Soups are a traditional diet food, but with such a wide variety of soups to choose from, it can be difficult to find a soup that will actually help you lose weight. How then can you know which soup to choose when nutrition facts are not present?
According to the ranking of soups by calorie it is best to choose soups which are water based as opposed to cream based. The amount of water in any soup is the key factor to how many calories it will have, more than the amount of carbs and fats it contains. If a soup is watered down, it will make a great diet food.
Beyond that it is obviously good to try made soups that have a lot of fiber and vegetables. Like a pumpkin split pea soup, a vegetarian gumbo, a turnip green diakon soup, or a lentil soup.
Avoid soups that are high in starches like noodles, rice, or potatoes, and try stay away from thicker heavy soups. Go easy on adding crackers or cheese as well. In general, the same rules which apply to dieting also apply to soups. Soups should not be seen as a catch all "diet food" where you can eat as much as you want, because some can be quite calorific. In the soup calorie ranking a chunky chicken corn chowder provided 99 calories per 100 gram serving, which adds up to about 400 calories per bowl of soup. That is better than a lot of meals, but still a whopping amount of calories for a bowl of soup, so watch out and choose soup with care.