The Cabbage Soup Diet Review – It Works But

The Cabbage Soup Diet is similar in concept to the Master Cleanse Diet. Both of these fad diets work purely because you are consuming far too few calories to provide for your body’s nutritional requirements for an extended period. Both diets are also guaranteed to slow down your metabolism. As soon as you go back to eating normal food again, you typically regain all weight lost and then some more as result of your then much slower metabolism. It is a clear indication of the desperation out there that both of these very unhealthy diets appear to have passed the test of time and just keep on thriving.

The Cabbage Soup Diet is designed around heavy consumption of a low-calorie cabbage soup over a period of seven days. Its origins are unknown, but it has been around since at least the 1980’s. Different versions of this diet have been developed through the years. All of these diets can be easily recognized by the central feature: the dieter can eat as much of the cabbage soup as he or she wants. Other incarnations of this diet include: “Sacred Heart Diet”, “Military Cabbage Soup”, “General Motors Diet” / “GM Motors Diet”, “TJ Miracle Soup Diet”, and “Russian Peasant Diet”. All institutions referred to in the names of these diets have denied any links.

Most of the Cabbage Soup Diets promise that dieters can lose up to 10 pounds (4.5kg) per week! It is important to note that it is downright impossible to lose so much fat in one week. Any weight lost will include fat, but also water weight and lean muscle mass. Due to the very low calorie content of the diet, dieters are typically advised to limit the time they remain on this diet to one week at a time. It is generally recommended by most advocates of these weight loss plans that dieters wait a while (2-3 weeks) before commencing another week on this super-low-calorie diet, even if they do have more weight to lose.

When on the Cabbage Soup Diet, you will only drink water, black coffee and unsweetened fruit juice on days when fruit is allowed. The typical outline of the diet for a week is as follow:

• Day 1 – Cabbage Soup accompanied by as many servings of fruit as you like, with the bananas the only fruit not allowed.
• Day 2 – Cabbage Soup and vegetables (except for beans, peas, or corn). You may also have 1 jacket (baked) potato with some butter.
• Day 3 – Cabbage Soup together with a mixture of above fruit and vegetables excluding potatoes and bananas.
• Day 4 – Cabbage Soup, up to eight bananas and as much skimmed milk as you want (some versions limit the glasses of milk to 2).
• Day 5 – Cabbage Soup plus up to 20 ounces (+-500g) of beef and up to six tomatoes. Make sure you drink at least 8 glasses of water.
• Day 6 – Cabbage Soup with as much beef and vegetables (no potatoes) as you like.
• Day 7 – Cabbage Soup, 2 cups brown rice, vegetables (again no potatoes) and unsweetened fruit juice.

Serious concerns have been raised about the nutritional quality of this diet. The soup as prescribed by most of these diets is typically very high in sodium in an attempt to make the soup more palatable. The weight loss plan really provides practically zero protein for several days at a time, which means your body is forced to feed upon itself, breaking down both muscle and tissue in the process. The diet is also very low is essential fatty acids that is responsible for functions such as keeping all the cells in the body healthy, brain performance, and mood management. Newer, healthier versions of the Cabbage Soup Diet sometimes take the fact of missing protein into account and add protein in the form of dairy and protein shakes to the diet plan while decreasing sodium.

The recipe for the cabbage soup varies slightly among different versions of the diet. The basic recipe at the heart of most of these diets is based on cabbage and assorted low-calorie vegetables such as onions and tomatoes, and is normally flavored with onion soup mix, bouillon, and tomato juice. What follows is a typical recipe.

Cabbage Soup Recipe
1/2 head green cabbage, diced
1 celery stick diced
3 carrots, sliced
2 bell peppers, sliced
6 large green onions
1 package dry onion soup mix
2 bouillon cubes, either chicken or beef
2 cans of tomatoes, diced or whole
Salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder, soy sauce to taste (or any other seasoning you like)

Chop all the vegetables into bite size pieces. Place all ingredients in a large pot and add enough cold water to cover. Bring water to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the vegetables are soft. Estimated simmer time: 15 minutes. Some recipes suggest that all the vegetables except for the tomato and cabbage be sauteed to tender before the rest of the ingredients and the water is added to cook. Doing so may make the soup taste better. You can use cooking spray or a little bit of olive oil.

Note: you may encounter some gastrointestinal discomfort from the highly sulfurous cabbage and fiber-rich vegetables.

As is often the case with many of these types of fad diets, the internet abounds with claims of a substantial increase in libido levels, increased energy levels and even the production of pheromones to attract the opposite sex. Whilst such claims are made for most of the Cabbage Soup diets, more of these claims appear to be linked to the Sacred Heart Diet variant than any other. The more sinister side effects are obviously seldom mentioned.

Just to summarize: the Cabbage Soup Diet is essentially a modified fast, containing so few calories that dieters will lose weight rapidly during the week long regimen. There is nothing special or magical about cabbage or cabbage soup that fosters weight loss. It’s the low-calorie nature of the diet plan results in the lower numbers on the scales. When you consider the monotony of eating virtually the same foods every day for a week, dieters may end up eating even less that the already dangerously low (approximately 800-1,050) calories per day.

Many people get so desperate to lose weight that they convince themselves something like the Cabbage Soup Diet can provide them with the so-called “kick start”, never realizing the damage they do to their general health, their metabolism, and their self esteem in the long run. The Cabbage Soup Diet provides no recommendations on how to move on to a healthier lifestyle for permanent weight loss. All it does is set you up for failure yet again, and make it even more difficult for you to achieve your optimal body weight.

The bottom line? Keep looking for a weight loss plan that can help you replace bad habits with healthy eating and exercise habits so you can achieve your optimal body weight and keep the weight off!