If you've read Mireille Guiliano's book, "French Women Don't Get Fat," you may be wondering whether leeks really can "magically" reduce your weight and your waistline. Jump starting your diet with a weekend of nothing but leek tea and boiled leeks may well cause you to shed pounds, but maintaining such a quasi-starvation diet is impossible. It's better to incorporate leek soup into your weight loss goals by changing your daily eating habits to include more vegetables, more soup and smaller portions.
Background
The popular connection between leek soup and weight loss comes from Mireille Guiliano's book "French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure." Devon Utter, reviewing her book, says that Guiliano visited her doctor after gaining a surprise 20 lbs. on a trip to the U.S. The doctor recommended a complete change of eating habits beginning with a "leek soup weekend" to purge her body of excess junk food.
Directions
The recipe Guiliano recommends, which she credits to her family physician "Dr. Miracle," is less a soup and more of a leek tea. Put 2 lbs. cleaned, trimmed leeks in a large pot with enough water to cover them. Bring the pot to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. For the "leek soup weekend," Guiliano says to drink a cup of this leek tea every 2 to 3 hours, and to eat half a cup of the boiled leeks themselves whenever you get hungry.
Claims
In her book and on her blog, Guiliano claims that leeks have a "magical" quality, are a mild diuretic and cause weight loss. However, Katherine Tallmadge, MA, RD, writing for the American Dietetic Association, points out that no scientific research supports these claims.
Tallmadge concedes that Guiliano's "leek soup weekend" is indeed likely to cause weight loss, but only because it's a calorically and nutritionally inadequate diet. In the long term, such a diet would starve you. Tallmadge says that learning consistent eating habits is a better dieting tool than fasting.
The claim Guiliano makes in the title of her book is at best hyperbole. According to Tallmadge, the obesity rate in France is on a sharp rise.
Weight Loss Benefits
While leeks in and of themselves do not cause weight loss, you may approach your weight loss goal by incorporating leek soup in your diet. Tallmadge notes that you can naturally reduce your caloric intake by eating more vegetables and soup. And other advice Guiliano gives can help. She suggests walking for exercise, taking up weight training, eating more slowly and eating smaller portions of the food you enjoy.
Nutritional Benefits
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half a cup of raw leeks contains 25 calories and no saturated or unsaturated fat. Leeks are a good source of vitamins A and C, calcium, iron and dietary fiber. The University of Maryland Medical Center says that leeks, along with other allium family vegetables such as garlic, onions and chives, contain organosulfur compounds. These compounds may help strengthen the immune system, aid the liver in neutralizing carcinogens and reduce the liver's cholesterol production.
Alternate Leek Soup Recipe
If you don't like the taste of leeks, Guiliano offers a low-calorie "Mimosa Soup Recipe," which hides a pound of leeks inside a soup made from carrots, celery root, turnips, cauliflower, parsley, lettuce and hard-boiled eggs. Guiliano says that this soup is less "magical." However, its higher nutritional content recommends it as part of a healthier long-term diet.
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