Cabbage Soup Diet

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“The major problem is that constructing an entire diet around a soup results in a calorie-restrictive and nutritionally-unbalanced plan.”

At a Glance

By Myatt Murphy

Lose as much as 10 pounds in a week thanks to the powerful fat-burning properties of cabbage? That's the hopeful promise of this classic fad diet that's been around for decades. Instead of counting calories, the Cabbage Soup Diet has dieters fill up on cabbage soup (recipes vary but it's generally made from cabbage, green peppers, onions, celery and water) for a seven-day period. In addition to soup, dieters are also allowed to have certain foods, such as tomatoes, meats, vegetables and skim milk, depending on the day of the week. (Certain versions of the diet may call for different portion sizes of these foods.) However, the diet stresses that the more soup you eat in lieu of these additional foods, the more weight you'll ultimately lose. After one week, dieters are expected to go back to their regular eating habits for two weeks before attempting the diet once more. Although there doesn't seem to be any limited set number of times you can keep use the plan, it's recommended to check with a physician beforehand each attempt.

Cost: Inexpensive. The diet calls for typically cheap foods, such as celery, green peppers, onions, a few cans of tomatoes, onion soup mix, water and, of course, cabbage.
Meals Provided: None.
Diet Duration: One week.
Fitness Requirements: None.
Time Commitment: Average. With no calories or grams to count, adding up what you need to eat each day is fairly simple. However, depending on how much soup you eat, you may find yourself spending more time cooking soup than eating it.
Eating Out: Extremely difficult -- unless you’re planning on bringing your own thermos full of soup.
Alcohol: It’s forbidden throughout the seven-day process.
Vegetarian-Friendly: Possible. You would think that a diet based around a single vegetable would be appealing to vegetarians, but, it does suggest eating plenty of meat on Day 5 and Day 6. However, vegetarians could opt to just eat cabbage soup and whichever vegetables are recommends for that day instead.
Strict/Flexible Eating Plan: Very strict. Each day of the diet has its own specific set of rules on what you should eat.

Online:
Because no one has ever officially claimed to be the creator of the diet, there really isn’t any reputable organization that represents it.
Books:
Ultimate Cabbage Soup Diet
The New Cabbage Soup Diet