie substitutions must still improve your nutrient intake. There are delicious, fusion-cuisine soups that fit that description. One of them is made with sweet potatoes, leeks, and seaweed.
Starting Idea
Leeks are the elongated stalks of a plant related onions. Leeks and potatoes are typically found in any grocery; the idea of making a potato-leek soup isn't new. According to a 2007 article in The Nibble magazine, the pseudo-French American "Vichyssoise" is a cold and creamy summer-soup that includes leeks and potatoes and has been around for nearly a hundred years. But with its inclusion of milk, heavy cream and butter, Vichyssoise may cause weight gain. To lower the fat and caloric content, take out all the dairy products. Instead, try using only 1/2 tsp. of olive oil, 1/4 cup chopped leeks, a cup of vegetable or chicken broth, and one medium-sized potato per serving. The resulting soup will have about 298 calories.
Sweet Potatoes
Once you've taken out most of the fat from the basic potatoes-and-leeks soup recipe, you can modify it further by using sweet potatoes and adding garlic. While potatoes and sweet potatoes have roughly the same fat content, it's the sweet potato that's got less calories and more Vitamin C. A medium-sized potato has 144 calories, but a similar-sized sweet potato has only 103 calories.
Adding Seaweed
You can use toasted "nori" as your soup topping. "Nori" is the Japanese word for dark green edible seaweed, which is typically dried and processed into thin sheets similar to paper. This low-calorie, low-fat and fiber-rich food product has a wonderful "umami," or savory taste, and is typically used for making sushi. You can also use nori to top or garnish Western dishes. The Japanese food corporate giant Ajinomoto also confirms that the flavors of seaweeds, potatoes and leeks make a good combination, especially in soup. At just 18 calories for every generous dose of 1/3 of an ounce, dried seaweed adds very few calories to your soup.
Going Dashi
If you prefer a more exotic version of the soup, take your cue from the Japanese again, and add some "dashi" soup stock. Dashi stock is made with dried konbu kelp and dried bonito fish flakes. It naturally infuses seaweed iodine and minerals into your soup, making it even more nutritious with very few added calories, at about 3 additional calories per cup. However, the best thing about dashi is that it is flavorful and combines well with chicken stock.
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