The cabbage soup diet is a quick weight loss diet that has been around for a long time. Many individuals have claimed significant weight loss while on this diet.
If someone follows the basic recipe used and the rules of the diet, claims report they could lose between ten and twenty pounds in the first week.
While it is not recommended to use this diet on a long-term basis, for a short-term diet, it will give anyone’s weight loss goal a big boost.
The cabbage soup diet is considered a fad diet, but no one can dispute its effectiveness for quick weight loss.
What the Cabbage Soup Diet Is
This diet is called the cabbage soup diet because cabbage is the main ingredient. Individuals on the diet are supposed to eat cabbage soup every day for seven days, along with specific supplemental foods to be eaten on designated days.
To get the best results, individuals are encouraged to eat large amounts of the soup. According to the diet, the more cabbage soup an individual consumes, the more weight they will lose.
Some of the foods eaten along with the soup are green leafy vegetables, chicken, beef, bananas, and brown rice.
The cabbage soup diet might be the perfect answer if an individual need to lose weight fast. This is precisely why many individuals use this diet to fit into a special outfit or if they’re going on vacation and want to shed a few pounds before they step on the plane.
Basic Recipe Used
Ingredients in the basic cabbage soup recipe used on this diet include a head of cabbage, six white or yellow onions, green bell peppers, a celery bunch, and one cup of carrots.
In addition to the fresh vegetables, individuals need two chicken bouillon cubes, a packet of onion soup mix, one forty-eight-ounce can of vegetable juice, two cans of chopped tomatoes, a teaspoon of lemon juice, six crushed garlic cloves, and salt and pepper to taste.
Chop all the fresh vegetables. In a large skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium heat. Take the onions, bell peppers, and celery and sauté them until the vegetables are slightly tender.
In a large pot, pour in the vegetable juice, and lemon juice. Add the sautéed vegetables, chicken bouillon cubes, and garlic, then stir in the chopped tomatoes, carrots, and cabbage.
Bring everything to a boil, before reducing the heat. Cook the soup until the cabbage is tender. Season it to taste with salt and pepper.
Rules of The Cabbage Soup Diet
The primary rule of this diet is to consume cabbage soup every day in large quantities. Aside from this, individuals are permitted to supplement with specific foods on certain days.
On the first day, individuals can eat fruit, except for bananas. They may also drink unsweetened tea and coffee. On the second day, individuals can add leafy green vegetables and a baked potato with just one teaspoon of butter, but should avoid fruit.
When the third day rolls around, individuals must avoid eating a baked potato but may once again consume fruit, along with their leafy green vegetables. Individuals may consume several bananas and drink all the skim milk they desire on the fourth day.
The fifth day allows individuals to consume twenty ounces of beef and four tomatoes, along with ten to twelve glasses of water to wash the uric acid from their body.
Beef and vegetables, but not potatoes, are the features on the sixth day. On the seventh day, individuals can eat brown rice and vegetables along with the soup.
Drawbacks of The Diet
The Food and Drug Administration states active females should consume 2000 calories a day and active males about 2800 calories a day.
Individuals are likely to get less than one thousand calories a day while on the cabbage soup diet, which is way below the recommended daily calorie intake. The drawbacks of such a low-calorie diet including losing more water weight rather than fat, and losing muscle.
A low-calorie diet that causes a significant drop in weight in a short amount of time, like the cabbage soup diet, could cause health complications.
Drawbacks of the diet if maintained for an extended period are fatigue, constipation, diarrhea, and nausea. A more serious problem of maintaining such a low-calorie diet is the risk of developing gallstones.
The lack of fatty food to digest causes the liver to secrete more cholesterol, which, combined with bile, can form gallstones. The cabbage soup diet’s high sodium content can also be a problem for individuals with heart conditions.
Effectiveness of The Diet
Ordinarily, doctors may not recommend the cabbage soup diet because of the lack of nutritional value it provides the body.
Individuals should always check with their doctor before starting a new diet. Helping individuals lose as much weight as possible in a short amount of time is what the diet is designed to do.
However, individuals must follow the rules of the diet exactly for it to work. The cabbage soup diet may be a fad diet, but it can be very effective for rapid weight loss.
However, since the diet can be dangerous in many instances, individuals who do decide to try it should have their doctor monitor their progress while they are on the cabbage soup diet.
Via: VeryWellFit | EverydayHealth
