Cabbage Diet: Can This Soup Help Me Lose Weight?

I have heard quite a bit about the cabbage diet and have always wondered if it would work. With a little research I have found that there are definetly pros and cons about the diet. What I am going to do below is give the recipe and what you are suppose to do for the seven days and then give you a little overview of what I have found out about this fast diet plan including how you can make it work better for you towards continuous and permanent weight loss.

First, you are suppose to do the cabbage soup diet for only 7 days at a time and make sure you supplement it with a good multivitamin.

Here is the cabbage diet recipe. You can add other spices to it for flavor that may be pleasing to you:

- 6 large green onions
- 2 medium green peppers
- 1 to 2 cans of tomatoes (diced)
- 3 god sized carrots
- 1 container of fresh mushrooms
- 1 bunch celery
- 1/2 head of large cabbage
- 1 package Lipton soup mix
- 1 or 2 cubes chicken or beef bouillon (optional)
- 1 48oz can V8 juice (optional) This will add to sodium content and flavor

Season to taste with salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder, or some of other favorite spices.

Day One:

Except for bananas, you can eat all the fresh fruit you want to today. Eat your soup as much as you want to as well.

What I would recommend with day one is to eat a variety of fruits and keep in mind that if your body is not used to eating large amounts of fruit, then you may feel gassy, have stomach cramps, and possibly get diarrea. Fruits (and vegtables below on Day 2) are usually high in fiber, but low calorie-high density foods: this means they should make you feel full longer as they take longer to digest.

Two fruits that you may want to add to this day are cantelope and rhubarb as they are a low-glycemic carb which only means that they will not make your blood sugar spike (like white table sugar) and the natural sugar is released more slowly into your bloodstream evening out your energy levels throughout the day.

Day Two:

Stay away from fruits today and switch to veggies instead. Along with your soup, eat as many vegetables as you want to. Stay away from corn, peas, and dried beans (all high glycemic vegetables.)

Some low glycemic veggies include your green colored ones: asparagus, broccoli, spinach, and endive lettuce, which will add to evening out your energy some throughout the day.

You can even have a baked potato today, although this would be considered a high-glycemic vegetable. As mentioned above, with day one, just make sure you put a variety of veggies into the mix. A salad may be a great idea.

Day 3:

This day you eat the soup, and then both fruits and vegetables, but stay away from baked potato. Again, steer towards low-glycemic fruits and veggies.

If you do feel crampy, gassy or have diarrhea, you may want to lessen the amount of fibrous foods you are eating: we get most of our fiber from the skins of fruits and vegetables and from the pulpy "meaty" parts of vegetables. While this will take away from the nutritional value of what you are eating, it may help prevent some of the intestinal discomfort you may be having with this diet plan.

Day 4:

Banana-skim milk day! Oh joy, oh wow, you can have as many as eight bananas today and wash it down with as much skim milk as you would like. Again, eat your soup too.

While this is suppose to lessen your cravings for sweets, it should also "stop you up" some. I really have no pointers for this day as it is pretty short and sweet. I also think that this may be the hardest day of the diet, but if you can get this far and get through this day, the rest of the diet should not be too difficult as you get to add some meat on day 5.

Day 5:

You can eat 10-20 ounces of beef or skinless baked or broiled chicken today and eat up to 6 fresh tomatoes (or canned equivalent). Also, make sure to eat the soup once today.

While you may be craving some protein, I would split today up into at least 2, preferably 3 servings so that you body will continue to feel full. Remember that there are 16 ounces in a pound, and so you could have a quarter pound hamburger, and a pretty good sized steak, and then a small chicken breast today. Just make sure to weigh your servings (before you cook them!) or have a good idea of how much you are eating.

Day 6:

You can eat all the beef and veggies you want today besides baked potato. As mentioned above, split your meals up to make sure you feel full throughout the day. Eat the soup at least once.

Day 7:

Today you can eat all the brown rice, vegetables, unsweetened fruit juice (this just means ones that contain no artificial sugar substitutes). Eat the soup at least once (and ahhhh, the last day!). Hopefully by this time any intestinal discomfort you may have has subsided.

I found a few things missing from this diet beyond what has been posted on the most popular cabbage soup sites.

1. While you could lose 10-15 pounds, there is no long term or permanent instruction on how to keep the weight off and eat healthy in the long run. I guess if you have a reunion and just want to lose a few pounds for the weekend, then this may work. However, if you are like most and looking to lose weight for the long term, feel good, and be healthy, then you will have to continue with a plan and ask yourself why you chose this one to begin with.

2. There is no mention of exercise during the 7 days. There could be benefit to adding some cardio and light weight lifting. There are two reasons to do this: increased caloric burning while maintaining muscle. Weight on the scale is not the end all be all of defining your ideal weight. Muscle weighs more than fat, and you don't want to lose your muscle, you want to lose your fat! Maybe instead of or at least in addition to weighing before this diet, you should also take some measurements of your chest, waist, bicep, hip, and thigh.

3. What's next? There is no mention on how to do day 8 through the rest of your life. What this diet can do I guess is kick start a healthy weight loss plan. I know that to start off a long term goal, having a short term success can be quite motivating! The biggest thing to take away from this, is to take it at face value. Realize it is a fast way to lose weight, but it will be up to you to continue to lose weight and keep it off, and hopefully that will be through living a healthy lifestyle.