It is logical, salad and soup are low in calories. And usually they take more time to consume. You will eat less bad food after because you are half full

soup and salad are not food in the true meaning of FOOD and in no way you can say that you are half full;
Although i try to avoid as much as possible eating them , whenever i am supposed to eat them I do not see any difference to my stomach; eating them is like drinking water, does not satisfy your hunger.

actually, it's true ... if you look at european countries that have meals in courses and take time to sit down to eat ... those countries that it is tradition to have a soup or salad before the main meal have lower obesity rates, here's why ...

soups and salads are high in nutritional value (think veggie salads and vegetable soups or such) ... a huge makeup of leafy greens and soups is water, think about it ... they are bulky foods that will fill your stomach space, with high nutritional values, but lower amounts of calories than the main course ... that means you will eat at or below your serving size, so you'll have your deck-of-cards size steak instead of the 24-ounce steak Americans would sit down and eat of the whole thing ...

make sense???

Definately makes sense.We have asian ,european and middle east meals.At the right side of the country we always eat olive oil ,salads ,soups but at the east side of the country they eat meat and high calorie food.Thats why they have so many problems about health.

Yea, the western diet isn't the best diet to be around. lol