Is Souping The New Diet To Definitely Do, Or Definitely Don’t? We Asked a Nutritionist For The Truth

We love you just the way you are (and you looked particularly ravishing in that outfit you wore at the weekend), but just in case you do want to lose a pound or two, we decided to check into three of the latest celeb-endorsed diet trends in the March issue of STELLAR. It seems like there’s a new food plan on the cards every other week – but in a world of confusing pseudo-science, it can be hard to sort the wheat from the gluten-free chaff.

The benefits from following a souping diet can be short-lived. If you do lose weight, you’re just going to gain it right back, plus, sometimes more.

So we sat down with nutritionist Ciara O’Dea of the Allergy & Nutrition Clinic to ask which of the new kids on the diet block are worth trying – and what deserves a serious eyeroll. You can check those out in the issue, and we kept one more specially for the website too. Ah we know, fierce good to you.

Who’s doing it: Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

What is it? It’s the new juicing – which means you can expect to see souperies setting up all over town that claim their soup takes three months to make and contains only the sap of the rare suicide palm, found only in remote parts of Madagascar (€19.99 per serving).

What does it involve? Well, y’know, soup. Aficionados claim that soups retain more fibre than juices, and can also aid digestion – unlike cold juices, which can hinder it. Plus, as soups traditionally contain more vegetables than fruit – while juices are the exact opposite – we’re talking lower-sugar snacking, too.

What does our nutritionist reckon? “I was wondering when this would happen – juicing is so 2015!” laughs Ciara. “Soups are a great way to add in more nutrients, but they’re not meal replacements. Unless your soup has a source of complex carbs, lean protein and healthy fat, it’s not a meal. Your body is going to have cravings, your brain isn’t going to function properly and you’re not going have much energy.

“The benefits from following a souping diet can be short-lived, ending when you stop the diet. If you do lose weight, you’re just going to gain it right back – plus, sometimes more – when you go back to your old habits. The only way you’re going to lose weight and keep it off is by making changes to your current routine that you can sustain forever. The problem is, most people don’t know where to start and think that following a fad like souping is an easier or quicker route.”

• diet
• health
• inthemag
• souping
• wellness