Are Instant Soups the Healthy Choice?

Most people have their schedules so full to the brim that they have to plan every last aspect of their day at least several weeks in advance. The busy lives which many of us live make it very difficult to plan for nutritional meals. Some people's idea of a healthy meal is a fruit rollup. As funny as this may seem, we have a severely skewed sense of what constitutes healthy food, and perhaps this is why people are being plagued by horrendous diseases like cancer in growing numbers.

When the majority of us hear the word "soup," we quickly associate it with positive images. After all, soup can contain vegetables and other nutritious ingredients that are good for our body. When it comes to instant soups, opinions begin to diverge as to whether or not they are the right choice. Conventional wisdom says they are the prime choice among competing alternatives, but a quick peek at the nutritional facts on the back of these popular instant soups says otherwise.

Let's take for example the instant ramen soup. Most of us have been guilty of consuming one or more of these tasty soups on a cold day while we were on the move, or possessed some other excuse not to make a home cooked soup. At first glance, there doesn't appear to be anything that's very damaging about the contents of the soup health-wise. Some noodles mixed with peas and carrots actually seems good for you. However, a quick look at the back of the packaging indicates large amounts of sodium that would make your doctor lapse into a coma. People don't realize that high MSG (sodium) content can severely dehydrate your body making various organs work harder. Where did you think all that taste came from? Obviously not from the vegetables.

You can enjoy these soups on a healthier basis by disposing of the seasoning packets and substituting your own ingredients, like garlic powder or something similar. The best thing to do is make some home cooked soup that won't have any of the negative health effects of processed instant soup. The ultimate choice is yours, just remember that over-consuming these types of soups will have a negative impact on your health in the long run.