Cabbage Soup Diet

The cabbage soup diet is a radical, 7-day weight loss plan that promises dieters a loss of 10 pounds in just one week. This diet plan is based around the heavy consumption of a low-calorie cabbage soup along with daily allowances of specified fruits and vegetables. It has become increasingly popular because it allows you to eat something whenever you get the urge; and still lose weight. Unlike most diets that restrict the eating habit, this one allows dieters to eat as much cabbage soup as they need to fill up.

And as for the benefits of cabbage as a weight loss ‘miracle’, well it’s not the cabbage that does anything ‘miraculous’; it’s the extremely low caloric intake that causes the weight to come right off. Critics of the diet say that although dieters will probably lose the 10 pounds that the diet indicates, most of this weight lost will be from liquids, not fat, and will be quickly put back on again.

Doctors warn that the cabbage soup diet is not suitable for long-term weight loss and for safety reasons should not be followed longer than the indicated 7-day regime. This is because while the soup is great as a low-calorie compliment to a healthy diet, it does not provide substantial calories or nutrients to be relied upon as a dietary staple.

Furthermore it is not recommended to exercise while on this regime, as commonly reported side effects are feeling light-headed and physically weak.

On a more basic level, other criticisms of the diet include the repetition and the apparent blandness of the soup, although there are now spiced up variations on the traditional recipe. But it is this repetition that actually makes it difficult to see through the full 7 days of the diet, without becoming completely turned off by the soup itself, or simply falling off the wagon.

One final con of the diet and perhaps a fairly embarrassing one; is the flatulence that comes with it. Cabbage has high sulfur content and as such produces a significant amount of gas in the intestinal tract as the food is being processed. This means that dieters are likely to suffer a fair amount of discomfort with feelings of bloating and the passing of substantial amounts of gas for the duration of the regime.

For individuals set on this diet for their weight loss goals it is a good idea to complement the regime with a multivitamin tablet, that will help to ensure that your body is getting the essential nutrients that it requires.

Below is a look into what the 7-day diet entails:

7-Day Cabbage Soup Diet Menu

Day One:

Fruit: Eat all of the fruit you want (except bananas). Eat only your soup and the fruit for the first day. For drinks- unsweetened teas, cranberry juice and water.

Day Two:

Vegetables: Eat as many fresh, raw or cooked vegetables of your choice. Try to eat leafy green vegetables and stay away from dry beans, peas and corn. Eat all the vegetables you want along with your soup. At dinner, reward yourself with a big baked potato with butter. No fruit today.

Day Three:

Mix Days One and Two: Eat all the soup, fruits and vegetables you want. No Baked Potato.

Day Four:

Bananas and Skim Milk: Eat as many as eight bananas and drink as many glasses of skim milk as you would like on this day, along with your soup.

Day Five:

Beef And Tomatoes: Ten to twenty ounces of beef and up to six fresh tomatoes. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water this day. Eat your soup at least once this day. You may eat broiled or baked chicken instead of beef (but no skin-on chicken).

Day Six:

Beef and Vegetables: Eat to your heart’s content of beef and vegetables this day. Try to eat leafy green vegetables. No Baked Potato. Eat your soup at least once.

Day Seven:

Brown rice, unsweetened fruit juices and vegetables: Be sure to eat your soup at least once this day.