Promoters of the cabbage soup diet claim that you can lose 10 to 15 pounds in a week simply by making a low-calorie soup and eating it each day along with other designated foods. This plan qualifies as what most health professionals refer to as a fad diet. Elaine Turner, a nutritional scientist with the University of Florida, warns that the extremely low-calorie cabbage soup diet is no way to achieve permanent weight loss and that the pounds you lose on the plan will be water weight, not fat.
Following the Diet
Step 1
Eat as much cabbage soup as you desire every day for seven days. Along with the soup, incorporate the designated foods each day.
Step 2
Consume as much fresh fruit as you desire on Day 1. You can have any type of fruit that you want except for bananas, so make sure to have a variety on hand.
Step 3
Focus on raw and cooked vegetables, especially leafy greens, on Day 2. You can have as many vegetables as you want, along with one baked potato with butter for dinner. Stay away from other starchy vegetables, such as corn and lima beans.
Step 4
Eat all the fruits and vegetables you want on Day 3. Avoid starchy items such as corn, peas, lima beans, potatoes and bananas.
Step 5
Drink unlimited amounts of skim milk and eat up to eight bananas on Day 4. Other than cabbage soup, do not ingest any other items.
Step 6
Grill or broil 10 to 20 oz. of lean beef or chicken on Day 5. Eat it along with unlimited cabbage soup, up to six tomatoes and at least 64 oz. of water throughout the day.
Step 7
Cook 10 to 20 oz. of lean beef or chicken again, and eat it with leafy greens on Day 6. Though you may be tired of it by this point, make sure you work in at least one bowl of the cabbage soup sometime during the day.
Step 8
Round out your diet with unlimited cooked brown rice, unsweetened fruit juice and non-starchy vegetables on Day 7.
Step 9
Conclude the diet after Day 7. Return to a regimen of light, balanced meals.
Making the Soup
Step 1
Coat the bottom of a soup pot with nonstick cooking spray and heat it over medium heat. Add the green onions, bell peppers and celery. Saute the vegetables for about five minutes, until they're slightly soft.
Step 2
Add the chopped cabbage, along with about 3 quarts of water, to the vegetables in the pot. Stir in the beef bouillon cubes and the dry onion soup mix. Cover the pot and bring the mixture to a simmer.
Step 3
Pour in the two cans of tomatoes, including the juice, and cook the soup until all of the vegetables are tender and soft. Cool the soup and store it in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Step 4
Repeat this process later in the week if you run out of soup. You may need to make two or three pots of soup in total, depending on how much you're eating per day.
Things You'll Need
- Fresh fruit
- Fresh, non-starchy vegetables
- Leafy greens
- Baked potatoes
- Skim milk
- Bananas
- Lean beef and chicken
- Fresh tomatoes
- Cooked brown rice
- Pure fruit juice
- Cooking spray
- Soup pot
- 1 bunch of green onions, chopped
- 2 bell peppers, chopped
- 1 bunch celery, chopped
- 1/2 head of cabbage, shredded
- 2 beef bouillon cubes
- 1 package of dry onion soup mix
- 2 28-oz. cans of diced tomatoes
References
- University of Florida News: Cabbage Soup Diet No Lucky Charm For Weight Loss, Says UF Expert
- "The Everything Soup, Stew, and Chili Cookbook"; Brenda Hulin; 2009
- "Heavy Lettuce: Adventures of a Journeyman Dieter"; Johnny T. Flynn; 2006
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